Pay attention to personality. Most people hire an architect only once in their lives. Searching for one is akin to finding a financial planner, architects say. Look for an architect who has designed projects that are similar in style and scope to yours. “There’s no substitute for experience,” says Todd Strickland, a partner with Historical Concepts, an Atlanta architectural firm. Because designing a home is such a personal project, it’s important that you feel able to communicate with your architect.
Liza Nugent, 41 years old, and her husband needed an architect to combine their apartment on Manhattan’s Upper East Side with a neighboring unit; they got referrals from friends. The first person they called made a snippy remark about how “unsophisticated” co-op boards in buildings on side streets such as theirs make renovations difficult. “I thought, with that kind of attitude, we definitely wouldn’t get along,” Mrs. Nugent says. After calling two more architects and interviewing three others, the Nugents picked a longtime acquaintance who had creative design solutions for their project. (more…)
Located in an tidy ranch within walking distance of the town center, DayDesign’s headquarters doesn’t announce itself as the epicenter of one of the design world’s most accomplished companies.
But then, that’s sort of the point. With satisfied clients like IBM, DC Comics, the Library of Congress and UTC Pratt & Whitney, DayDesign founder Skip Day doesn’t feel the need to trumpet his company’s success. Instead, he is content to let the work speak for itself.
“Our clients are very loyal,” Mr. Day said as he sat in DayDesign’s sleek conference room. “We’d never done any direct marketing or soliciting until very recently.
“That there,” he said, pointing to a framed testimonial from the president of the graphic arts company and longtime DayDesign client, Creo Americas, “They took the pictures. They framed it. The president of the company wrote that testimonial. They did that on their own. (more…)
