Are you ready to build your home in the Riviera Maya? When you work with Playa Builder one of the first people that you will be meeting with on a regular basis is our in-house architect Andres Edgardo Lopez. In today’s blog Andres talks about his role in the building process and how he works with a client to develop their vision of the home that they wish build.
Andres: “I deal directly with the project proposals and the elaboration of the design. This involves speaking with clients, from the initial design until the conclusion of the construction. In regards to the design, I work directly with the client.
The first step involves getting to know the client; what they like, what they want in their house, how many bedrooms they want. Some people are very specific and want the common areas to be quite large, with the bedrooms smaller because they’re not going to be spending much time there. Others want bedrooms that are more spacious because they plan on spending more time there. So it’s important that the first step involve getting to know the client and what they like. Once this process is complete we talk about the design.
At the end of the day the construction process is the same everywhere, regardless if the materials used are wood, concrete, or stone. When we make reference to having a clean design, it means that when you touch a surface it does not feel rough or gritty. It means that the floors are well placed and the wood doesn’t have any cracks. All of those details are very important because that is what people notice when they walk into a house.
Every client is different and every one of them comes to us with their own ideas, saying ‘I want this in my house, I want that in my house.’ If a client doesn’t know what they want then we show them in person using real world examples. The client might come to us with twenty ideas or twenty different architectural styles that they like, so the process involves taking those ideas and turning them into one idea.
The style that we work with most is contemporary Mediterranean, because it’s the most general design. It contains a mixture of many architectural cultures which can be adapted to whatever area of the coast. But generally the client comes with a clear idea of what they want , and based on what I know about the architecture I adapt it to what they will like. I analyze all of those aspects. What do they want in their home? How high do they want the ceilings? Do they want roof tiles or clay? Perhaps they want windows that are made of aluminum or wood, or they floors made of marble or granite. There are a lot of factors to consider, but all of it is ultimately based on the requirements of the client. We sketch out what the client wants on a piece of paper, and only after this initial process is complete do we move on to the construction phase.”
