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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
multidimensional 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.
