Site Planning

Designing is imagining yourself doing things, so imaging approaching and arriving at your site.

• What part of the house do you see first? Do you see your house from the street or part way down the drive?
• Is the entry obvious?
• Are your vehicles visible or hidden?
• Do you have room to maneuver them?
• Go to the lot at different times of the day. Where is the sun?
• Is your entry sheltered?
• How do you do snow removal?
• What about other outdoor activities? (gardening, firewood storage, games, courtyards, barbecues, etc)

Imagine all these activities taking place on your site.  Try outlining your outdoor spaces and driveway with stakes and visible twine to get a feeling for their contours. Measure the slope of the ground where you need to know. Spend time on your site during different times of the day so you become aware of where the sun is. Be aware of how the sun will change from season to season. Find out which direction winter winds and summer breezes, rain and snow come from. Know your site at all times of the day and in all seasons.

Make the best use of what the site has to offer, adapt it, modify it.  Imagine landscaping, built elements (such as decks and rock walls) and finishes. A paved driveway will create a different effect from a gravel driveway, for instance. Your house will help create these outdoor spaces and will merge with them. Designing your site is designing your house.  You design your site first, then design your house for the site.

We try not to force or impose structures on the land. Instead we integrate the buildings into the site through design. Leave your lot as natural as possible. Hide cars with plantings.

We feel it is cheaper and more environmentally friendly to change lines on paper to do with house plans than it is to change the lot to fit the house.