In this short, exploratory project conducted in collaboration with the Belgian Architects’ Association (Ordre des Architectes), we disseminated a large-scale survey intended to collect first-hand data from architects. The goal was simple: understand how Belgian architects (most of them working is small companies) do interact with their clients, and how the quality of this interaction might affect their satisfaction at work.

The online survey gathered 604 valid answers. Among the results, architects who report a higher level of satisfaction at work are also the few ones that (even partly) involve their clients in co-design processes. That being said, most architects (42%) still settle for simple conversational interactions; only 18% negotiate design choices with their clients and 15% ask their clients to choose a preferred solution among a limited set of design proposals. This exploratory research paves the way for further qualitative inquiry, aiming at renewing architects’ and clients’ interaction models.