Land Use and Land Planning

Land use and land planning architectural decisions based on the combined principles of “Less is More” and “Design With Nature”, result in:

• Less disturbance of a site’s pre-building vegetative features by conscious choice, which in turn yields “more” in terms of visual aesthetics, “more” capacity for mature vegetation to process carbon dioxide and release oxygen into the atmosphere, “more” corridors, food sources, protection and shelter for wildlife, “more” biodiversity, more shade and protection from the elements for the homes of community residents and the potential for more property appreciation, which typically is characteristic of properties having more intense and mature landscaping, whether natural or planted.
  
  
• Less disturbance of a site’s existing topography invariably yields a community aesthetic and street scape that is more natural and organic, imparting sense of place and uniqueness that is indispensable to sense of community
  
  
• Less disturbance to pre-construction site topography also promotes more diversity in architectural design, which we commission site-specifically for each community to insure that home designs fit and blend into the land, rather than represent an imposing or alien presence on the land. We have yet to see generic house types that lend themselves to positioning on individual lots, which may slope uphill, downhill or side-to-side, unless the land has been mass graded and arbitrarily flattened to make every house site condition uniformly the same. For that reason original, site-specific architecture is viewed as indispensable for minimizing site disturbance, maximizing retention of natural features and mature vegetation and for providing character for both homes and community.
  
  
• Spending less for mass clearing and grading results in more resources being available for development of street scape aesthetics, which combine consistently applied exterior architectural design principles and details, along with an overarching landscape design master plan.
  
  
• Commissioning original architecture that is focused on providing homes that are ”not so big”, that are right-sized to meet more needs while utilizing less space and that are highly adaptable in how individual spaces can be utilized results in home designs more consistent with human scale, less consumptive of materials to construct and more saving of energy and water to operate. Interestingly, it is the home designs that rely less on costly exterior elevation details and materials and, instead, find their appeal through skillful application of time-tested, less expensive design principals governing the use of color, shadow, texture, massing and subtle consistency in exterior detailing that produce a preferable aesthetic result. We have found in our experience that such home designs and street scapes, built upon the time-tested design principles, are more supportive of preservation and enhancement of individual home and neighborhood property values.

The result for architectural design and community building is a community where respect for our natural environment is apparent, where both individual homes and overall community have character and where the panorama of street scape is more pleasing to the senses than any single design element viewed alone. That is when you have been successful as a steward, achieving more through less and through designing with nature.