Site Planning for Your New Home
As a follow up to an earlier post, Looking for Property to Build Your Custom Home?, today I’m going to answer our client’s second question: Once you’ve found that perfect property, how do we decide where to put the house?
A client we worked with to find “that perfect property” is about to close on 14 gorgeous acres in the Hudson Valley. It is partially dense forest (read:private), partially open pasture for future stables, and it has a large creek running through the middle.
In designing a site plan we’ll use many of the same features we looked for in searching for the property – sun orientation, views, trees, ground, proximity and visibility to the adjacent properties…
Sun orientation: Southern exposure (which provides maximum sunlight) is ideal for your home – especially in our Northern climate.
Views: Locating views, whether near or far, help to orient the site plan as well as inform the organization of internal spaces. For example, our client would like both the Main House and the Guest House to have views of the creek. More specifically, they would also like the living room and the bedroom in the guest house to have that same view.
Trees: Trees can provide both privacy and shade. The types of trees, deciduous or evergreen, should be noted as well. While it’s nice to have shade during warm summer months, it’s even better to have sunlight during cold winter ones.
Proximity to adjacent properties and to the road: Most of our clients would like as much privacy as possible so proximity to neighboring houses is an important factor. And along those same lines, access from the road is another design element to consider. Long driveways do cost more money, but something about winding your way into the woods adds a tremendous amount of value to many of our clients who are seeking a retreat or private residence for their family.
Site Planning + Architecture
Working with a client to design their site is very similar to working with our clients to design their dream home: We ask a LOT of questions…
How do you envision you and your family living on your property, what is your favorite view, and where will the kids play? Do you envision a separate guest house? ..an attached garage? Like our clients’ stables above, do you need any accessory buildings on your property? … How will you use your outdoor space? Do you hope to use it year-round?….
Whether an intimate moment enjoying the sound of the creek or a large family gathering for a Thanksgiving feast, we are designing for every scenario as we are planning your site. Yes, we also have to consider the not-as-exciting things like setbacks, zoning restrictions, flood plains and soil conditions, but our ultimate task is to make your dreams for your property become reality.
If you follow me on snapchat then you may have already seen the above site visits… but for those of you over 15 (only kidding!) I’ve put it in “old school” form for you here. 🙂 Enjoy!
(PS: Follow me on snapchat: architectmm)
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