Home for Christmas
- Architeria Architects
- Dec 18, 2024
- 3 min read
Updated: Feb 13
As architects and interior designers, creating homes is what we do. It is easy to think that architects only deal with structures and dimensions, but as each line we draw represents something real for the people living in the home, there is a thought behind every line.
With the Festive Season upon us, it is a good time to reflect upon the meaning of a home. Whether you are hosting this year, or celebrating as a guest, you are in someone’s home, that someone created.
The creation of a home starts with a dream, and it is up to us as architects and interior designers to make that dream a reality. Long before our clients reach out to us, a seed has been planted. The needs, wants and desires have started to form long before the decision to build a home. For them a home is more than ceilings and walls. A home is something we have an emotional connection to, a space where memories are made. A home is a safe haven, an inner sanctuary, and a place for recreation.
A successful design with an outcome that ticks all the boxes is depending upon a good brief and communication. The design process of creating a home often evolves into an intimate relationship between the architect and the client. For an architect, the art of creating a home is a balance between good listening skills, creativity and practicality.
Over the years, I have watched our architects interpreting dreams and desires, carefully guiding clients, balancing budgets with dreams, and ultimately making the visions come alive.
The most satisfying part in this journey is to see the homes becoming a reality. To see the kitchen come alive, with the turkey roasting in the oven and to witness the stockings hanging over the fireplace that was the topic of many design sessions is so very satisfactory. The spaces we plan, the design decisions that we make, they all effectively impact the occupiers. What makes the space feel like home is personal and if we manage to capture the individual needs of our clients, we have managed to create a home.
Close your eyes for a moment and think of the word “home” and what it represents to you. Memories of your child taking their first steps in the living room, or the sliding door that opens to the backyard where the dogs roam around free. The dining room that has hosted numerous guests, with lots of laughter. What do you see? The wallpaper in the nursery, the curved handrail of the staircase, the kitchen tap. The gentle humming of the ceiling fan, the window facing the park.
When you are driving home for Christmas and capture the first glimpse of the family house, the positioning of the gate, the chimney or the front porch, once, they only existed in someone’s dream. The journey from design to finally turning the key to the front door may seem long, but even this journey is creating the very memories that your home is made of.
Breaking ground or pouring concrete are emotional moments, not only for the homeowners, but for the people who designed it. It is the first step of transforming the ink on the paper to bricks and mortar. The ceiling height that allows for an impressive Christmas tree in the foyer, or the cloakroom for the winter boots, small decisions with big impact that now seem like one of the many distant memories that forms a home.
We are blessed to be part of creating history, as many buildings will outlast us and host new generations. We are blessed to be part of the most important of creations, the creation of a home. I believe that when architects design with their hearts, what they really draw is safety, belonging, refuge and love. A line drawn with love is a life lived with laughter, and that is what the true meaning of both a home and this Holiday season is about.
As 2024 is coming to an end, we are looking forward to a new year of new designs. We at Architeria Architects wish all past, present and future clients Happy Holidays and a Joyous New Year in 2025.
Creative Director and Interior Designer
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