How to Avoid Disaster on your Building Journey (and win some Art)!
Mindful Design #05
Road Trip to Makhanda - linocut print by @thethinking_hand
Welcome back to the Mindful Design Movement, newsletter #05.
It’s been a while! We’ve been really busy making our new website as useful as possible for anyone thinking about building. If you want to build a custom home, do a development, or create better workspaces for your team, we can help you get started on the right foot - before you spend money on design and building.
Statistics show 70-80% of all building projects go over budget!
I love being an architect, but hate that this statistic proves true. After 25 years in practice, I can confidently state that the pain of building is largely self-inflicted, and poor planning is the number one cause of this pain. The reality is that we know nothing at the beginning of a project, but everything at the end, when it is too late. I want to get you to the end with your (and my) mental and financial health intact.
That is why we follow a clear planning process. Our Mindful Design Approach is structured in six steps and always begins with a thorough diagnosis. As part of the diagnosis, we ask clients to work through a Project Planning Pack (PPP), which consists of worksheets that are both informative and transformative. Once you’ve worked through them, you’ll be ahead of most people who are thinking about building but feeling too overwhelmed to start. You’ll be able to clearly define your project, know what it will likely cost, and talk to architects, builders, your spouse, your friends, your team, your investors, and yourself with more confidence!
What’s to win?
You might know that I am a compulsive sketcher. I sketch because it helps me see the magic in the everyday. Friends and family have been getting linocuts as gifts, and I have recently started selling them. Last month someone even shoved their way to get to one of my prints during a Christmas in July Secret Santa!
Road trip to Baltimore sketch by @thethinking_hand
So before I launch my second career as a fine artist, download the Project Planning Pack here, work through it, and book a free expert call and I will gift you one of five original artworks valued at R1000 (it’s the one pictured in the header, A3 in size on fancy paper). All you need to do is have a real project, have filled in the Project Planning Pack, and show up for the call.
Don’t worry if you can’t answer all the questions or do all the calculations, I’ll guide you through the process and answer any questions you may have.
Why are am I doing this?
Because the Project Planning Pack and linocuts are pretty cool.
But why, really?
Because when we plan better, we build better and live better.
But REALLY, WHY?
So we can make this world more beautiful*!
Love, Thorsten
Not sure what Mindful Design is all about? Get to know Africa’s # 1 Mindful Design Practice** at www.2610southarchitects.com.
* Beautiful means not only good-looking, but improved physical, mental, and financial well-being.
** We googled it – we’re really #1.
I'm Thorsten Deckler. That’s me on the Melville Koppies doing one of my favorite things: Drawing. I also head up 26’10 south Architects, based in Johannesburg where we have worked on some really tricky problems, like informal settlement upgrading, re-thinking RDP housing (so it does not suck so much), and making a cultural center without a building (because, no budget). Working on these special projects has taught me to think differently, whilst sketching trained me to see beauty and opportunity where others might not. If you work with me, you get to work with my process, designed to help you figure out what you really want and need and how to achieve it.
