In this niche of very expensive buildings for people that don't use them, more often than not the clients have no effing idea of what they want, so we show them thousands of images of things they think they want until we have something close to start designing. It's a double edged sword though, occasionally they think we are replicating their desires exactly as shown in images, and we have to explain the nuances of site and context so they don't get too sad.
moon = mood? yes. and start interior designer early on. It's more or less scaled, start with the general idea of the house, then break it in smaller parts.
Mood boards and precedent books are useful for getting reactions and reading preferences, but are very easy to misinterpret. Beyond that, to be a good active listener with a client who is less sophisticated or who does not clearly know what they want, the best approach is to ask LOTS of questions, specifically framed in ways that are not jargon-loaded or "architecty". One of my favorites with residential clients is to ask them to tell me a story about a great memory of home they have, and then ask them a bunch of follow-up questions to discover what positive or negative associations and experiences they have related to that memory.
I kinda like the idea of a "moon board." That's for the wish-list items that probably won't make the final cut but that would be fun if we could include them.
Good architecture is by it's nature a collaboration between everyone. Or did you mean it as a derogative term to mean a corporate group? Cause you know they have different meanings. ;)
childish insults aside, I have a similar approach to WG below, we are not "omnipotent creators" when hired by people to design their houses, we can just channel their ideas to play together well and to have a coherent final result. Then it's really important to know their taste and aspirations. Really petulant architects try to tell people how to live.
When doing large school projects with a design advisory group of a dozen plus people we use mood boards. We show various existing school projects in and around the area. We don't 'copy and paste' anything from the images. We use the images inform us on what direction the group would like to go in the new design.
I take a lot of notes when meeting with clients. (All residential.) I'm terrible about eye contact anyway, and I can usually write and listen at the same time so it works for me.
I include the results of our initial conversations and from my questionnaire in the project description and encourage them to review it carefully; they often find a thing or two that either I misunderstood or that they changed their minds about.
During the project, I include the primary project goals on issue sets, both the nuts-and-bolts things and the touchy-feely things. We usually meet frequently and I know they don't see the drawings the same way I do so I try at every step to make sure they understand what they're looking at and solicit questions or ideas as they come up.
I'd like to think that I don't have much of an ego about my designs, and consider myself my clients' guide through the process; maybe that keeps me open-minded and open-eared. As far as I know I've never had a client unhappy with their project once construction is done and they've had time to recoup. They may be unhappy with costs, or the builder, or something else, but not the design--and I do a wide range of designs, though almost always high-performance, low-carbon in recent years. My trick there is to help them realize THEIR dreams, not mine, though I do push them on certain things.
With non-residential clients, active listening usually takes the form of trying to absorb and confirm you understand a giant flow of information. They typically have a much more detailed and extensive idea of what they want, though they may be less clear on what they actually need. Active listening in that mode means capturing all the stuff they tell you, paraphrasing it back to them to make sure you understood it correctly, and asking them clarifying questions where you don't understand, information is missing, or where you see opportunities or conflicts.
Effective communication is two-way, which is what "active listening" fundamentally means. Not just receiving a one-way flow of information, but actively responding and engaging with it.
That's been my experience as well gwharton. It's difficult to do well. I've found having a couple of people in the arch office at each meeting to be helpful. Each person may interoperate something different and ask questions.
At my nonprofit we open all of our meetings with a Courageous Space Agreement that includes a reminder to "Listen to hear, not simply to respond." It really helps me slow my roll.
Active listening means participate. best way to participate AND listen: ask good questions.
Clients might be clueless, but it's our job to help them help us. Best way to do that: ask better questions. In many ways, quality of our question determines quality of the response.
Nov 6, 24 3:00 pm ·
·
OddArchitect
Yes, that is understood. How do you ask better questions? Any experiences you'd like to share?
Nov 6, 24 3:05 pm ·
·
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Active Listening
As architects part of our responsibilities is to listen to the client and our team to determine the best possible solution for a design.
What stratagems do you implement to engage in active listening to your client and design team?
In this niche of very expensive buildings for people that don't use them, more often than not the clients have no effing idea of what they want, so we show them thousands of images of things they think they want until we have something close to start designing. It's a double edged sword though, occasionally they think we are replicating their desires exactly as shown in images, and we have to explain the nuances of site and context so they don't get too sad.
Kind of a 'moon board'.
moon = mood? yes. and start interior designer early on. It's more or less scaled, start with the general idea of the house, then break it in smaller parts.
Mood boards and precedent books are useful for getting reactions and reading preferences, but are very easy to misinterpret. Beyond that, to be a good active listener with a client who is less sophisticated or who does not clearly know what they want, the best approach is to ask LOTS of questions, specifically framed in ways that are not jargon-loaded or "architecty". One of my favorites with residential clients is to ask them to tell me a story about a great memory of home they have, and then ask them a bunch of follow-up questions to discover what positive or negative associations and experiences they have related to that memory.
Copy paste. How corporately creative.
I kinda like the idea of a "moon board." That's for the wish-list items that probably won't make the final cut but that would be fun if we could include them.
It is technically a mood board but I like it as a moon board. The client is shooting for the moon. As WG said, a wishlist.
BulgarBlogger wrote:
"Copy paste. How corporately creative."
Good architecture is by it's nature a collaboration between everyone. Or did you mean it as a derogative term to mean a corporate group? Cause you know they have different meanings. ;)
childish insults aside, I have a similar approach to WG below, we are not "omnipotent creators" when hired by people to design their houses, we can just channel their ideas to play together well and to have a coherent final result. Then it's really important to know their taste and aspirations. Really petulant architects try to tell people how to live.
When doing large school projects with a design advisory group of a dozen plus people we use mood boards. We show various existing school projects in and around the area. We don't 'copy and paste' anything from the images. We use the images inform us on what direction the group would like to go in the new design.
I take a lot of notes when meeting with clients. (All residential.) I'm terrible about eye contact anyway, and I can usually write and listen at the same time so it works for me.
I include the results of our initial conversations and from my questionnaire in the project description and encourage them to review it carefully; they often find a thing or two that either I misunderstood or that they changed their minds about.
During the project, I include the primary project goals on issue sets, both the nuts-and-bolts things and the touchy-feely things. We usually meet frequently and I know they don't see the drawings the same way I do so I try at every step to make sure they understand what they're looking at and solicit questions or ideas as they come up.
I'd like to think that I don't have much of an ego about my designs, and consider myself my clients' guide through the process; maybe that keeps me open-minded and open-eared. As far as I know I've never had a client unhappy with their project once construction is done and they've had time to recoup. They may be unhappy with costs, or the builder, or something else, but not the design--and I do a wide range of designs, though almost always high-performance, low-carbon in recent years. My trick there is to help them realize THEIR dreams, not mine, though I do push them on certain things.
With non-residential clients, active listening usually takes the form of trying to absorb and confirm you understand a giant flow of information. They typically have a much more detailed and extensive idea of what they want, though they may be less clear on what they actually need. Active listening in that mode means capturing all the stuff they tell you, paraphrasing it back to them to make sure you understood it correctly, and asking them clarifying questions where you don't understand, information is missing, or where you see opportunities or conflicts.
Effective communication is two-way, which is what "active listening" fundamentally means. Not just receiving a one-way flow of information, but actively responding and engaging with it.
That's been my experience as well gwharton. It's difficult to do well. I've found having a couple of people in the arch office at each meeting to be helpful. Each person may interoperate something different and ask questions.
At my nonprofit we open all of our meetings with a Courageous Space Agreement that includes a reminder to "Listen to hear, not simply to respond." It really helps me slow my roll.
Active listening means participate. best way to participate AND listen: ask good questions.
Clients might be clueless, but it's our job to help them help us. Best way to do that: ask better questions. In many ways, quality of our question determines quality of the response.
Yes, that is understood. How do you ask better questions? Any experiences you'd like to share?
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