How does an architect communicate a design to a client in another country?

How does an architect communicate design concepts to clients who are not in a position to physically meet in our office, but want to understand the design we are developing for them? This is my first contribution to a shared discussion among architects practicing in Ireland, where we will discuss aspects of our services and the profession, under the Twitter hastag #ArchitalksIE

By using this hashtag on twitter, or links provided within each blog itself, you can connect to the other architects blog on the same topic. Our blogs will be posted synchronously on the same time same day. We hope you will enjoy this format and benefit from the broad professional views and different approaches to the same issues.

The PassivHaus Architecture Company approach;

Using video to show a project to a client who lives abroad

We love to make physical three-dimensional models of our projects to communicate our ideas to our clients. They are great because you can pick it up, turn it around, peep inside etc. Not everyone is comfortable reading architectural drawings, but a model…  everyone can relate to it!

And besides, they are really fun to make and look cool in your office! But what do you do when the client lives abroad? Make a video! We make a model in Sketch-up Pro to make a fly-thru video, and use iMovie on our Macs to make a movie with a voice over talking the client through what they are looking at. We can email it them wherever they are. They can pause, rewind and refer to it as much as they like. It works really well. This project is a great example. Here is the video we produced.

You will have to forgive the low-production values, the speech was done all in one take with a little editing of errors.

The clients loved it! And we have just been granted planning permission, and will start building soon. I love it when a plan comes together! Enjoy!

Here is a few of the planning permission drawings.

If you would like to talk to us about your project from abroad, email info@pmnarchitecture.com or contact us here.

 #ArchitalksIE

For Mark Stephens approach see here:

Mark Stephens – Mark Stephens Architects (@architectmark)
How does an architect communicate a design to a client in another country?