Custom Home Design: The Alchemy of Client Desires

VISION House Austin transforms abstractions into reality.

While some people may perceive architects as rule-following draftsmen, architects committed to creating innovative and sustainable homes are comparable to artists as well as scientists. Their job requires the talent of a polymath to translate abstract concepts such as a client’s desire for a “light and airy” home into concrete design elements.

Barley|Pfeiffer Architecture’s project programming offers suggestions to clients about style elements available for their new homes, such as window and door placements, and energy-efficient roofing materials. Courtesy Barley|Pfeiffer Architecture

Perhaps the ultimate example of a polymath, the architect, artist, sculptor and engineer Leonardo Da Vinci integrated his scientific research into everything he designed along with his artistic interpretation. The thread that wound through all of his intellectual and creative pursuits was saper vedere (“knowing how to see”).

“Our primary guide for any project is the site,” says Alan Barley, co-owner of Barley|Pfeiffer Architecture in Austin. “The site tells us what to do, then we work with our clients to dig deeply into what they want and seamlessly integrate their priorities into the design.”

Many custom home buyers think first about features they want and the details they’ve seen on sites such as Houzz and Pinterest rather than the overall design that fits their land and lifestyle, says Peter Pfeiffer, co-owner of Barley|Pfeiffer Architecture.

“Every house needs to start out with a well-thought out design, which is why we serve as trusted advisors to help people make informed decisions,” Pfeiffer says. “Just like when you talk to your teenage kids, sometimes you need to ask the questions that aren’t being asked enough, like ‘why are you doing this?’ We call our process ‘project programming.’”

Through project programming, the architects gain clarity about the purpose of the project and the purpose of each client request, he says. 

“Clients don’t know what they don’t know, so we need to ask the right questions to help them think about the right things,” Barley says. “Then we can serve as their guide.”

At VISION House Austin, designed by Barley|Pfeiffer Architecture and built in partnership with Green Builder Media, homeowners Robert and Judi George participated in the exploratory process before Barley and Pfeiffer developed their design.

“We think of it as our clients writing the next chapter of the book of their lives when they choose to build a custom home,” Barley says. “But it’s their book, not ours. Our job is to help them write it.”

Socratic Method Leads to Clarity

The team at Barley|Pfeiffer Architecture relies on the Socratic method of asking questions that unearth deeper knowledge rather than talking and telling people what to think. For more than 30 years, they have used a 20- to 25-page questionnaire that customers complete to begin the design process.

“We ask the clients to come back with one set of answers—not his-and-hers answers,” says Joel Effland, project manager for the VISION House Austin with Barley|Pfeiffer Architecture. “It’s too easy for architects to become part-time marriage counselors, so we ask them to make decisions as a couple.”

The questionnaire starts with big picture questions about the purpose of building a new home to help people think about their true desires and objectives, Barley says.

“We ask people how long they plan to live in the house, about their household and their lifestyle,” Effland says. “Then we talk about what they like about the property and a neighborhood to get to know and understand them and their goals.”

Questions address topics such as whether buyers are looking for privacy and want to be sequestered from neighbors or prefer to feel connected to them, Effland says.

“Then we get into the nuts and bolts of the design with an extensive list of questions to think about things like the kind of windows and doors they want,” Effland says.

Few buyers know the style of home they want, Barley says, so they make suggestions.

“We take our cues from the area and the site to recommend locally sourced low-maintenance materials that are fireproof,” Barley says. “Our favorite roofing material is metal for safety and energy efficiency.”

The macro and micro issues are pulled together in one document to provide a guide for the architect and the project manager.

“We spend two or three hours going through the questionnaire after the clients complete it,” Barley says. “The document becomes the recipe for the house that we match with the recipe of the site.”

Client preferences also must be matched with their budget.

“When it’s time to make decisions, we listen to the clients and understand each opinion,” Effland says. “Then we explain the ramifications of each decision and put it in the context of their budget.”

Features and finishes that can be included are kept in the plan as much as possible, but the project manager also identifies items that may need to be adjusted to fit the budget.

“Budgeting is part of the programming guide because we want to reconcile the plans early while we still have flexibility to make changes,” Barley says.

“Every house needs to start out with a well-thought-out design…sometimes you need to ask the questions that aren’t being asked enough, like ‘why are you doing this?”’—Peter Pfeiffer, co-owner of Barley|Pfeiffer Architecture

A Common-Sense Approach to Sustainability and Architecture

The programming guide is part of the practical, reasoned approach to architecture embraced by Barley and Pfeiffer.

A home shouldn’t be a “ball and chain” that requires homeowners to do too much work to make it sustainable, Pfeiffer says.

“We believe in ‘doing by design’ so that the house operates as it should,” he says. “Even indoor air quality can be improved by choosing materials that don’t contribute any off-gassing, so your air is cleaner from the beginning.”

While a custom home should meet the clients’ desires, architects also need to design homes with principles of sustainability that ultimately result in a better home, Pfeiffer says. 

For example, homes are often designed with a wall of windows to capture a desirable view without regard for western exposure. The homeowners end up with a view they love that must be covered with blinds most of the day to avoid the impact of solar heat.

“Architects should start by doing to their home what they would do to their body to make it more comfortable,” Pfeiffer says. “That means providing shade and a breeze in a hot climate.”

Just as the natural philosophers of the Enlightenment like Descartes emphasized the value of reason, rationalism and scientific understanding, architects such as Pfeiffer and Barley rely on their investigation of sunlight, air flow, seasons and climate to inform their designs. 

Natural Cooling Strategies

Isaac Newton’s Enlightenment era principles of natural philosophy were formed by rational thought and enhanced with scientific studies and techniques. For centuries, people built homes in locations and with design elements to maximize natural cooling. Homes were set under trees, close to water or on hillsides to catch breezes. Features such as deep front porches and roof overhangs made it easier to survive hot summers all over the world.

Barley and Pfeiffer embrace that philosophical approach for every home they build, including the VISION House Austin.

“We like to build green homes by design that will function efficiently even before we put systems in place,” Barley says. “The systems such as air conditioning can be smaller if you build the house to be shady where it needs shade and is sited to catch breezes.”

Most homes the firm designs include an overhang of at least three feet or more if needed, Effland says.

“That reduces the direct sunlight and glare from windows,” Effland says. “To combat the glare in homes that are not designed this way, homeowners often close the blinds and turn on the lights, which then heat up the home.”

In addition to overhangs, Barley and Pfeiffer design homes in tune with nature and each site. They avoid placing large expanses of glass doors and windows on the western side of each home to reduce exposure to the hot afternoon sun in Austin. Instead, they focus on placing windows and glass doors on the northern and southern sides of each home and the southern side, which allows natural light into the home without heat.

“When we lay out a house, we try to design it so most rooms have natural light coming from at least two sides,” Effland says. “This provides natural ventilation when the air is cool enough, plus you need less artificial light.”

Rooms in the VISION House Austin are placed strategically so that the ones that are unlikely to be occupied in the afternoon—such as the guest bedroom and bathroom—are on the western side of the house. The south side of the house is shaded. The rooms most likely to be used in the daytime are sited to face the northern side of the house, which also has the best views.

“There’s a natural breeze that comes from the south and southeast, so we placed the swimming pool and green spaces to catch the breezes and enhance them rather than block them,” Effland says.