The most important consideration when designing a new home in your garden is the size of the garden and its connection or relationship to the road.
We often find that Homeowners have specific ideas about what they want in terms of the number of bedrooms. Invariably, they want to maximise the number of bedrooms and the cost value of the dwelling. Their outlook is similar to that of most property developers in that they are more interested in the cost per square metre they can extract from the land rather than creating a pleasant place to live for future occupants and their surrounding neighbours.
Furthermore, many draughtsman designers will tell the Homeowners what they want to hear with total disdain and disinterest in the likelihood of the proposed scheme gaining planning approval. These ‘designers’ are more interested in getting their fees paid than in obtaining planning approval for their clients. These ‘designers’ demonstrate their disinterest in the homeowners’ best interest through poor design and a lack of serious consideration of the site and context.
Good architectural design, on the other hand, stems from a careful consideration of the context, and a sensible proposal emerges gradually after several iterations. It will be well-proportioned in relation to the plot and its surrounding area.
Our culture has become hyper-competitive, individualistic and exploitative in so many ways, and this does not bode well for well-designed places to live or nice neighbours.
At G.A. Architects, we resist this through an authentic passion and dedication to design. We take the time necessary to understand the site thoroughly before exploring proposals that do not disrupt, dominate, overlook, or disrespect the scale and Atmosphere of the place.
The priority of the design should always be the consideration of the impact of the completed building on its site, rather than trying to maximise the profit that could be potentially extracted from the site.
One approach is exploitative and driven by a competitive outlook, while the other is respectful and collaborative.
We are a respectful and collaborative architectural firm dedicated to creating buildings that are well-suited to their sites, and this approach is likely to gain planning approval.
