The design for a detached house was submitted to the aesthetics committee, which uses the image quality plan as a framework for assessment. The plan describes in great detail the image that the house should comply with. It even stipulates that the window frames must be painted ‘white’. Together with the client, however, in the design a well-considered choice was made to choose aluminum ‘steel-look’ window frames in a dark warm gray color to go with the white cemented brick facades, in order to create a contemporary classic look of the house.

Although the building aesthetics committee is also of the opinion that the chosen window frames in a dark color create an attractive image that fits the location, it sees no possibility to deviate from the image quality plan and the municipality seems to adopt the advice. The municipality has been asked to look again at the possibilities of agreeing to the proposed window frames. After all, if a client decides to paint the window frames dark after the completion of the house, in this situation this is a permit-free activity and why not try to reach consensus on the image beforehand?

Thus, at our request, the plan was once again presented to the committee, with the visualization of the design also showing a variant with white window frames. These images and the above argument convince the committee sufficiently to agree to a different color for the window frames. There is no accounting for taste, but in an open dialogue with mutual respect and in which certain choices are substantiated with good arguments, there is always room to make the “impossible” possible.