Architects work with their clients on residential buildings.  When you read that sentence you probably think: house.  But residential buildings are more than just houses.

What is a residential building?

A residential building is defined as one that has more than half of its floor area being used for purposes of the dwelling.

Residential buildings containing single families are most often described as homes or houses. The ones that contain multiple dwelling units are normally referred to as an apartment or duplex buildings to differentiate them from single houses. Condominiums are apartments that are owned rather than rented by the owners. Residential apartments may also be designed as semi-detached pairs or as rectangular blocks with different-sized pieces of ground surrounding them.

Overall, residential buildings may range from huts to high-rise apartment blocks and may have different names depending on their usage.

Considerations

It is important to consider several issues before designing a residential building. Considerations range from safety and size to capacity and lighting.

Architects are tasked with the responsibility of making important decisions before designing buildings. For instance, certain areas chosen for development face higher risks of the adverse effects of natural hazards compared to others. Good examples of areas facing higher risks include those close to the ocean, on fill deposits and on high bluffs. Such buildings usually face the risk of erosion. The recent fire and flooding home damage in California are examples of why this is an important consideration.

Additionally, the residential buildings constructed today are larger and costlier, leading to possibilities of larger economic losses in cases of disaster. Therefore, architects must make sound and accurate decisions on financial implications of construction.

The basis of architects' decisions must include regulatory requirements, associated risks of constructing the residential building on a particular site and the financial consequences of those decisions. Such financial consequences include costs relating to inspections and permits, hazard risk costs, design sustainability and level of hazard resistance.

Architects' knowledge of and adherence to regulatory requirements add to the safety of the residential building.

Last, but not least, architects must consider the aesthetic appearance of the residential building and this includes factors such as size and capacity of the house and lighting. 

Do trends impact an architect’s decisions?

An architect must also consider the latest trends in the residential building industry in terms of materials and styles used.  This includes green building.

Green building, as a form of sustainable design, refers to the utilization of resource-efficient and environmentally responsible processes in a building. Green building is incrementally being adopted in the design and construction of residential houses.

For example, an architect may decide to incorporate a solar panel rooftop system that may add significant attributes the residential house depending on its configuration. Such a system may act as a sail in high winds and this significantly adds uplift loads to the roof, which would be detrimental to the home.  

One example of trendy materials and styles include the use of advanced or optimized framing systems. Overall, such systems reduce construction waste and material usage because they use bigger spaces between framing members. They also utilize smaller framing member and header sizes. 

The role of an architect in residential buildings does not stop at designing. It is the duty of an architect to make decisions on the sustainability, style and safety of the residential buildings.