Beyond the lines, curves, dots and colours, every architectural proposal carries tonnes of implications in terms of
long-term effects of the design on the lives of the end users and the environment as a whole.
Unfortunately, I can almost say that I have not met a client that asked me questions to demonstrate his or her
knowledge of this fact. In my years of practise, I have seen clients short-change themselves, coming to me with
more instructions than questions. So much for consultation!
As a client that desires a livable, maintainable, commercially, socially and environmentally conscious architectural
design solution that will make ease its purposed usage, you should give your architect a brief. But further to this,
you should know that you are paying your architect to develop this “lay man’s” brief to details that will save you
millions of naira in running cost in the long term.
Below are simple (but by no means cheap) questions that you should ask your architect to show that you are
actually looking beyond the high definition 3D visualizations he’s come to cajole you with.
1. How energy-efficient is the proposal?
If he squints at the question, break it down by asking, “what have you put in place to minimize my expenses:
2. On energy for air cooling?
3. On energy for heat retention (in cold weather)?
4. How have you exploited natural ventilation to save me cost?
5. What measures will help me maximize natural daylighting?
How have you adapted my building for options of Renewable Energy generation such as:
6. Solar panels?
7. Wind turbines?
8. Solar water heating?
Now go ahead and askt him, “How green is my building?” If he scratches his head with his clutch pencil, then go
further to ask:
9. What features have you put to enhance the indoor environmental quality?
10. How ecologically friendly is my building in terms of your usage of recycled materials?
11. What is the environmental impact of this proposal as regards waste management?
12. What about water management and conservation?
13. How socially sustainable is this design as per affordability? (This is very important in Low-cost & Mass housing).
14. How economically sustainable is the design in terms of commercial space utilization?
Wait a minute, did I say ten questions? These are fourteen already! And I’ve still got more!
Well it only shows that your questions for your architect are never too many so long as you’re paying him.
Remember, your architect is not charging too much, you’re the one that has been asking for too little.
