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)

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 added a second story for more bedrooms. It keeps with the scale of the neighborhood. 

• I added a porch to unify the front façade.

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.

• The dining room opens onto the south-facing deck.

• I put the stairs across from the office because it already has access from that direction.

• The roof angle makes it so the upstairs cannot be 25' wide. With knee-walls, the width is 20', which is still wide enough for two rooms. The roof pitch was adjusted to make sure the second story could be at least 20' wide.

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.

• I chose the color based on the neighboring houses and what felt right for the site.

• The concrete block foundation is existing. The shed is painted the same color, and I added a window.

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.