Site Design

Sustainable design

Sustainable designers work with sites to create healthful, efficient, and low impact human habitats with as little destruction of, or disruption to, existing ecological habitats as possible. Whereas conventional site design patterns may be primarily generated by construction costs and zoning requirements, sustainable site design is primarily generated by a desire to minimize environmentally destructive impacts of the construction process by integrating with, or the reintroduction of, natural processes.

During the early part of the 20^th century, the availability of cheap fossil fuels, central heat, air conditioning, and structural steel allowed architects to distance themselves from the ages old consideration of climate and landscape systems functions in their designs. The whole systems thinking approach gave way to professional specialization as building systems became more complex and their function became about keeping climate away from the inhabitants.

What we now call sustainable design never went away entirely. Many practitioners continued to design with nature, understanding and incorporating mechanics of the planet into their designs. But heightened ecological and environmental awareness, and the energy crisis during the 1970’s, inspired a more widespread return to the basics of climatic design and understanding a building’s impact on its site.

Sustainable designers understand and work with the relationships among interconnected climatic and natural processes and among interconnected design and construction professionals necessary to construct sustainable sites before, during and after construction.


Siting buildings: conventional or contemporary, compared with neo-traditional or sustainable practices

The marriage of building and landscape is something that is often overlooked in conventional construction practices. Basic, code-compliant site planning is typical of the contemporary building process. Square footage and access is determined, and the building may be plopped onto the land with regard to little more than setback regulations and road orientation. Often, the site may be stripped of all its features—from topsoil to landform to trees--to ease construction access and speed up construction time. Once construction is complete, the building may be “shrubbed up” by the landscape crew. Now, this image may represent a worst case scenario for someone interested in sustainable practices, but not so for someone interested in maximizing profit, especially in a lively construction market.

Even well designed, efficient structures -- structures that have low infiltration rates, are well-ventilated, that have maximized and minimized solar gain in the appropriate seasons, and have minimized thermal conduction, etc. can be plopped down any and everywhere without regard to the site. A green building, but an unsustainable site design, is the result. Sustainable site design attempts to enhance the building’s performance using landscape strategies.

Some conventional sites clearly include sustainable elements, either intentionally or inadvertently; but sustainability is not the goal of the design. Conventional design tends to approach building in a piecemeal fashion. Each profession or trade has its own responsibility. Alternatively, each design decision influences another (and another and another) in a complex series of interconnectedness in green site design. Understanding these influences and weaving them together in the best fit for the site and the structure is important to sustainable development.

Values define site development

Although fundamental principles exist, the umbrella of sustainability is so vast that each person must develop his or her own definition of sustainable site design based on individual values and priorities. Here is my off-the-cuff definition (today):

Sustainable site design results in a built environment that:

•Is informed by climatic and environmental site conditions

•Uses this knowledge to benefit the structure and its inhabitants (durability, efficiency, health and comfort)

•Preserves and/or creates habitat for other creatures by reducing construction impact, site disturbance, building footprint, and the amount of lawn

•Allows water that falls on the site to remain on the site

•Employs a plant community model for newly planted areas

•Creates comfortable spaces for people

Beth Paulson - 2008