DEFINITION
SITE PLANNING
The art and science of arranging the uses of portions of land is site planning. Site
planners designate these uses in detail by selecting and analyzing sites, forming land use
plans, organizing vehicular and pedestrian circulation, developing visual forms and
material concepts, readjusting existing landforms by design grading, providing proper
drainage, and finally developing the construction details necessary to carry out the
project.
SITE DESIGN
Entails the whole range of concerns relating to the development, or
redevelopment, of a piece of ground for some planned purposes. Common purpose is the
construction of a building on the ground of a site; thus, building/site relations and
interactions to direct physical connections and sharing of the site space are experienced
or perceived.
1. Site Development. Concerns items on and below the ground surface of a site, the
buildings and its various building utilities and services.
SITE CONDITIONS
1. Existing Site Conditions
2. Design Problem consideration
3. Physical Site conditions
4. Site Survey. Maps on boundaries, access road location and transportation
networks, utilities easement, and major site features.
5. Helpful Maps. Geologic Map, Zoning Map, Aerial Surveys, General Map
6. Site Development Plans
7. Site Plans
8. Grading Plans
9. Construction Plans
10. Helpful Data Sources: Surface Drainage, Existing Streets, Existing Utilities,
Adjacent Properties
11. General Information on:
Ownership Legality/Access availability and usage
Zoning Ordinance
Weather and General Climatic Records
Regional Demographic Studies
General Community or Regional Development Plans
Legal Constraints
Ownership
Usage Restrictions
Building Codes/Local and National Building laws & Ordinances
THE ASPECTS OF SITE PLANNING
1. DEFINING THE SITE DESIGN PROBLEM. The problem considered is how
to get a building on the site and which site situations may present constraints or
difficulty.
2. TRAFFIC. Management of considerable traffic for both the pedestrian and
vehicles. People and cars must be moved on and off the site and around the site for
various purposes: entry, access roads, pedestrian routes, and vehicular system
routes.
3. PARKING. A requirement for all building sites. It may be a surface parking on a
paved area or a structure parking within the building or in a separate building on
site.
4. THE VISIBLE SITE. Site Planning generally deals with the visible portion of the
site as to what is seen walked on and participated or used by the users of the site
and the buildings on it. It shall be considered from these views:
a. All possible points: on the site, off the site, inside and outside the building,
from the neighboring buildings, etc.
b. At night, during daylight, with site lighting turned on or off.
c. At different times of the year, different seasons affect landscape and
environment of the site.
d. By persons on vehicles passing through or just walking by.
BUILDING/SITE RELATIONS
Siting the building establishes the specific geometric, spatial relationship between a
building and its site. Consisting of :
HORIZONTAL POSITIONING.
Establishes the plan location of the building on the site considering the following factors:
Setbacks
Protection of easements
Site space for driveways, walks, underground utilities
Protection of views or privacy
Construction allowances
Topography
The shape of the building (building ground level perimeter profile) is usually
strongly related to the site form, especially for tight sites where the building
covers a major portion of the site surface. The building shape is both restricted
by the site form and strongly limits the potential for developing other site areas.
VERTICAL POSITIONING
1. Relation to any existing buildings or other features
2. Relation to existing site features: grades, ground water levels, soil conditions.
3. Relation to existing underground utilities.
4. Vertical locations of both the edges and buildings will also establish some
conditions for other site elements-most notably sidewalks, driveways, terraces,
breezeways or other elements involving traffic of people or vehicles.
Site drainage, as it affects both the site and the building, will be strongly defined.
It is best to direct surface drainage away from the building edges, especially when there
are basement spaces. Controlled drainage on a tight site or one with problem site edges
may present a different situation, and building edges may actually be used as a site
drainage collection points that feed into a sewer system.
ACCESS.
The access path typically begins with the concern for access on to the site, which
is usually constrained by adjacent properties or streets for 2 forms of traffic pedestrian
and vehicular. Access also considers the provision of accessibility for persons with
limited abilities
SERVICES.
Consist of:
1. Water supply 8. Trash collection
2. Sewers 9. Firefighting
3. Electrical power 10. Building/Site Spatial Continuity
4. Gas 11. External viewed building as an
5. Telephone lines object on the site
6. Cable TV 12. Seen from the inside the building
7. General deliver-mail and courier 13. Entry and exit passage
services
SPECIAL CONCERNS FOR SITES
1. LIGHTING. Electrically Powered Outdoor Lighting May Serve Various Purposes.
Sometimes Several Different Purposes Can Be Fulfilled With the Use of a Single
Fixture. It Is Important to Understand the Different Kinds of Illumination Needs in
Order to Accurately Judge the Value and Appropriateness of the Many Different
Lighting Systems.
Contour lines on a map are a graphic way to show the elevations of the land in a
plan view and are used to determine the suitability of the land for various uses.
Contour intervals are the vertical distance between contour lines.
Respecting the natural contours and slope of the land is important from an
ecological, aesthetic and ecological standpoint. Ideally, the amount of earth cut away in
grading operations should equal the amount required to fill in other portions of the site.
NATURAL FEATURES
1. View analysis may be required to determine the most desirable ways to orient
buildings, outdoor areas, and approaches to the buildings. Undesirable views can
be minimized or blocked with landscaping or other manufactured features.
2. Significant natural features such as rock outcroppings, cliffs, caves, and bogs
should be identified to determine whether they must be avoided or can be used as
positive design features in the site design.
3. Subsurface conditions of groundwater and rock must be known also. Sites with
high water tables (about 1.80-2.40 meters below grade) can cause problems with
excavations, foundations, utility placement, and landscaping. The water table is
the level underground in which the soil is saturated with water. Generally, the
water follows the slope of the grade above, but it may vary slightly. Boring logs
will reveal whether groundwater is present and how deep it is.
4. Sites with a preponderance of rocks near the surface can be very expensive and
difficult to develop. Blasting is usually required, which can increase the site
development costs significantly (or may not be allowed by the city code
restrictions)
DRAINAGE
Every site has some type of natural drainage pattern that must be taken into
account during design. In some cases the drainage may be relatively minor, consisting
only of the runoff from the site itself and a small amount from adjacent sites. This type of
drainage can be easily diverted around roads, parking lots, and buildings with curbs,
culverts, and minor changes in the contours of the land. In other cases major drainage
paths such as gullies, dry gulches, or rivers may traverse the site. These will have a
significant influence on potential site development because they must, in most cases, be
maintained. Buildings need to be built away from them or must bridge them so that water
flow is not restricted and potential damages are avoided. If modifications to the contours
are required, the changes must be done in such a way that the contours of the adjacent
properties are not disturbed.
The development of the site may be so extensive that excessive runoff is created
due to roof areas, roads, and parking lots. All of these increase the runoff coefficient, the
fraction of total precipitation that is not absorbed into the ground. If the runoff is greater
than the capacity of the natural or artificial drainage of the site, holding pools must be
constructed to temporarily collect the site runoff and release it at a controlled rate.
SOIL
Soil is the pulverized upper layer of the earth, formed by the erosion of rocks and
plant remains modified living plants and organisms. Generally, the visible layer is top
soil, a mixture or mineral and organic material. The thickness of top soil may range from
just a few inches to a foot or more. Below this is a layer mostly mineral material, which is
above a layer of the fractured and weathered parent material of the soil above. Below all
these layers is solid bedrock. Soil is classified according to grain size and as either
organic or inorganic.
2. PUBLIC TRANSIT
The availability and location of public transit lines can influence site
design. A site analysis should include a determination of the types of public access
available (whether bus, subway, rail line or taxi stop) and the location relative to
the site. Building entrances and major site features should be located conveniently
to the public transit. In large cities, site development may have to include
provisions for public access to subway and rail lines.
4. UTILITY AVAILABILITY
I. INTRODUCTION
Landscape design is a complex process that combines the practical with the artful
in a unified, functional composition.
2. LANDSCAPE DESIGNER
employed by landscape nurseries to design the work that the firm builds
familiar with the basic design principles, plant cultural requirements and
landscape construction methods
projects are usually residential or small commercial jobs and consist primarily of
planting design
they have a flair for design who has an ornamental horticultural background
1. SITE ANALYSIS
Includes measurement of lot dimensions, location of the building on the lot,
easements setbacks, other legal requirements, measurement and recording of
building features and utilities, direction of prevailing wind, site terrain, locate
and assess the value of natural features, note all good off property views as well
as bad property features, note to screen noise and other nuisances, existing
macroclimate and microclimate conditions, check soil depth, rock content for
analysis, etc.
b. SURVEYING
The determination of the relative levels of a land mass for the purpose of
making a topographical map is accomplished by taking a survey.
c. MAPPING SURVEY RESULTS
A topographical map results from interpolating all whole-numbered
contour lines located within the grid system of a survey, then connecting lines
between all contour points of equal number. Contour interpolationis a
mathematical process for locating a whole-numbered contoured line that falls
between two sightings on a grid-systemsurvey
1. WALLS the most satisfactory landscape walls often combine both structural
and planting materials
Screening requires walls of certain sizes and densities
undesirable views
the view into the landscape from the outside area
dust and other pollutants
noise
Framing good off-property views
Protecting and insulating from the wind
Filtering breezes into the property
Providing enclosure either absolute (impenetrable) or implied
2. TEXTURE
ranges from fine through coarse. It is created by the stems, leaves, bark and
buds and can be seen and felt
3. COLOR
it results from light penetration, absorption and reflection. The more light rays
are reflected, the brighter the color; the more absorbed, the darker the color will
be.
Hues are the result of light rays of variable lengths being reflected in mixtures
UNITY IN DESIGN
The principle of composition must apply from typical viewing points as well as
when moving through the landscape.
1. ELEVATIONS OF ARCHITECTURE
In elevational view, the designer can determine the dominant lines in the
architecture as well as its structural mass
2. BALANCING STRUCTURAL AND PLANT MASSES
Reversing structural masses in planting units helps to balance and
strengthen the building-landscape relationship
3. ENFRAMEMENT TREES
help tuck the building into the landscape. They must be placed with all
viewing angles in mind. The enframement trees must be proportionate to the size
of the building
4. COLORS AND ARCHITECTURE
complementary colors in subtle combinations are usually better than stark
contrasts that command too much attention
5. VISUAL INTEREST: ARCHITECTURE OR PLANTINGS
A correlation exists between the amount of visual interest in the building
architecture and the amount required of the landscaping. The more visual weight
contained in architecture, the less visual weight is required of the landscaping, and
vice versa
6. FOCAL POINTS
may be created at an entryway by a sequence of color or texture or both.
Embellishments may be used for accent, or ground pattern lines may direct
attention appropriately
MATCHING PLANT MATERIALS TO
DESIGN CRITERIA
1. SPECIFICATIONS FOR PLANT SELECTION
Plant selection should always be based on specifications built during the
design process and without consideration of personal prejudices
a. Climatic Adaptability and Hardiness
b. Soil Requirements
c. Sun or Shade Requirements
d. Size and Form
e. Texture
f. Color of Foliage
g. Growth and Development Rate
h. Insect and Disease Susceptibility
i. Flower and Fruit Production
j. Commercial Availability and Price
k. Special Use Considerations
l. Nomenclature
2. FLOORING
a. Lawn Grasses
b. Living Groundcovers
Advantages Disadvantages
* Natural color and form * Establishment time
* Air-cleaning qualities * Degree of Maintenance
* Heat absorption * Wildlife habitat
* Stability of root system * Accessibility
* Contrast in heights * Veining qualities
* Catches and holds debris
* Provides a
* wildlife habitat
c. Nonliving Groundcovers
Advantages Disadvantages
* Immediate results * Excessive mobility
* Low maintenance * Missile effect
* Will withstand traffic * Color variety
* Reasonable cost * Drainage problems
* Color variety
* Textural variety
1. FLOWERS
Considered embellishments, although short-seasoned, they are visually
demanding that they must be used with extreme care so that they do not
override other landscape features
It should never be used where intense attention is unwarranted
Should always be planted in color masses of nicely contrasting or
complementary colors. However, confusion is created by indiscriminate
planting of separate plants of individual colors
2. NONESSENTIAL CONSTRUCTION FEATURES
Includes ornamental walls, raised planters, seats and benches, ornamental
fences and flower boxes can contribute additional colors, textures, and forms to
the landscape
3. SCULPTURE AND STATUARY
Extreme care must be taken when using these to keep them in good proportion
to surrounding elements
4. WATER FEATURES
It provides additional sights and sounds in the landscape, as well as helping to
alter the environment
Provision must be made for an electrical supply and for lights and pumps
5. OTHERS
Collected pieces of art that would be good proportion to elements of the indoor
rooms are often quite disproportionate in the outdoor rooms
The sounds of running water, birds, and musical chimes or bells are usually
welcomed as background in the landscape
Lighting is used functionally in the landscape to illuminate circulation routes
and to provide security to the area
Dramatic garden lighting can highlight garden features while making the
landscape more usable at night
Lights should always be placed above or below eye level
Dark surfaces require brighter illumination than light colored surfaces but do
allow greater contrast
Special seasonal effect can be created by dramatic lighting of the landscape