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Rethinking Architecture: From the Inside Out
"Walk the site and see what you've got."
Visiting the home site early in the design process allows the architect to see where the sun hits the earth, what
kind of topography he or she will be working with, and even how the wind might impact the future home. It's a
multi-dimensional approach the requires firsthand experience on the part of the architect on site. Walking the
land, feeling it underfoot and experiencing it personally helps the architect find the best views. Stand where
different rooms of the home might be and visualize how to orient rooms in the floor plan based on what's really
happening on the site. This personal interaction with the site also helps one consider the best transition from the
road to the home itself. In this way, the architect can begin crafting an idea of what it might look like to approach
the home as one drives up. Then consider what it might be like to move on foot from one's car to the front door
as that transition sets the stage for the feeling visitors have when they enter the front door.
