How To Work with a Residential Architect

Bob Zuber, AIA

Bob Zuber, AIA
Partner - Architecture Design at Award Winning Chicago Architects, Morgante Wilson

Jun 19, 2018 - 5 min read

How To Work with a Residential Architect

I’m Bob Zuber – a residential architect at Chicago’s Morgante Wilson Architects for two decades, and one of the award-winning architectural firm’s recently-named partners. Today I’ve got five ideas on how to work with a residential architect as part of our 30 Years | 30 Ideas series. Here we go:

Think

Think about why you’re coming to a residential architect in the first place. How do you want to live? Do you want more space? Better views? Something more manageable? Something more comfortable? Room for guests? An eat-in kitchen? Thinking about your motivation for working with an architect can help us peel back the layers of the onion to discover which design considerations are most important to you.

Prepare

You don’t necessarily need to know what you want your house to look like. We can guide the process to help you figure that out. But you have to help us. Gather magazine pages or Pinterest images you especially like or dislike. Drive around and take photos on your phone of houses you admire – or those you don’t care for at all. Eventually we’ll home in on the right style for you.

Trust

Plan from the outset to be receptive to our ideas and to keep an open mind. You may not love our first attempt at a design solution, but if you trust we’ll eventually get to something you do love, the process will be very rewarding – and a lot of fun - for both of us.

Collaborate

At Morgante Wilson, architecture is a collaborative process. Instead of saying, “This is our vision for your house,” we like to work in concert with our clients to arrive at design solutions together. We know it’s important to remain open to your ideas, too.

Push

We love it when clients challenge us! We do our best work that way. We like to be pushed – that’s when we come up with the really creative ideas and details that lead to innovative architecture.

Every one of our residential architects has the talent, the know-how, and the passion to bring the home of your dreams to life. Contact us today to find out more!

Bob Zuber, AIA

Bob Zuber, AIA

Partner - Architecture Design at Award Winning Chicago Architects, Morgante Wilson