In order to make reasonable decisions during the site-selection process, it helps to have general knowledge about:

• Land Use

• The size of blocks & Hierarchy of streets

• Style Considerations (Urbanism)

• Place markers on the ground for approximate dimensions. Record the dimensions onto the site plan. 

• Locate access to the site and to the house.

• Consider future development, and different options for the house. I thought about moving the driveway to the other side of the oak tree to have space for a garage, and a larger front yard.

For deciding how to site the building, it helps to know:

• Form-Based Codes: how much space is needed for a house, for a driveway/garage, for a yard, for a garden, how to shape a cluster, how to position a house for sunlight

• Dynamic Codes, such as privacy requirements like setbacks from the road and neighboring houses, what views tend to be important to people, rules about plants/trees

• Negotiated Rights: ways to negotiate shared space with neighbors

• I divided the house into a main mass and a sub-mass to maintain a domestic scale that matches the neighborhood.

• The house's façade lacks smaller elements like a porch, bay window, or dormers.

• The eaves are toward the street.

To determine the building's massing, it helps to know:

• Form-Based Codes: rules about density, rules about building types

• Massing Rules: rules about proportion/scale, 

• Style Considerations (Architecture): what elements are necessary to convey its style, its use, style compatibility, etc.

To lay out the house, it helps to know:

• Spatial Rules like general sizes for most activities, rules about circulation, rules about privacy, maximizing sunlight and views

• Programmatic Rules like important adjacencies, different user groups, what activities are prioritized given available space, how to combine uses, find equivalent uses, etc.

• The final design for the house should be a complete vision, with colors and materials. The details can change as the house is being built, but in order to build anything, there needs to be a design to execute.

• The construction process should be completed in stages and checked along the way, similar to the design process. Once the foundations are poured, everything should be checked before moving on to load-bearing walls. Then check before adding the second story and roof. Then check before adding partition walls. Then check before adding appliances, furniture, etc.

It helps to know about construction methods, materials, HVAC, structural rules of thumb, furniture layouts, technology and appliances, style details, etc. Style Renders offer a quick way to visualize ideas.