How to make the most of an hour with an architect

You have one hour with an architect on Simon Open Door day so what should you ask? Emma Cullinanreports

HAVE YOU often wondered about consulting an architect but were afraid to ask? Here is your chance to speak to a designer, without any commitment, about building a new home or improving your existing one.

For the third year running, architects across Ireland are donating their time to raise money for the Simon Community homeless charity. You pay €60 for an hour's consultation with an architect on Simon Open Door day which, this year, is taking place on Saturday April 28th.

"The money goes directly into our support services," says Patrick Burke of the Simon Community, "including emergency accommodation, detox programmes, long-term support and independent living accommodation.

"It's the perfect match because architects are concerned with designing good quality housing and sustainable communities and people often become homeless because some communities are not sustainable and don't have a proper infrastructure and sense of community; with play spaces for children, community facilities, churches, schools and hospitals."

The organisers of Simon Open Door day suggest that questions might involve planning, design, fees and building costs but the real value to be had will probably come from discussing design ideas.

If you feel that your existing home doesn't quite work but are not quite sure whether you would be better extending or reconfiguring the internal space and perhaps adding in extra windows - on both walls and the roof - then here is an opportunity to see what might be possible.

"A lot of people say that they need an extension but actually don't consider how they use the existing space," says Orla Fitzgerald of Fitzgerald and Associates, who took part for the first time last year. "People often say, 'I want x,y and z' and yet when you look at their home you find that they have everything they need."

Solutions may involve moving a kitchen to the front of the house and the livingroom to the back. "Which is contrary to how we were brought up: not to pass the kitchen on the way to the 'nice' rooms, but we are now more dynamic in space utilisation."

That sums up what people can come out of their consultation with: a new way of thinking about space.

While architects have had a lot of training they are all human and ideally you need to talk to someone who shares your view of the world to some extent and whose work you admire. If you are serious about going ahead with the project then you and the architect will be working as a team, through ups and downs, so you need to trust and respect each other. Also, there is no point in consulting an architect who has won awards for contemporary houses with innovative design features if you are after a pitched-roof mock-Georgian house - such architects are pushing boundaries and won't want to be dragged into the past.

The Simon Open Door website will have a list of architects taking part - with a view to finding one near to you - but you could go one step further and look up their websites to see what sorts of buildings they create. It has to be said that anyone taking part in the Open Door day will probably have a caring nature and ideally you want an architect who cares about design and people.

When going along to a consultation bring as much documentation as you can: from maps of the surrounding area to photographs of the house or site, and measurements of any areas that you are thinking about changing.

"Some people woke up on the day last year, realised they had forgotten about the Open Door consultation and rushed in without having prepared," says Orla. "The best way to prepare is to take photographs of the back and front of the house and rooms, and aspects that you like and dislike about house. You also need a drawing showing the house in context - a notion that panics people - but you can just go to your local library and get an Ordnance Survey map."

If you want to improve your existing home or to build a new one you need to talk about orientation. You may find that your abode is lacking something but you can't put your finger on it. This will probably indicate problems with lack of natural light as well as flow between spaces.

Ask the architect about how to get the most benefit from the sun, how to prevent wind howling through the property and where more insulation might benefit the structure.

With a new build ask where it would be best to place the property - in Ireland there has been a tendency to put a house near the road on a high point but it is often better to build in sheltered low lying sites with surrounding planting to cut down the wind chill and hide unsightly cars.

When discussing all of these ideas you not only need to look at your needs now but - if you plan to stay put - you need to look at what your requirements might be in 10, 20 or 30 years' time and beyond.

If you are planning to stay in your home for a long time then you can consider solutions that suit you exactly rather than trying to maximise the resale value. For instance, we tend to be obsessed with numbers of bedrooms and so - if you are considering selling - you might want to keep as many as possible (within reason) while if you want to stay where you are you can have one huge bedroom or perhaps turn one bedroom into a large bathroom.

If you decide that you need an extension, see whether it would be possible to create a useful space in a structure that doesn't need planning permission because it is small enough to be exempt. But even if a new structure doesn't require planning permission it does need to comply with fire and building regulations. If it doesn't have these then you will have trouble selling the house. An architect can advise on work you have done as well as work you intend to do.

If you are building a structure that requires planning permission then you can discuss the best way to do this. This could involve having an initial chat with the local authority. The architect - while not being able to give specific advice on the Open Door day - can advise on what grounds people can object and what a local authority is likely to reject so that you don't needlessly consider something that is a non-starter. You can also discuss the implications of renovating a listed building: "One couple I met at the last Open Door had brought a house that was a protected structure but weren't savvy to the implications of that," says Orla.

A crucial consideration in discussing what you can do with your home is budget and you can get useful ball-park figures on what each solution would cost.

"People should consider the reality of their lifestyle," says Orla, "as opposed to their aspirations. We all have our dreams about the space we want to live in, which is fine, but you need to consider how you live and where you spend the most time to work out how best to maximise the space available.

"Try to figure out what you do and don't want. Think about the spaces you've been to that you have enjoyed. Look in magazines to see what you like and dislike, and bring them along to the consultation. Dislikes are important because most people find it easier to identify what they don't want."

Consultations can be booked on www.simonopendoor.ie from April 2nd onwards.