Before your architect starts any kind of design on your project, there is a lot they want to know. Understanding all the opportunities, limitations, regulations and nuances of the site is a big part of getting the design process started.
In order to design a building that performs, holds up, is optimized for sun, wind and weather, and that minimizes impact to the surrounding environment and ecosystems, fits in with or elevates the neighborhood, it’s important to go through an architectural site analysis.
This is a process of research and discovery, finding information provided by the county or municipality, historical records, measured and tested on site by engineers and surveyors, and by visiting the site to experience it in ways that don’t come through in the documentation.
All of this information is analyzed for key features that drive the design.
It’s worth noting that in most architecture contracts, providing the initial site info, surveys, soil samples, geotechnical reports and so on, is the responsibility of the client. If this sounds intimidating, your architect can advise you on who to work with and what specific info they need.
As the client, it’s worth understanding this part of the process and why it’s valuable. You will play an important role in many conversations during this phase, and they will lead to decisions that affect the size, shape, style, cost and feasibility of your project.
What is Architectural Site Analysis?
The basics: Architectural site analysis is a process used by architects to gather and evaluate information about a specific location.
This process involves collecting data on the site’s physical characteristics, such as soil conditions, topography, and existing structures. Additionally, it includes an assessment of the environmental aspects, including climate, sun path, wind patterns, and vegetation, and research to understand the cultural, historical, and social context.
The insights gained from site analysis inform critical design decisions. This deep dive, early on the in process sets your architect up with what they need to come up with a design where the final structure is well-suited to its environmental conditions and is inspired by the site and the needs of its users.
Why is a Site Analysis Necessary?
A site analysis is useful for several reasons, playing an important role in the success of an architectural project. It provides a thorough understanding of the site’s conditions, so that your architect can make come up with design ideas that will work. By analyzing factors such as soil quality, topography, and climate, architects can find potential challenges and come up with strategies to address them.
Site analysis helps the design meet your goals for health and wellness, efficiency and environmental sensitivity. By evaluating the site’s natural features, such as sun exposure, wind patterns, and vegetation, architects can design buildings that leverage these elements for passive heating and cooling. Proper orientation can guide a design that maximizes natural light and ventilation, reducing the need for artificial lighting and mechanical cooling. Analyzing the soil for toxins, mapping subtle energies and the earth’s magnetic fields can remediate potential hazards and influence where the building sits on the site and the room arrangement within.
Understanding the surrounding context allows architects to create designs that respect and enhance the street, the neighborhood and the community. This means a study of scale, materials, colors and styles. Appropriate contextual design makes for stronger neighborhoods and robust property values.
In addition to looking at the physical properties and experience of the site, it’s also important to use this phase to build a thorough understanding of the rules. Local codes, bylaws, ordinances, easements, overlays and design guidelines need to be understood. This knowledge not only guides the design but also helps avoid delays later in the architectural design process, ensuring a smoother progression from concept to construction.
How to do Site Analysis?
Conducting a comprehensive site analysis involves looking at a wide variety of factors, each critical for gathering detailed information about the location. The process typically begins with off-site research and analysis, followed by an on-site visit, and leads to a thorough evaluation of the collected data and a distilling down of the key factors most relevant to the design.
Off-site Research and Analysis
As we mentioned, you’ll be working with your architect to collect the necessary surveys and reports.
Your surveyor will measure the topography, landmarks, location of water and existing features. This often includes noting the size and location of trees, specifically protected species.
The civil engineer will map out roads and grading and help determine floor elevations. They’ll also be calculating your cut/fill balance as the design develops, ideally designing the site so that dirt doesn’t need to be removed from or brought to the site. (Saving time and money)
Depending on the site, a geotechnical engineer might also be involved to assess soil conditions and water table concerns.
These reports serve as the backdrop for your architect to start designing and modeling, locating the building accurately on the site.
In addition. your architect will be collecting data from various online and physical sources. This includes reviewing maps, satellite images, zoning regulations, and historical records. Many towns and counties have extensive Geographic Information Systems (GIS) that architects can use to collect information about existing infrastructure, local regulations, seismic, fire and flood hazards, and much more. Every area will have its own conditions and concerns, and will provide information in varying degrees.
This remote research helps in identifying potential opportunities and constraints, preparing your architect with a good understanding of technical features of the site, which will inform subsequent site visits.
On-site Analysis
An on-the-ground investigation allows architects to observe conditions that are not always visible in remote analysis, such as specific microclimates, vegetation types, and local community interactions. During the visit, architects can take measurements, photograph the site, and conduct interviews with local stakeholders. This direct engagement provides a deeper understanding of the site’s unique characteristics and challenges.
We’ve talked about many technical ways that the site is understood, but it’s important to note that it isn’t all about the data. Your architect needs to ‘get a feel’ for the place. There are many intangible factors that can be learned by simply spending time on the site, being there at different times of day. All of the surveying and measuring an mapping might not tell you how the light feels when it comes through the trees in a certain spot at a certain time. You might not hear sounds from a nearby playground unless you’re there as school is letting out. The way the breeze comes across the site has a feeling to it that doesn’t show up in a wind diagram. A certain view might not come through in a photo. A place where people gravitate to to gather and have conversations might have something about it that can’t be explained. A part of our site analysis is to find the ‘place of the place.’ This is a spot on the site that the whole design can be centered around. Maybe it’s the main living room with windows to a view. Maybe it’s a secret loft, or a hideaway with a window onto a creek that you can leave open on nice evenings to bring in the sound of the water. It depends on the site and on what you value for your lifestyle and routines.
Obviously, the building needs to work in all the technical ways, but it’s also about the experience; how the rooms feel, how a certain moment is captured or created. These observations inspire the art and magic of architecture.
Evaluating Your Site Visit
After the site visit, the gathered data is evaluated to find determining factors and to draw meaningful conclusions. This involves analyzing notes, photographs, and measurements to identify patterns and significant observations. Architects compare this on-site data with the desktop analysis to refine their understanding of the site.
Depending on the project, they might prepare a site analysis report that they share with you, or they might keep their analysis for their own internal reference.
Presenting your Site Analysis
Early in the design process (conceptual design or early schematic design phase,) your architect will often create diagrams that explain their interpretation of the of the site.
Site diagrams can be an art form. They capture the essence and key elements of the site that will influence the design and put them together in clear graphics. Everyone will have their own style. Generally an architect will use their analysis and diagrams to explain how the site links to or informs their overall concept for the project.
9 Ways That Site Analysis Can Help Your Project
- Informed Decision-Making
- Provides a solid foundation of data to optimize design choices and structure timelines and budgets.
- Risk Mitigation
- Identifies potential site challenges early, allowing for proactive solutions and reducing project risks.
- Efficiency and Performance
- Using sun and breezes or sheltering from them will shape the design, site orientation, window placements, overhang sizes and so on.
- Regulatory Compliance
- The project needs to adhere to zoning laws, building codes, design and environmental regulations.
- Concept Design & the Big Idea
- Specific characteristics of the site inspire the concept. Building into a slope, capturing a view or a moment, building a courtyard around a tree. Fallingwater is an example of using the site to create a magical experience.
- Cost Efficiency
- Reduces unforeseen expenses by anticipating site-related issues and incorporating them into the budget from the outset. Understanding soil conditions and water table issues are the most common factors that require more costly site work.
- Community Engagement
- For larger projects or public projects, the support of the community is important to getting the project to move forward. The site analysis can tie into a community ‘charrette’ where stakeholders get together to work with the architect to address concerns and gain insights into the social and cultural context.
- Foundations and Floor Elevations
- Having good or bad soil will dictate your options for foundations. Clay in the soil, or bedrock with require very different solutions. Working around water table issues will also impact how your foundation is designed, and where you can put your floor levels. This info will come from your engineers taking bore hole samples and providing a report and recommendations.
- The Intangibles
- Getting a feel for the place is part of your architect’s process. This isn’t about measurements but about feel. Their ability to visit a site comes through training and experience. It’s about the spark of inspiration and finding the unique opportunities the site provides.
