It can be quite nice to go back and revisit a project, and reproduce a retrospective. There is one project in particular which comes to mind when thinking about this, it’s a house near Bedford that got Building Tectonics much praise at the time because of the sheer transformation of the house in question.
It was a project which we worked on over 10 years ago, but is still a great example of what can be done to a very tired and outdated looking house. Whenever I pass it on the way to Bedford from Milton Keynes I have to stop and look at it, and it still looks good. However , something which we have not spoken, or written about much concerning this project is the beautiful interior which we created in unison with our client. We came up with a very good design for the interior layout, we think that the spaces which we created would please any architect or interior designer, or for that matter, any person generally.
Our client, who at the time was new to the Bedford area, was a very thoughtful, and pleasant man to work for (and I always say to clients “they are also apart of the design team”). We think he chose us pretty well, at random and since we had not carried out much work in the Bedford area at the time, we were unlikely to have been recommended by anyone who already lived in Bedford. According to our records, he found us in the Yellow Pages, and then from a telephone conversation, he concluded that we were the company he wanted to work on his project with.
I’m very glad that he did.
Since we don’t tend to advertise in the Bedford Yellow Pages any more (actually, we don’t advertise in any Yellow Pages now!) we wouldn’t be found this way again.
Anyhow, our client had a sensible budget to work with in mind, and by spending this amount very wisely, he managed to create a super interior. Obviously, a considerable sum was spent on the building work, and I was also keen to bring it up to a very good standard of thermal insulation, which once shown how it could be done, he was keen to do.
Fortunately even after doing this, he still had enough money left from the budget to spend on the finishing touches. It’s true that if you design carefully enough, you can get a whole lot more for your money than if you aren’t as careful in the design stages. We pride ourselves with being parsimonious with our clients money, so we are always careful!
If I’m honest, in my opinion some architects and architectural designers are not always careful enough, and they bash out designs without caring about the build cost. Bashing out the design could be good for an architect/architectural designers cash flow, but not so good for the clients.
There are some good architects and architectural practices in and around Bedford, but I am pleased to say that after this project, we have established a very good foothold and are recommended by a number of the citizens of Bedford, and may it last for a long time.
Written by Tony Keller – Building Tectonics Ltd.