Sustainable Building: Location and Site

 Ideally, sustainable building is about setting priorities and moving to the next decision when the previous one has been adequately addressed. Simple as a concept, but often not a reality when you hear different green building folks chime in to say that they have the “green” solution for you. In this spirit, I have tried to boil down what I think of as the core principles that guide sustainable building and how they should be ranked in importance. This is for new and old buildings, large and small. Start at the first step and move your way up the decision chain, making connections between the steps all the time. You may notice that many of the goodies are near the top, which means we are not talking so much about the stuff but how the whole building is going to work. Maybe this would make a good board game, a rip off of Chutes and Ladders. A downloadable PDF is available here of the seven steps.

Step One begins with location. You have to live somewhere. That somewhere is usually inside. That inside is only one of the insides you want to be somewhere today. Those insides have a lot to do with the outside. We have been building our civilization bigger and wider for our convenience and pleasure, but any commuter knows that that pleasure is fleeting when they check the traffic report. Our view corridors and green belts wane. The beginning of sustainable building is to build closer to where you spend the rest of your time. The LEED system calls it community connectivity. Your work, your shopping, your parks and many other things are better simply when they are closer.

A good location is taking advantage of civilization by living in it. Pretending that you don’t and building neighborhoods in the middle of “nowhere” achieves neither a neighborhood nor “nowhere.” Connecting with the community means now you can ride your bike to work on a nice day. You can walk back from the bar. You can walk to your new friend’s place. Community connectivity is not just an esoteric green building point but a lifestyle, and ultimately an entire society.

Urban renewal, building reuse, neighborhood and community development all result from proper location. I have noticed that in the last year cities I have been to, Chicago, San Francisco, and Denver, all have very robust downtown apartment building projects. This indicates that demand for living in a denser environment, using less land and other resources, is once again being adopted by our nation.

Siting is where and how you place your building. The first thing to consider is reducing your environmental impact on a chosen site. Protecting water sheds, sensitive habitat, reducing roads and other hardscapes is the first consideration. Try to minimize land disturbance. I have long had the thought that when you find that special place to build, build next to it, not on top of it. After all, that special place is no longer there when you build on it.

Perhaps the biggest mistake that developers make is ignoring orientation. The value of a home and entire neighborhoods is deeply diminished when the lots and buildings are not adept at catching the sunshine. Poor orientation can cost a building upward of 30% in energy cost. That is a substantial number and almost utterly ignored by your local developer. When you look to buy a building this is one of the first things to look for. Good orientation does not only help keep the building cool in the summer and warm in the winter it also “future proofs” your investment. As solar technologies come into their own it would be obvious for you to be able to take advantage of them by having your roof properly facing the sunshine. Oh yeah, it’s cheaper than paying a gas and electric bill.

Siting has some very subtle aspects to it. Prevailing winds are good to capture in the summer and avoid in the winter. A wind rose is a localized chart of seasonal wind characteristics of a location that can help you understand your site. Noise, by way of traffic or other sources, can be addressed and avoided. Sight lines and views have long influenced a building’s siting, but remember those change when that tree grows up or your neighbor gets ready to “pop the top” (a turn of phrase that should perhaps be outlawed). Water runoff has a very real impact.

Before you place a building, sit on the land. Spend real time watching the environment. You will intuitively know where the best place to build will be. There are stories of people who spent years studying their land, the subtleness of the terrain, views, wind and light. They were looking for a way to best harmonize their living with the land they wanted to live upon. Perhaps they are a bit obsessive-compulsive or maybe indecisive but you can bet they have a better home as a result.

Ultimately you do not own land, you borrow it. Being stewards of this borrowed land and keeping it healthy and abundant is a generational effort. When you place your building thoughtfully you have the security of light, heat, cooling and air that will be free for the taking.

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