ARCHIeSTUDIO

Design and Architecture - Hands On

Archiestudio
Aradhana, 151 Priyadarsini Nagar
P. O. Ayyanthole
Thrissur, Kerala 680003
India

ph: +91 487 2381446
alt: +91 9447188446

archiestudio.thrissur@gmail.com

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  • Home
  • About Us
    • About Money
  • Aptitude Training
    • Architecture Aptitude
    • Architect of Destiny
  • VIRTUAL STUDIO
    • Online Workshop
    • Studio on Shade Shadow and Sketching
    • MAY 2020
    • APRIL 2020
  • ARCHITECTURAL DRAUGHTSMANSHIP
  • DESIGN WORKSHOPS
    • CARE Trichy - Shelter on a Hill
    • CARE Trichy - Geometrical Form for Design
    • BVB Hubli - Space and Elements of Visual Composition
    • Bishop Jerome SOA, Kollam - Built Form & Shadows
    • CARE Trichy - Form Cluster Space
    • USD Mysore - Kindergarten Spaces for Kids
    • CARE Trichy - Fuel Station Design
    • ODSA Kolkata - Hide and Seek Space
    • CARE Trichy - Rural Studio 2014
    • CARE Trichy - Rural Studio 2015
    • BVP COA, Navi Mumbai - Sunshine Pavilion
    • CARE Trichy - Making Space
    • SAN Academy, Coimbatore - Visual Composition and Spatial Design
    • Manipal University - Shape, Form and Space
    • PIADS Nagpur - Genesis of Architectural Form
    • PIADS Nagpur - Learning Structures Hands On
    • Crescent SOA, Chennai - Selfie Point
    • CARE Trichy -Thiagaraja Memorial Brief
    • CARE Trichy - Thiagaraja Memorial Concepts
    • I.I.T. Kharagpur - Decoding Corbusier
    • BNCA Pune - Shape, Walls and Roof
    • SPA Vijayawada - Re-Looking Vijayawada
    • Symbiosis Pune - Exhibition Pavilion
  • FIRST YEAR TIPS
    • Color
    • BASIC DESIGN HISTORY
    • WHY DESIGN...
    • FIGURE & GROUND - MAKING SHAPE
    • SHAPES AND FORMS
    • Shape and Illusion
    • Geometry and Form
    • Geometry and Structure
    • Architectural Graphics - 1
    • ARCHITECTURAL DRAWING
  • SECOND YEAR TIPS
    • Foundation
    • SUPERSTRUCTURE - MASONRY
    • SUPERSTRUCTURE - RCC WORK
    • Mud Construction
    • Architectural Design
    • WRITING OFF
  • THIRD YEAR TIPS
  • FINAL YEAR TIPS
    • Setting Up Office
  • Tips for B.Arch. Thesis
    • Hijra Utthan Kendra
    • DESIGN WORKS FOR EDUCATION
  • RECOMMENDED BOOKS
    • The Healthy House
    • The Reasoning Architect
    • Anubhuti
    • A Conscious Perception
  • New Age Syllabus
  • TEACHING STRATEGIES
    • Learnings of a Teacher
    • WHAT TO TEACH
    • Structural Systems
    • Teaching History of Architecture
    • Skills, Teaching and Learning
    • Design Brief
    • Digital Documentation
  • SPACES FOR LEARNING ARCHITECTURE
    • C. A. R. E.
  • DE-MYSTIFYING M. ARCH.
    • MONSOON IN KERALA - ARCHITECTURAL RESPONSES
    • RITUALISTIC ARTICULATION - PERFORMANCE SPACES
    • De-coding Vernacular Narratives
    • Multi-disciplinary Approach to De-coding Vernacular Systems
    • Design Systems Through History
    • Adaptive Reuse - Step by Step
  • Surviving PhD
  • Linkages in Architecture : Traditional to Modern
    • A Bus Journey Through Kerala
    • Introduction
    • Scope and Limitations
    • Choice of Study Area
    • Kerala's Traditional Built Forms
  • PROJECTS
    • Following Footprints
    • Makeover of an Old Building
    • Demolition is a Crime
    • Extending Life of a Building
    • Construction of Post-Traditional House
    • LIVING ARCHITECTURE
  • When there were only pencil, pen and typewriter
    • Old Bungalows of Bangalore... in 1978
    • Traditions of Presentation - Case Study 1978
    • When there were only pencil, pen and typewriter - Part 2
  • Re-Do 1
    • Sketch Work Flow
    • Bubble Diagram
  • Re-Do 2
  • Re-Do 3
  • SKETCHING
    • PEN & INK
  • MASTER'S GALLERY
    • BEST TEN
    • THE BEST EIGHT
    • The Best Five
    • Joseph Allen Stein
  • My COA 1973-2016
  • Harmonizing the Cusp
  • Act or Re-Act
    • The First President
    • History of CoArchitecture
    • 11 Things to Do for Change
    • More the Merrier?
  • Built Heritage Values
    • Brahmasthanam
    • Vaastu Puja
    • Sustainability from Traditions in India
  • REGIONAL HERITAGE - KERALA
  • Archiestudio Gallery
  • Contact Us

About Money

I started my architectural practice, that was way back in 1978, when I was just in fourth year, not yet a graduate...

My uncle asked me to design a house for him in Kerala, in a small village called Irinjalakkuda. I was proud that my uncle asked me fully trusting me before I had even become a graduate. So I spent some nights figuring out what he needed for himself and his small family, put in all my new found fundas on ergonomics (my aunt was of short stature you see, which became the guideline for kitchen detailing...), ventilation in hot humid Kerala and so on... 

The rest of the house got built, after I supervised the line out for foundation, in my absence while I was busy with my thesis in final year. I had given sufficient drawings I hoped. One year later when I visited Kerala, I was delighted at the sight of my first project sitting pretty on the site. My uncle was also delighted I knew, when he gave me Rs.300/- as fees for my efforts of making the design drawings and details. The house cost about 80,000/- I guessed and with all new furnishings etc. it was about 125000/- I had never compared my fees then with the cost of the project. Rs. 300/- itself was a huge sum for me, equal to two months expenses in hostel and fees in IIT Kharagpur. The Value of the first project of my life was much more than the Fees I received.

In final year professional practice subject we were taught that we had to follow the professional fees as per guidelines given by the Indian Institute of Architects, which had a varying fees structure based on complexity of the project, from a small house to large institutional etc. 

I worked for several years after graduation on construction sites, in some offices and in associateship with some friends. It was in 1986 that I got my first independent project, an industrial work, in Thane Kalwe. I grabbed the professional fees and conduct manual of the Indian Institute of Architects and billed my clients according to it, for stagewise payments. There was no objection to my billing, as the clients were very happy with my timely delivery mechanisms, record keeping and thorough supervision of works. 

This experience made me a stickler for billing appropriately, never compromising on the fees. When the Council of Architecture regulations came into force as 5% of project cost as the standard fees, I continued with the same. Of course there have been many occasions when I was told I am charging more as many architects are willing to do the same job for as less as 1.5 %. To that I had politely refused to take up projects.

As a result, over a period of time from 1999 till now I did less and less projects, but whatever I did were for 5% fees, in some cases even for 7% for conservation and adaptive reuse type of projects. There were only two occasions from 1986 till date when the clients did not pay me the last instalment of fees... their way of telling me that I was charging higher as compared to other architects in town... I left them to their 'Karma'... payback time will come, sometime...

There were occasions when clients did not want to leave me, wanted me only to do the job, but for reduced fees... for them I always had a ready story with me as follows...readily enacted too in real time...

"We are having idli vada sambhar in a restaurant... the bill turns up as Rs.95/- and you are paying the bill. You give the waiter a hundred rupee note, and he brings back five one rupee coins along with the bill and leaves it in a dish on the table as we get up... Now if you take even one coin out of that and pocket it, I assume that you are not the kind of human being I would like to do business with... An architect is not just worth a waiter, but he is also the cook, you see..."

The story has worked well all these years. Stingy clients get the message... 


-  Dr. Harimohan Pillai


Copyright : Dr. Harimohan Pillai . Architect

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Archiestudio
Aradhana, 151 Priyadarsini Nagar
P. O. Ayyanthole
Thrissur, Kerala 680003
India

ph: +91 487 2381446
alt: +91 9447188446

archiestudio.thrissur@gmail.com

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