Site Issues

Not having a good building site constrains everything else you do, so in that sense its the most important decision you will make.  Everything else you do in building relates to the site and the sites micro climate.  This is a concept that anyone who thinks about solar power is very familiar with, but that few others even think about.  Zoning laws enforce how land is used, but unfortunately they're mostly about imposing uniformity rather than allowing each lot to have the things it needs, like light & privacy.  In fact, the way urban areas are laid out makes it nearly impossible for every lot to get the sunlight it needs.

1) Finding a Site
Every real estate agent will tell you that value is just location, location, location, although in our view the market is currently under valuing some of the aspects of location, and overvaluing others. Our list has more to do with things that result in a pleasant place to live, rather than status or financial gain.  

Rather than a list of amenities, we tend to think more in term of the house as being part of an ecosystem, and asking yourself if you want to live in that particular spot in the ecosystem.  You have some options on the house, but the characteristics of the lot, like noise and sunshine, are much harder to change.  Cost and availability often are significant barriers to getting an ideal location, so compromises will often have to be made.  The key is knowing which things are easy to get around.

Sun: people love the sun, and even when they don't want to be in it, they want to be near it.  It makes rooms bright and cheerful, and also provides solar energy for heating.  You want to make sure you have sun in the winter as well as the summer, and you need it for a good part of the day, especially the morning.
Neighborhood:  For us neighborhood has nothing to do with the income or status of the neighbors, but whether a neighborhood functions as a community.  People are inherently social animals, so when everyone keeps to themselves, you tend to feel isolated.  In a city, a good neighborhood is walkable, either via sidewalks or pedestrian and bike paths.  Neighborhoods also need green space: not just ball fields, but natural green space where you can relax.  Finally, a good neighborhood has a grocery store within walking distance, and access to public transportation.  Living in the country all too often means giving up the ability to walk because the roads are too narrow, there are no parks and trespassing is frowned upon. 
Quiet: No one really likes noise, especially car noise, which almost everyone hates.  If a street is just a little busy, you can mitigate the sound of the cars to some degree, beyond that we think major arterials should be given over to commercial uses, because they're terrible places to live.
View: the ability to look out over the neighborhood, or at water, or mountains is a great feature, but it often expensive and certainly isn't necessary.  Home located on hilltops are often windy and tend to feel exposed to the elements.
Transportation: the ability to do some chores by walking or bicycle reduces the stress of driving.  In that sense more compact neighborhoods often allow for more services to be available within a shorter drive. If there is functional public transit, easy access to it is a plus.  In general the further out you are in suburbia, the more you'll have to drive, and these days the traffic is often as bad or worse than in cities where road systems have been improved over time.

If your buying an existing house, keep in mind that homes in disrepair are usually overvalued because people grossly underestimate the cost to remodel.  A house with charm, but no insulation and leaky windows may be great to look at, but isn't that nice to live in.  Most houses are built with only considerations of the number of rooms, structural issues, cost issues, and building codes, so keep in mind that you'll either have to live with the layout, or face a potentially costly remodel.

2) Lot Size
A lot needs to be big enough to give you privacy from your neighbors, but not so big that you're isolated from them.  In the city, the ideal lot is probably not much smaller than 5000SF and probably not much bigger than about 8000SF.  The caveat to this is that row house can take up a lot less space, but when that is done, a suitable amount of natural green space must be left so that everyone has access to a place to connect with nature.  In Radburn, NJ, each single family detached house has a very small lot, but they all open out into a large common green, giving everyone the feel that their lot is very large.

For those that want to live in the "country", a much larger lot is needed, big enough that the neighbor's house is a walk away and that you have room to grow food, cut wood, and still have space left for wildlife, probably not less than 40 acres, and maybe as much as a few hundred.  Those "horse acre" or "ranchette" lots are nothing more than a way to chew up the countryside without and redeeming features.  They're too small to function as true country living, and too far away to create a real city neighborhood.  If you look at old small towns all over America, you'll find that the houses are always tightly gathered together as dense as in most cities.

3) Building Site
In the city you will rarely have much choice of building site, although on larger lots you can shuffle the house a few feet in any direction.  Uniform zoning setback often prevent you from making the best use of a lot, for example if the street is to the north, then the yard is only a buffer between you and the street and you want most of your outdoor space in the back where there is sun.  On the other hand, zoning allows houses to be as close as 10 feet apart on the side, which means that if one is north of the other, the southern house can almost completely block the sun to the other house.

Assuming you do have some latitude, you should consider the following issues:
Sun: an outdoor space with sun is much more likely to be used than one without.
North face: in general build toward the north side of the site, leaving the south side for patios, porches, and other places to sit in the sun.
Trees: you want to preserve mature trees, since they are an asset.
Neighbors: an ideal location makes is so that you pass each other by, but you don't look into each others houses. This can be fixed somewhat with fences and hedges, but big barriers tend to create a sense of isolation.  Try to avoid casting a big shadow over your neighbors house.
Connection to site: eventually you want to think about what each room will be looking out on.  The common areas want more connection to the street, while private areas want more to look out on green with a lesser connection to the street.  The building needs to be integrated into the site so that it becomes a part of it.  This is partly done by choice of site, and partly by building outdoor spaces on the edge of the building that act as transitions between the building and the site.
Hilltops:  the best view might be on top, but it's also the place of the most wind.  Houses on hilltops are not only exposed to the weather more, but they look unnatural.  Dropping the house down 30 or even 50 feet, preferable tucked into a little alcove will not only make it feel much more protected, but it will keep everyone from having to look at it.
Critical areas:  Avoid areas that flood, or are subject to landslide.  In general avoid riparian corridors, as they are best left for wildlife. Good farmland is best used for food: avoid building on fertile soil.  Never build on the best soil: instead build on the area of worst soil.

4) Building Orientation
In most climates it makes sense to orient a building, so that the longest  face is to the south (ie build on an east/west axis), to maximize the amount of daylight and also passive solar gain.  It isn't critical that this be the case, but you have to work hard to get the equivalent light and heat if you don't orient it this way.

5) Building Shape
In deciding on the building shape you are making a tradeoff between two factors: a square is the most efficient way to contain a given amount of space, both in terms of the materials to build it, and the energy required to keep it warm or cool.  But such a building is difficult to get good daylight in, because light only penetrates 12-15' into a room, and a room needs to have light coming in from two directions, because light from a single direction creates harsh shadows.  So in order to get good daylight, you typically need to bump out some rooms, and otherwise create "crinkles" on the edge which allow light to come into a room from two directions.  A house can be no more than about 25 or maybe 30 feet wide if every room is to get good light, although light can also come from skylights and clerestories.  If it needs to be wider, then it should be broken into wings so that each one is thin enough to get good daylight.  In deciding on the shape, you also need to consider the placement of the front door, and the resultant "intimacy gradient" from most public to most private.

Room layout

At this point, you've found a place to build and you have some idea of where on the site the house should be as well as a vague idea of the shape of the house.  Now it is time to consider what spaces you need to build, how big they are and what their general orientation will be.  Before getting too far into this section, it is important to proceed to the Landscape section to understand how to integrate the landscape with the home.

6) Just the Right Size
A house is just the right size when every attempt to make it smaller results in a serious impact on its usability. The idea here is to build only the rooms you actually use, and then make each of them the size they need to be.   There is no perfect size house for everyone, and different lifestyles need different amounts and kinds of spaces, although there are clearly common themes that work for most people. The "three bedroom, two and a half bathroom" one size fits all model no longer matches what a family looks like.   In this respect, you can’t know what the right size is unless you know yourself.  A simple exercise, taken from the “Not so Big House” can easily be used to give a very good estimate of how much space is the right amount.

In this exercise, each person records how much time is spent in each room, and preferably even what part of the room and for what activity (note: reread the book to verify).  After a week or so, a pattern begins to form, and typically some spaces are used often, and others rarely; spaces are both used for their original purpose, and often for other purposes as well.  This pattern of usage points out space that is missing or doesn’t work well, and also helps identify ways in which spaces can have multiple uses.  Knowing the activities that occur in a room helps determine the appropriate size for the room, since activities also have a just right size.   The only significant limitation of this exercise is that you have no idea how you would use rooms, if you actually had the right ones.

Completing the space usage exercise is illuminating, but just a necessary prerequisite, because a house isn’t an amorphous collection of spaces, but is highly constrained to fit within a set of exterior walls.  The final size can’t be determined until the spaces are organized into whole and tradeoffs of room size, floor plan layout and complexity of construction are also considered.  Practical aspects like placement of heating systems and other utilities must also be considered.  With all of this in mind, the desired look of the house must also be considered, and no matter what style the house is to be, a certain balance and rhythm of the components of the house must be achieved in order to get an attractive home.

There is a temptation to believe that smaller is better in terms of reducing environmental impact, but this is far from the truth, both in terms of material use and energy performance.   Anyone who has studied packaging knows that the shape of an object has a large effect on how much volume can be contained with a given amount of surface area.  In this respect, a square box will give you the most space for the least amount of materials, and any deviation will result in using more materials.  Another advantage of avoiding complex shapes is that is can significantly reduce construction costs.   This desire must be traded off against the need to orient to the south (4- building orientation), and the need for daylight (5- building shape).

A good method is to start with a box, then stretch it along the east/west axis until all the common areas can be accommodated.   The rest of the rooms are then added along the north, facing east or west or on a wing from the common areas, typically in the shape of a "T" or "L".  Bump rooms out or otherwise crinkle the edges so that every room can have good light.

In the process of making all the required spaces fit into a reasonable building shell, it is typical for the building to grow significantly beyond what size the space use exercise would indicate.  When a plan has too much space that isn't working right, its time to rethink the whole layout from scratch in order to avoid too much of this inevitable space growth.  In this process, think in terms of rooms having multiple uses, and of converting hallways into a useful space like a sitting area.

The size a house feels is depends on its layout almost as much as its actual size.  A house whose rooms  are just the right size avoids both wasting space and feeling cramped.  By opening up a big area of public space so that there is a continuous line of sight, for example from the kitchen to the living room will make a small house feel bigger, as well as allowing for diagonal views from one space into another.

7) Adaptive Reuse 
No matter how generic you design a building, it will almost certainly get remodeled at some point during its lifetime, and in many cases it will be remodeled more than once (beyond just the painting and wallpaper type things).  Partly this is due to the fact that the average person only lives in a house for seven years, and partly because both technology and a persons life situation changes, each providing different motivation to remodel.  Adaptive reuse is about making a building that accommodates  the kind of changes people are likely to make over the lifetime of the building.

As a culture, we're not much for planning for the future, and with buildings whose lifetime is (hopefully) at least fifty years, the problem is all the more difficult, because it is difficult to know what future needs will be.  Based on our experience remodeling existing building, there are a few conclusions we can draw.

A quality house will always be more attractive than one build shoddily, even if the construction doesn't meet the standards of the day.  When it comes to using materials structural materials, it doesn't pay to skimp, as over time houses have a tendency to sag.  It does not seem likely that energy will ever be so abundant and cheap that being as energy efficient as possibly won't always make sense.  Features of houses that are the "latest rage" tend to get eliminated in some way in the future.  Houses that "feel" good to one generation are likely to be equally well received by successive ones, but the specific uses of the rooms is likely to change.  Of all the aspects of a house, utilities are the ones that change the most, especially electric & electronics.

There are a number of levels of reuse, each using successively more of the existing building.

At the lowest level, the existing foundation and main floor platform can be reused, but nothing else is worth saving.  Sometimes this can be due to cost as much as anything, since it is generally cheaper and easier to build new than mess with an existing building.  

The next level is to reuse the shell of an existing building, redoing the interior partitions and utilities.  Since the shell is only about 25% of the total cost, there must be significant motivation to reuse it: either it has to be of significant architectural interest to make someone want to save it, or be close enough to the current construction quality that it can be used as is.  Unless most of the window & door opening are in the right spot, a lot of rebuilding will need to be done. 

The next level is to reuse the rooms more or less as they are, and make mostly cosmetic changes, as well as updating utilities, with electrical upgrades being the most common.  Bedroom may become offices, kitchens and bathrooms often get updated, but most of the house is left in tact.  When a house has a good layout, people find clever ways of adapting room to the current needs.  When a house can easily be expanded by adding a second floor or a wing, it is easier to reuse.  On the contrary if an existing second floor or basement can become a separate residence, the house can be adapted in that way also.

Reuse at is best involves little changes other than decoration, although utilities are a constant problem.  The most volatile aspect of this is the electric wiring for electronic devices: telephones, cable TV, alarm systems and  computer networking.  Not only do existing houses have inadequate wiring for these devices, it is difficult to add.

The ideal building system from the reuse point of view would be one of standardized components that simply bolts together, but since there are no such systems available, the next best thing is to make the building be a reasonably high quality.  In the case of interior partitions, office building already are made of  modular or easily modified components, but there is little motivation to do so in residential construction.  Simple layouts that take into account many of the design patterns are more likely to get reused.  The less complex the structure is (and hence the smaller number of load bearing walls), the easier it is to move interior walls around.  Utility upgrades can best be accommodated if they are not a integral part of the building and can easily be accessed to change them.  Open web floor trusses can make laying wiring, plumbing and ductwork easier, and creating access doors makes it even easier yet.  Creating utility chases is another way to give easy access.  For wiring for electronics, the ideal system is one of chases that are hidden behind baseboards, door casings or other decorative features that can be attached via screws so that access to the wiring is easy.

Experience indicates that the buildings most likely to be reused are those at the far ends of the spectrum: very cheap ones, because they're easy to remodel, and one with a high level of craftsmanship and a good design, because people value quality.

8) Hierarchy of spaces
In an ideal world, a house is a sequence of nested spaces, the outer layer for strangers, then one for friends, then one for family and the innermost one for yourself and your partner. We think of this as an "intimacy gradient", which is anchored at the front door. Spaces closest to the door are, by nature the most public, and spaces furthest away are the most private.  Although many houses do a good job of separation of the public and private spaces, one or two of the layers if often omitted. According to "Outdoor Space as Rooms", porches are the ideal place to meet strangers or people of only casual acquaintance. Beyond the front door, a living room or family room is the gathering place of friends. Attached to this space is usually the kitchen, and depending on one’s preference, it can either be well connected to the guests, or separate, although it is rare to be at any gathering of people, and not find guests, often all of them, in the kitchen.  Beyond this is the space reserved only for family and close friends.

It is often useful to think in terms of gathering spaces and quiet spaces in addition to whatever function the rooms might also have.  Kitchens and great rooms are often gathering spaces, but not everyone want them to work the same way.  Common areas often lack a quiet area, but could really use one.  In general, people will gather where its convenient, when the room is big enough, where the sun is and when place are created that allow them to feel protected. 

With this hierarchy in mind, start to build a "bubble map" of the spaces you need to begin to find the relationship of the rooms, and their relationship to outside.  In this way, private indoor spaces connect to private outdoor spaces and public to public, so that public spaces generally face the street, while private face away, but when this isn't possible workarounds can be found.

As a general rule public spaces face the sun (south) because they are the spaces occupied during the day and so demand both light and heat, while private, especially bedroom require less heat and light, but want more are more noise sensitive.  Keep in mind that this isn't always the case, and that sometimes a northern exposure may be preferable, like for an art studio, reading room or home office.  Think of the house as a "tapestry of light", some areas being bright, and others being more softly lit.

Each of the layers of space should be separated in such a way as to present an emotional barrier that clearly delineates the transition between spaces. When two adjacent spaces are for activities that have different requirements for quiet, the boundary between them should also be a sound barrier.

9) Main entrance - doors
The location of the main entrance is one of the most significant decisions you make because it defines the entry into the "intimacy gradient".  Almost everyone has gone to visit somewhere and had a little difficulty in finding where the front door is, and felt at least a little uneasy in the experience, so is important that the door is obvious so people can find it easily. This is accomplished simply in many ways, like surrounding it by a porch, having a prominent walk lead to it, or even making it large and bold.

If an auxiliary door is more obvious or more convenient, then it effectively becomes the front door.  This happens often when a driveway or garage is located closer to another door.  This isn't necessarily a problem as long as you've accounted for the traffic flow, and accounted for the its potential impact on the intimacy gradient.  Some people prefer to have a separate informal entry, and while there is nothing inherently wrong with this, our view is that if the "front" door has the right transitional spaces, the dirt problem is solved. 

There need to be a transition area between the street and the door, otherwise you will feel vulnerable as you enter.  Likewise there should be another transition zone (which should have a roof), that keeps you dry as you unlock the door, gives a place to shake out an umbrella, remove your shoes etc.  Porches work well for this, but are best when combined with a shelf to put groceries down, a place to hang wet coats and umbrellas and a place to put muddy shoes.  Finally there need to be a transitional zone inside the door, this is where dry coats and shoes are kept and also where guests are greeted. Traditionally this is the job of the foyer, but that often connotes a larger space than necessary. 

While mud rooms are a good place to contain wet dirty clothes, they aren't aesthetically pleasing, so its best to make them an alcove off the entry, rather than forcing someone to walk thru them.

In urban areas, you will rarely have much choice about which way the entrance to your front door comes, although you can rotate it 90 degrees by building a corner porch.  It is best if the door doesn't face into the prevailing weather.

10) Central Common Area
The entire house design revolves around the common areas, since they are the center of most activity.  In designing the common areas, it is important that they not only allow for traffic to flow thru them, but they have various nooks on their edge where people can hang out without being in the way.  Most people will want the common areas to face south, because that is where the sun is.  A kitchen that faces east catches the morning light and avoid the afternoon heat.

For most families, a formal living and dining room no longer make sense because we have a more informal lifestyle.  Whenever there are guest, whether is be a small gathering or a large party, most of the people inevitably end up in the kitchen, both because the food is there and so is the host.  A counter separating the kitchen and eating space can act as a divider so that food can still be being prepared while the guests can engage in conversation with getting in the way.

People have places in a home they tend to gravitate toward, and certain spots tend to support different activities.  Larger open spaces are inculsionary and tend to be gathering places for conversation, listening to music or watching TV.  Smaller spaces are more inviting to quiet activities like reading or one on one conversation, and unfortunately many homes neglect creating these spaces.  In some cases, small spaces can be carved out of the larger space simply by clever placement of furniture. In any family where noise tends to dominate the living area, a separate :"away" room for quieter activities solves the problem nicely.  Obviously, it is important that the away room feel like part of the public space, but still be somewhat isolated from its noise.

11 Roof
A pitched roof makes the most sense for any climate except very arid, because gravity removes water from it fairly rapidly and so relying less on the roofing material to keep the house dry.  If the roof is oriented so that the board sides face north & south, then the south side also provides a place to mount solar PV panels and solar hot water collectors.

Truss roofs are a very material efficient way to build a roof, but we feel that this only makes sense when you use attic trusses, because many houses have too little storage, and this is space you're building anyhow, so it should be used.

Attic roof, directly under the roof are some of the most beloved rooms in the house since you can often listen to the rain falling on the roof.  There is something about the odd angles and areas of low ceiling that accompany attic space that seems to give people a feeling of being in a hideaway or a nest.  For this reason building some space in the attic is a good idea.

12  Private Spaces
In the exercise in "just the right size", you find how you use your existing house, and while there may be much space unused, others may be overused. Here are a few ideas on the kinds of space people typically need.

Everyone needs they're own space where they can escape the rest of the family to read, do projects, or just enjoy quite, even if the space is just an alcove somewhere.  Beware of using alcove off the bedroom unless they can be well isolated, otherwise someone is bound to be reading or typing while the other is trying to sleep.

Children especially need a space where they can play and not be in the way, but also not isolated, because they don't like being isolated.  Located play areas off the common space, but as far as possible from spaces where you want quiet.

A couple needs space also, and so it is good for them to be able to isolate themselves from children so they can have private time.

13) Number of Bathrooms
Some houses certainly seem to have too many bathroom, while others clearly have too few, as anyone who has spend any amount of time sharing a bathroom knows.

Visitors will always need access to a bathroom, and to make them most comfortable, the bathroom should be accessible without going through the barrier between public and private space, but not so close to public space that the act of entering and exiting the bathroom is visible by all.  While other cultures may be less shy about using the bathroom, Americans are terribly so, and many people find it embarrassing if anyone else even hears the toilet flush.  If there is a guest bedroom located on the main floor, one bathroom can serve for both overnight guests and visitor.  When this isn't the case, a simple power room will serve the main floor well, and can fit comfortably in about 15sf.  If the house is multiple stories, most people will want a main floor bathroom anyhow, to avoid having to walk upstairs all the time.

Most couples want their own bathroom, and preferably isolated from the rest of the house as a "master suite".  Ideally the bathroom is located adjacent to a walk in closet/dressing room.

If all there are bedrooms on the second floor beside the master bedroom, they will need an additional bathroom.  Some people may want to have a separate bathroom for children only, but many will also find that to be unnecessary.

14) Flow/Halls
Hallways are often wasted space and so they should be avoided, but if they can't be avoided the next best thing is to turn them into useful space by widening them a bit and turning them into rooms in their own right.  For example, you could line a wall with bookcases, add a window seat,  a small desk or a mail sorting area.

You need to be able to move thru rooms, without interfering with the activity in the room.  Routes need to be relatively direct. 

15) Storage
Storage is usually an afterthought, often occupying leftover spaces, and as a result there is often too little of it.  Take an inventory of all the things you access regularly and make sure there are place for them.  Some common items are: kitchen garbage, recycle and compost, canvas bags, plastic bags and food; the vacuum, brooms and other cleaning supplies; shoes, coats, umbrellas; office supplies, bills to be paid, checkbooks.  When designing kitchen cabinets, make space for a reasonable amount of dishes, pots and pans, but no more.  Finally leave your self a lot of extra storage, both easily accessible from indoors (for things like holiday supplies and other rarely accessed things) and from outdoors for garden tools etc. The attic and basement are ideal places to store things.

One particular area that is usually ignored is a place to store all the inevitable piles of paper that accumulate: magazines, newspaper, bills, requests from charities, invitations, coupons to local merchants, bank statements, tickets, community notices, outgoing mail,  and even an occasional letter or card. Build a place for all of this, and you can keep it organized and it won't clutter you dining table and kitchen counter nearly as much.

While is has been argued that basement are no longer needed (they were originally used as root cellars), in an urban setting where land is expensive, a basement is a way to build space and keep the building small.

16) Utilities
Utilities usually end up in the basement because there is no other place for them.  This is not a good idea because basements are usually unheated, so there is an energy penalty for doing so (although you can build an insulated closet for the utilities, having it be a well insulated closet is non-trivial).

Its is best to centrally located utilities, somewhere in the heated space.  This allows you to capture the waste heat from the HVAC equipment (in hot climates, this isn't a good a idea).  If the hot water is centrally located, there will be a minimum amount of wasted water going to each fixture, and the hot water will get there faster.

Utilities should always be designed to keep pipes out of exterior walls, both to avoid heat loss in cold pipes and prevent pipe freeze in cold climates.  If they do have to be in an exterior wall, they need to be very near the inside.

17) Home workshop
If you don't incorporate a place to repair or build things, then you won't be able to.  In cooperative housing there is usually a shared workshop, although anyone who uses tools regularly is pretty picky about who they get lent to.

18) Dressing room
Its make no sense to store your clothes one place and have to drag them elsewhere to get dressed.  Most men probably don't really care, but many women enjoy having that space where they can contemplate their outfit without feeling exposed.  Walk in closets can function well as dressing rooms, and are best when located adjacent to the bathroom.

As an environmentally minded person, walk-in closets seem like a waste of space, but in fact it is easy to compensate by making the bedroom smaller.

19) Staircase
Like storage and utilities, people often don't leave enough room for staircases.  You need not only enough room to get up and down, but a suitable landing pad on both floors.  You need to remember that a staircase exists on both floors, and as a result the best way to locate additional staircases it to stack them on top of each other.

Staircases often act as the transition between levels of intimacy, for example acting as the bridge between the common areas and bedrooms.  Enclosing them completely tends to make them too dark and claustrophobic.  Its best if they have some daylight into them, which can be achieved with a stairway window or just by opening up the walls on the top and bottom, which also has the effect of opening them up more like a funnel.   Keep in mind that the more open they are, the more noise will carry between the floors, so there is a tradeoff there.

Stairs can be a space on their own functioning as a place to sit, if the bottom is wide enough, but you can get carried away with this.  Those grand staircases may look impressive, but its all space that mostly won't be used.

Most building codes won't let you build stairs that are either too steep or too shallow.  The average stair is somewhere between 7-1/2 and 8" high and 10-1/2 and 12" wide.  A loft or other space can have a much steeper steps too them: potentially as steep as a ladder, provided that only agile bodied people intend to use it.

20) Children's Place
Children are both noisy and energetic, so you need to provide a place where they can do that without disturbing everyone else.  Any place that children frequent effectively becomes their space, because it is their nature to be that way, and some families find this acceptable.  Most parents make their bedroom, and often any home office off limits to children for just this reason, and if that is your desire the rooms themselves should be placed so as to make this easy to enforce. One strategy is to locate children's play areas between their bedrooms and the common areas.  In fact their bedrooms can be reduced to only an alcove for a bed and a closet; the space saved can then go into a play room. 

Features of Rooms

At this point you now know where the rooms are all going to go, now it is time to size and shape each of the rooms.  Note that here, size is the minimum size to accommodate the activity.  Because the rooms have to fit together in one package and is constrained by structural considerations, there is a lot of give and take as to what the actual size of a room will be.  This stage often involves much compromise, and a lot of drawing trying to get everything to fit and work together, and is an area where an experienced architect or designer is much better at this than anyone else.

21) The Size of Rooms
The critical size of a room isn’t its exact dimensions, but its perceived size, which is related to our own size. The feel of a room varies from cramped to cozy to comfortable to spacious and on to voluminous.  Breaking up the surface treatment of a floor or walls into segments tends to make a room seem smaller, while views from a room across to other rooms, or views open up to the outside tend to make them look bigger. Raising the ceiling height can make a room look bigger, but only if the dimensions of the room are greater than the ceiling height, in which case the room will look smaller.  

22) Ceiling Height
The height of the ceiling affects the feeling of intimacy: a very tall ceiling will make people feel like they're further apart, while a low ceiling will make them feel like they are closer together.  Public building usually have ceilings that are ten feet or so tall because the people in them are strangers. The eight foot ceiling was adopted for residences because its a good compromise.  The common areas could benefit from a slightly higher ceiling (maybe 8'6" or 9, but probably not more than 10) while bedrooms, bathrooms and home offices could easily have a slightly lower ceiling (by probably not less than 7'6").  When a taller ceiling is used in the common areas, many people will keep the kitchen ceiling lower.

Vaulted ceilings under a roof can be nice, but you need to keep in mind that warm air will rise, so if the ceiling gets too tall, the warm air will all go up there.  As of this writing, I have never come across a reason to make a ceiling higher than ten feet, unless you're specifically trying to use the tall ceiling to bring hot air upward. Ceilings two stories tall not only cause a problem with heat, but they're a colossal waste of space.  Cathedral ceilings are best left for churches, where they belong.

23) Placement and Amount of Windows
Windows serve a multitude of purposes- they provide daylight, they provide passive solar heat, and they provide a connection between inside and outside.  On the down side, they are poor insulators and do not provide any privacy.   Compared to insulated walls, even the best windows available lose anywhere from three to ten times as much heat through them, depending on how you do the comparison, and so windows need to be used very wisely.   The shape of the house must be designed with windows in mind so that each room can have sufficient daylight,  and so that passive solar heat is taken advantage of without incurring excessive heat loss.

In our view, unless there is good reason not to, every house should have some element of passive solar design.  The sun is free energy and even though passive solar design is not trivial, designing a sun-tempered house, which uses solar heat to significantly reduce heating fuel use, is not terribly difficult. There are certainly other ways of collecting solar energy, but all of them are at least as complex as passive solar, and typically more expensive. To accomplish this, all that need be done is orient most of the windows to the south, aim to get the area of these windows close to ten percent of the floor area, and install proper overhangs (see the solar section).

Most people find daylight preferable to any kind of electric light, and like solar heat gain, it’s a free resource that should be taken advantage of it whenever it is available.   Even on a cloudy winter day, there is significantly more light outside than there is in a room lit with electric light, and on a sunny day there is many times more light yet.  Our eyes are amazingly adaptable to a wide range of lighting conditions, but for tasks like reading, they operate best in the mid ranges.  Where an overhead electric light is often too dim, direct sun, or even a bright cloudy day is too bright for reading.  Issues of daylighting are normally only dealt with superficially in residential construction, and unlike other aspects of design, there are no available formulas to calculate window size based on daylight requirements.  As a result, the only alternative is to rely on experience or build a model and measure how it performs.  Either way, the amount of window area in a room should be sized to provide a reasonable amount of light. Of particular concern to anyone trying to maximize passive solar gain is the problem of excessive amounts of light due to large glazing areas.

Given the lack of a coherent treatment of daylighting, the following is a grab bag of concepts that are worth considering.  Not every room needs the same amount of light, and in general the more public spaces tend to want more light, while private spaces like bedrooms need less light and have a greater need for privacy.  Lighter colored walls reflect much more light than darker ones, and so also create a more dispersed light.  The contrast between a bright window and a dark corner can be hard on your eyes (which is why in a bathroom with one window, you need to turn on the light to see in the mirror), but is easily remedied by making sure there are windows on two different walls, creating a more even dispersed light. If necessary, add "crinkles" to the exterior to create places to put a second window facing a different direction. When bright sun is an issue, indirect light (for example, bounced off a wall, instead of directly through the window) is much easier on your eyes. Since light doesn’t penetrate more than about 12 feet into a room, any area further away than that is at risk for being dark.  Skylights provide proportionally more light for the amount of glass, but in general skylights should be oriented so that the summer sun doesn’t shine directly in them to avoid overheating, so their advantage is somewhat diminished.  Because warm air rises, skylights tend to be a bigger heat loss per unit area than windows. When a window is in a wall that is relatively thick (twelve inches or more), tapering the walls around the window will increase the amount of light coming through it: something that can be especially important for skylights.  An alternative to a skylight is a sun pipe, which is just a round small diameter skylight that feeds light down through the ceiling via a highly reflective tube.

Windows create a connection from inside to outside, and the degree of that connection is determined by both the size of the window and the height off the floor of the windowsill. A sill height of 4’6” will create nearly total privacy, but very little connection with outside, while a sill height of 12” will make the outside feel part of the room, but provide no privacy. As with daylighting, public spaces tend to want a greater connection to the outdoors, while private spaces want a lesser one.  People like to be able to watch the weather, see who is walking by, and enjoy the landscaping, and so having some windows with a low enough sill allows this.  Keep in mind that a very low sill can make you feel exposed, so there is a tradeoff there in determining sill height.  When the outdoor landscaping creates a natural privacy barrier, the windows in private spaces can be opened up to it, creating delightful spaces, but few urban lots allow for this luxury.

24) Places on the edge
Places on the edge are the places away from the flow that are made for sitting or congregating.  Most people will prefer to sit near an edge than in the center because it gives a feeling of protection.  If the place on the edge is near a window, it allows a connection to both inside and outside at once.  Almost every room can incorporate a place on the edge, although not every one needs one.  Some of these places should be sunny places, and others should have only indirect light.  If you find yourself sitting at the dining table or in bed reading because there is no place else to go, then its likely that you don't have enough places on the edge.  This pattern applies to outdoor space as well.

These places could be created just by placing furniture along a wall, or a special alcove could be built for them.  Sunny places are often the most cherished spots in a house during all but the hottest days of the year.

Window seat - most everyone loves a well made window seat.  A window seat needs to be wide enough to sit on it comfortably and long enough to be able to put your legs up on it.  If the intent is to ever actually sit on it like a chair, then it can be no more than 18" off the floor, but in our experience few people sit on them that way.  The back needs to be sloped, but you can do that with large pillows if you don't want to build a sloped back.  If the window seat is the size of a single bed, you can put a futon mattress or the equivalent on it so it can double as such.  While window seats are often in living rooms, you can put one in a reading room, and office or even a hallway.

Breakfast nook - these are also well loved spaces, especially when the face east to catch the morning sun.  They should be big enough to fit 2-4 people, but not so big as to lose their cozy feel.  Its after all a  nook, not a room.

Heat source - people like to sit around the fire, and preferably look at the flames or at least be able to feel the heat radiation.  While tight houses necessitates closed combustion devices, there are still stoves that you can see the flame thru a sheet of glass.

View - if the location has a view, you will want to dedicate some part of the common space to look at it.  Don't orient the whole house to the view, because if you can see it from everywhere it stops being special after a while.  Too many houses sacrifice everything else so that the whole house is oriented around the view.  Those with views to the west often suffer with drastic overheating in the summer because excessive glass catches the summer sun during the hottest part of the day. 

Sitting circle - people engaged in conversation like to be arranged in a circle or semi-circle, so arrange a living room around that.

25) Bedroom Design
A bedroom is for sleeping, and using it for any other purpose often leads to conflict, unless of course you live alone.  Because of this, a bedroom should be no bigger than is necessary to hold the bed, night tables, dresser (although we've already argued that the dresser if often best in the closet/dressing room) and room to get around them all. A single bed can be in an alcove, big enough only for the bed, so that you can only get out of the bed on one side.  Kids love bunk beds, and that makes even better use of space.

Most people like their bedroom to have windows facing east so they can wake up to the morning light, although a bright southern exposure is nearly as effective.

The bedroom should be the most isolated room in the house.  One easy way to add extra sound insulation is to located closets or bookcases on the bedroom walls to thicken up the wall between it an other rooms.

26) Bathroom Design
Bathing need not be just a mechanical exercise; it can be therapeutic and enjoyable  as well.  A small cramped bathroom doesn't feel right, but then neither does an excessively spacious one.  There needs to be enough room for both people to move around freely and places to put your clothes while your bathing without having to step on them. Bathrooms are often lacking in storage: make sure there is plenty of room for towels, extra TP, toiletries, and cleaning products.

Bathroom need a lot of light, yet they are often shoved to the north side and given only one window so that you have to turn on the lights, even on a sunny day to see in the mirror.  Put them facing east to get good morning light, or on the south, or even the west, and don't worry so much about them getting warm: the bathroom can be the warmest room in the house, because its the one your guaranteed to be spending time naked in.  If you can't find a way to get windows on two sides, look to put in a skylight.  Indoor plants love bathrooms.

Few people use a tub, and they're not the most convenient shower because you have to step over the edge, but for therapeutic uses, a tub is wonderful. An alternative it to only put in a shower, and use the extra space for a sauna instead.  Energy wise, all the escaped heat from the sauna ends up in the house, while a good chunk of the heat from a tub ends up down the drain.  Those huge jet tubs sell houses, but mostly end up collecting dust.

Most couple prefer having their own sink, but many also have no problem sharing. Under-counter mount sinks make it much easier to keep the counter clean, and especially help prevent mold problems around the faucets.  Tile counters are pretty, but the grout around the sink is very prone to mold.  Epoxy grout helps this a lot, but doesn't eliminate totally.  Tile showers have the same problem: if you use tile, you need to squeegee it regularly.  Even epoxy grout will grow a little mold.

Bath fans need to be quiet and go off on their own or they don't get used.  In a tight house, it is critical they get used.  If they windows fog up, you've got too much moisture in the air.

The entry to a bathroom should never be too visible, especially for the one that services the common areas.  People not only don't want to be seen when their going in or out of a bathroom, they don't want to be heard when their in it, so it is best if the room is either isolated or sound insulated from other room, particularly the common areas.

27) Kitchen/Great Room

Formal dining and living rooms are a holdover from times when life was conducted in a more formal fashion, guests were not allowed in the kitchen, servants often did much of the work, and families themselves were more formal.  Because our lifestyle is much more informal, those rooms are rarely used in homes.  Kitchens have become the hub of activity in the house, both during everyday life and when guests are present.   In fact it is rare to find guests anywhere other than the kitchen since few people host formal parties anymore. Since cooking is now done by family members, most cooks don't want to be isolated in the kitchen, so homes are now often organized around a "great room" as the central common area, containing a kitchen, dining area and typically a living room or family room.  In the typical organization, a low counter (which often doubles as an eating counter), provides a physical barrier to keep people from getting under foot in the kitchen, but still allowing conversation.

In homes without a great room, or not enough kitchen barrier there is often conflicts between the cook, who needs freedom to move, and everyone else who is mulling about in the way.  While some may lament this lack of formality, it has become the norm, and so most houses are better off with a "great room", and omitting any formal rooms, saving both materials and cost.  The exact form of the great room may vary, especially since in many cases it is desirable to partition of sections of the common area to create quiet areas (see Away Room/Television).

The exact format of the great room varies depending on whether children are involved and a particular family's preferences.  A family room in a great room allows children to be watched while cooking, but doesn't isolate their noise (see Children's Place).

28) Kitchen work area

If there is one room that needs to be just the right size, it's the kitchen, although its not the size of the overall room that is of concern but the size of the work area.  A too small work area never has enough counter space, and a too large one forces the cook to walk too much.  You need a couple of feet on either side of the stove, a similar amount around the sink for use as a staging area during food prep and cooking, and around ten linear feet of counter in order to avoid constantly running out of counter space.  Keep in mind that some counter space inevitably ends up as storage space: for fruit, for cooking utensils, for dish drying racks etc.  If you don't want counter space to be used this way, you need to provide other waist high storage space for those tasks.

Although our custom is to hide everything in the kitchen behind doors, it clearly is not the most convenient way to store pots and dishes that are used frequently.  If, instead you have many open shelves, things are not only more accessible, but kept in much less costly storage.  If uniformity and quality of dishes is an issue, it is often cheaper to buy higher end pots and dishes than it is to build cabinets to hold them.

Of all the rooms in the house, the kitchen has the greatest need for brightness.  Task lighting can help with this, but bright daylight is the most appealing to most people.  Kitchen sinks are often located near a window, because being able to look outside somehow seems to make the tedious job of washing dishes just a bit more pleasant.  Any bright sunny room will encourage activity, while darker ones tend to produce a state of calm.

27) Office
A home office can be used for work, or it might be for doing the families finances, or it might be for reading/hobbies/volunteer work.  A home office that is visited by clients needs to have a separate entrance so there is a clear line between work and home, not only for your sanity, but it helps with the taxman. A home office that you use alone still needs to be very separate, but obviously doesn't need it's own entrance.  In fact if the work doesn't involve clients, the ideal workspace isn't completely isolated from the rest of the home, but rather is isolated enough so that one can concentrate, but not so isolated that one feels all alone.  If the office is for "work" the major issue for most people is creating a sense in your office that you are "at work", especially for those who are prone to procrastination and find themselves doing everything except the task they need to do.

Partial isolation can be achieve by half open walls, or by interior windows.  In both cases you are creating a physical and psychological barrier, while still allowing visual contact between the two areas.

28) Television/Away Room
The minute a television is turned on, it dominates the room more effectively than the most annoying person who won’t shut up.  We are preprogrammed to focus on movement in our field of vision, and television takes advantage of this by presenting a constantly changing view.  Because of this, there is no really good place for a TV as it prevents the room from being used for anything else.  Putting it in the living room makes it convenient to have people over to watch it, while putting in a separate, isolated room contains its effect to that room.  Many people put televisions in their bedroom, but few people would say that doing so has any positive effect on your relationship, and in all too many cases, it has a negative effect.

An alternate solution is to create a special quiet space or "away room" that is part of the common area, but sound isolated from it.

29) Interior doors
The best place for a door is usually in the corner so it leaves most of the wall space available for furniture.  Beware of positioning doors so they collide with other doors or prevent drawers from opening etc. Avoid putting doors at the end of hallways if the room is to be private.  Privacy is gained by making it so you can't see into a room from another room.

Construction

At this point, you have a complete design, but haven't figured out how to build it.  Here are just a few things to think about in determining how to build your house.

30) Super-insulation/Deep sills/Thick walls
Walls have three uses: slow the transfer of heat, act as sound barriers and divide spaces. Thick walls give a building a sense of solidity and sense of being protected than do thin walls.  In most climates, exterior walls should be thick due to holding extra insulation: anywhere from 9 to 12" of it.  Insulation can also be a sound barrier, although other techniques can also be applied: hanging sheetrock on sound channel, the use of a sound board layer, or even isolated double walls.  For walls that need less of a sound barrier, bookcases, closets etc. make good barriers.

An advantage to thick exterior walls is that they provide deep sills which are a great place for plants, a cup of coffee or to sit a book down.  Sitting next to a deep window sill on a cold day gives you a better feeling of comfort and protection from the elements than a thin one does.

31) Materials and Sizes
Industrialized production reduces the cost of processed materials, but results in those materials coming in only fixed sizes.  Many books suggest that you should design at increments of these sizes, e.g. at multiples of 2,4 or 8 feet, but no matter how much you try much lumber has to be cut.  I think a better method is to design with those sizes in mind, but don't force things to them.  It is more important that the building dimensions be what they need to be than you reduce the number of cutoffs you make in framing.  A better solution it to keep the cutoffs in sorted piles, e.g. a piece of 2x4 that is smaller than 14-1/2" is not useful for blocking in 16"o.c. walls, so sort a pile of shorts based on that.  Someday when lumber is really expensive, you'll have to do that anyhow.

While there is a wide variety of finish materials out there, at any given time you're limited to what is currently in style, and what appeals to a broad enough market.  By seeking out antiques, and other reclaimed items, a sense of "character" is added to the building that can't be achieved any other way. These items tend to be the most loved in the house, but certainly come at a price because of the quantity of labor involved. 

32) Wabi-Sabi
No matter how well crafted a house is, there are always small imperfections.  In the "fine homebuilding" style, craftsmen use great skill to reduce these to a minimum and hide the rest.  In the "natural building" style there is an emphasis on hand made items, where the idea is to show that something is hand made by celebrating the small imperfections rather than hiding them.  Rather than smooth wall sheetrock with no visible divots, walls are hand plastered to a wavy, unmistakable hand made finish.  Note that this is very different from a textured wall finish, which looks like poor quality smooth wall, not a hand done finish.  In some sense it is similar to the "rustic" look.

This idea can be carried out throughout the house, into the finish trim, doors, windows etc, although clearly it is important that windows and door function smoothly, even if they don't look that way.  This "natural" look gives much more flexibility in using reclaimed materials, since those materials often have marks in them that are difficult to remove.  If one things of these marks as "patina", or the Japanese concept of wabi-sabi, which is the idea of imperfections being the natural state of things (verify this), then reclaimed materials are not only easier to use, but you get an added benefit of bringing character into the house that can only otherwise be acquired via many years of use.

As a corollary to this, always build things to last a long time, because they will hopefully have many uses.

33) Natural materials/Toxics
There is no inherent reason that manufactured products have to be more toxic than less processed or "natural" ones, since some natural materials are in fact somewhat toxics.  In some cases, natural materials are less toxic and better performing that natural ones, but all too often neither is the case, because low toxicity has not historically been one of the design criteria.  It is this latter fact, that drives many people toward natural materials, in particular, ones that have a long history of use with no negative consequences.

In addition to the issue of toxicity, there is a definite "feel" created by materials.  The use of "natural" materials tends to remind one of nature, while more industrial materials, such as are commonly used in the "modern" style, have a more hip, urban feel, while low cost materials are often lacking in character.  While this is undoubtedly a gross generalization, I think most readers will agree that the choice of materials has a significant effect on the feel of the house, although exactly what is undoubtedly a subject of much debate.

 Landscape issues

Although every detail of the house is now specified, many of the issues in this section interact with how rooms are laid out, because the interior space should integrate with the outdoor space.  Once you understand the basic ideas of this section, you can finish the house plan, then come back and fill in the landscape details.

34) Positive Outdoor Space/Connection with Indoors
Rather than treating the land around the house as waste space to be filled with an ocean of lawn and shrubs, arrange the house on the lot so that the outdoor space is useable space. While the idea of outdoor living is more popular in warmer climates, almost every climate has a few months a year that allow for outdoor living.  Even when outdoor living isn't possible, the view out the window allows outdoors can be appreciated all year long.

Make the views out the windows attractive, and build porch and patios in the sunny places  to be used when the weather is good.

The outdoor space needs to be integrated with the indoor space so that the two relate to each other.  The feeling of intimacy in the view should correspond to the feeling to intimacy in the room.  Make the views out bedroom rooms peaceful and private, and the ones out of the common areas have a view out on to the street so activity out there can be observed.  If there are sweeping views, make a special spot in the living room to enjoy it, rather than trying to take advantage of it everywhere.  Trying to take advantage of it everywhere make it not special, when it fact it is.  A particular insidious problem is designing a house to take advantage of views while simultaneously violating other design patterns.  Examples abound:  houses with extensive west facing glass that have to hang shades over their view all afternoon during the summer or else their house overheats; houses that get no solar gain because their view isn't to the south. 

A connection to outdoors from the kitchen and living room are especially important to us as that’s where we spend a good part of our day, and although it is certainly nice to have a pleasant view from the home office, it can also be a distraction.  In bedrooms, privacy is important, and most people prefer to wake up to sunlight.  When a house is forced to be close to a street or a neighbors house, special care must be taken to get light without compromising privacy or noise impacts.

35) Outdoor rooms 

Divide the outdoor space into areas, each with it's own function and connect them with paths.

The idea of treating outdoor spaces as rooms that are an extension of the house is more common in warmer climates, but we feel it is also important, and maybe even more important in Seattle's cold damp climate so that the outdoors can be maximally enjoyed.  There are three ways outdoor spaces work as an extension of the house: as views to the outside which act as extensions of a room, as intermediary spaces (e.g. a porch) where you are partly inside and partly outside, and as spaces in their own right.

A porch is an old notion that has come back into fashion largely from proponents of new urbanism, because porches are the ideal space to allow for the casual meeting of neighbors. A porch should feel protected, but not enclosed, close enough to the street so as to make interaction still possible, but not so close as to make it required. To be usable a porch needs to be at least six feet deep: enough for a person to sit and still have room for someone else to walk by.  While the location of the porch is mostly dictated by which way the house faces the street, the availability of sunlight should be considered also.  West and south facing porches are hotter than north and east ones, which could make for a longer season of use, or possibly make the porch too hot in the summer.  Because porches involve big overhangs, south facing porches occupy precious sun gathering space, and will tend to make the rooms behind them very dark unless other sources of daylight can be incorporated.  Porches facing the prevailing winds will tend to be cooler than protected ones.  In all cases, porches tend to be used in the afternoon and evening, so consider those conditions when designing your porch.  Locating porches in corners allows some of the properties of both directions to be used.

Patios and decks are spaces for outdoor living that want to be near the sun, although they can be partly, or even mostly covered.  Unlike porches,  patios demand more privacy.   Some place should be made for hanging out in the sun, whether it be a patio, a deck or whatever. Give it enough room for a a couple of chairs or chaise lounges.  An outdoor space that is "half hidden" is more desirable than one that is totally private or totally exposed, because it fulfills our need to feel protected while allowing us to feed our nosy nature.

There are an enormous variety of outdoor spaces that can be built, and each aspect of the site lends itself to different kinds of spaces.  Privacy can be created by fences, but also by evergreen shrubbery.  The north side of the house will stay green much longer than the south side, while the area right next to the south wall of the house will be the warmest location.  Odd, curving shaped areas add more interest and an organic feel to the outdoor spaces, and even small curves to walkways and driveways add interest.  A perimeter fence keeps the dog in, but also provides a huge emotional barrier for most people.  Lining your perimeter with varied landscaping provides as much or better privacy, but is more inviting.

Of all patterns, this is the one that almost universally gets ignored.  Creating good outdoor spaces is not easy, and can be quite expensive, but it also turns unused space into useable space.

36) Garden spaces

Once you have you know how you want your outdoor spaces to function and have an idea on how to divided them up, you need to come up with a specific plan to do so.  Here are some things to think about:

Garden wall - There is nothing like a solid barrier to stop noise, and give  privacy.  A garden wall could be as low as two feet or as high as six, but higher walls tend to feel more like prison walls than garden walls unless they can be softened with plants.  When the garden area is elevated from the street a lower wall can provide a high level of privacy, while still allowing the outside to be seen.

Garden seat/serenity garden - a quite corner of the yard  makes an ideal serenity garden: a place that it highly private and quite, where you feel like you've escaped into nature.  Add a view into the serenity garden from a kitchen, bedroom or office and it can be appreciated all year long.

Places on the edge - people generally prefer to sit on the edge of a space with their back against something rather than in the middle, so a sitting area which does this is more likely to be used.  Create sitting areas up against the house, or against walls or shrubbery when possible. Any space that is inviting will eventually become uninviting unless there is a place to sit down. Not all seats have to be on the edge, as other criteria may make a place also desirable, like a perch up off the street, or place that for other reason feels protected enough. People will make use of anything that will function as a seat, including rocks, stairs and garden walls, so allow that to happen: in fact encourage it. Outdoor spaces should have a variety of sitting places, so that each space can be enjoyed.  When the steps to a house are surrounded by  "shoulders" (short, wide walls), they will almost universally be sat on.

As a general rule, people want to feel protected, but still in view of the action.

Build in 3D - its much easier to build a garden when you're standing in it then on paper, because you can actually experience what the spaces feel like.  It's still good to have an idea on paper, but it's also good to be flexible and keep an open mind.  A garden built by actual experience is bound to be better than one built only by a paper design.

Path shape - although it is counter intuitive, the shortest path isn't the best path: rather the best path has  curve to it.  Surprisingly people don't mind walking a bit longer, as long as the curve isn't ridiculous (you can find poor path layouts in many parks and college campuses).  Nor does the path need to be the same width: it can narrow and have bulges.  When the path is to the front door you need to make sure you don't hinder anyone moving furniture in and out, and if there is to be handicap access you need to eliminate stairs also.

A curving bulgy path not only looks better, but it adds a sense of separation between the house and the street, without making the house uninviting.

Trellises - everyone loves trellises.  They make great patio covers against summer sun, and if you plant deciduous vines, you will still get sun in the spring.  They make great walkways, especially as connections between spaces.  A short trellis also makes a great frame for a gate.

Terraces/Rockeries - If you have a slope, the best way to keep it from eroding is to terrace it, or turn it into a rockery.  There are also a variety of plants they hold the ground together very well, although some of them can be invasive.  Terraces/Rockeries and plantings together will reliably stop erosion while still given a lot of options for visual interest.   Terraces can turn a slope into more useful space by making it walkable.

Car Connection - make sure there is path from the car parking to the front door, or else the front door won't get used.

North face - people don't generally like to hang out in the shade, so either (1) make it something nice for the adjoining building to look at (2) make it a garden walk to pass thru (3) step the building down so that it minimizes the shadow area.

37) Perennials

While turf grass is easy to maintain with chemicals and machines, it often results in a large surface area that is neither appreciated nor used.  In cases where there are children or dogs, and it will gets used, then it can be a good choice, and it is possible to maintain with neither chemicals or machines, but with a bit more effort. For everyone else, if instead you plant you yard in perennials, bushes and tree, you not only get a more interesting landscape, but you've also created habitat for birds, bees and butterflies.

Find the most climate adapted plants you can, and plant them in the spot in your yard they need to be.  Larger perennials and trees can be used to shape the landscape as well as rocks, walls and fences.

Resources

A Pattern Language, Christopher Alexander et al. (www.patternlanguge.com)

The Not So Big House, Sarah Susanka (www.notsobig.com)

How Buildings Learn, Steward Brand