Architect or Building Designer: What’s the Difference?
Updated: Oct 2
Choosing the right designer for your project
If you’re planning a renovation, extension or new home, one of the first decisions may be who you engage to design it.
In Queensland, both architects and building designers can prepare designs and documentation for residential projects. From a homeowner’s perspective, the services can initially look quite similar.
There are excellent building designers who produce thoughtful, well-designed homes, just as not every architect approaches a project in the same way. The important question isn't simply which title appears after someone's name, but what level of design thinking, professional advice and involvement your project needs.
Designing the building or solving the problem?
A homeowner might initially say:
“We need another bedroom, a larger kitchen and an extension at the back.”
Those are understandable requests, but they don't necessarily define the real design problem.
The more useful questions might be:
Why isn't the existing house working?
How does the family actually use the home?
Which parts of the existing house are worth retaining?
Could existing spaces be used differently rather than simply adding more floor area?
Where are the best opportunities for light, breezes and connection to the garden?
How should private and shared spaces relate to each other?
What can realistically be achieved within the available budget?
The answer may still be a rear extension with another bedroom and a larger kitchen.
But it might not be.
That's where architectural design becomes less about drawing the building you've asked for and more about understanding the problem you're trying to solve.
Architects are trained to think about space differently
Architectural education places considerable emphasis on understanding the relationship between people, space, site and built form.
That means considering much more than whether the required rooms will physically fit.
A good residential design considers how you move through the house, how spaces connect, where you see the garden from, how daylight enters throughout the day, where breezes come from, how private and communal areas are separated, and how the house might adapt as your needs change.
As Kevin McCloud of Grand Designs put it:
“Great architecture has got very little to do with what things look like; and much more to do with what places feel like.”
That distinction is important. Sometimes a relatively small intervention can completely change how a house feels and functions. Conversely, simply adding more floor area doesn't necessarily make a better home.
The objective isn't necessarily to design more building. It's to create better spaces.
Where does a building designer fit?
If you already have a clear idea of what you want to build and your main requirement is to develop that idea into a workable design and construction documentation, a building designer may be an excellent choice.
If the project involves more complex design questions—particularly with renovations—you may place greater value on the broader spatial and design thinking that forms a significant part of an architect's training.
The distinction isn't simply about who can prepare the drawings. It's about what you need your designer to contribute before those drawings are prepared.
Why this matters for renovations
Renovations make this particularly important because you're working with an existing building, structure, site constraints and usually a finite budget.
The best solution isn't necessarily to add more floor area. Good design looks at the house as a whole to find the best response to the existing home, the site, the way you want to live and the available budget.
Design fees versus building costs
Professional design fees typically represent only a relatively small part of the overall project investment.
A design that adds unnecessary floor area or structural complexity can cost far more to build than any saving in design fees. Good design can instead achieve the desired result through better use of existing space, less building or simpler construction.
So the important comparison isn't simply what does the designer cost? It's what value will their design bring to the project?
Start by defining the problem
Whichever professional you ultimately engage, good projects benefit from spending time understanding the project before jumping into a design solution.
That's the thinking behind our Define Before Design approach.
Before committing to detailed design, we establish what isn't working, what you want to achieve, what the property allows, what your priorities are and what the available budget can realistically support.
Because before deciding what the building should look like, it's worth making sure you're designing the right project.
Planning a renovation or new home?
Get more practical advice on design, planning, budgeting and building to help you make better project decisions.
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