SITE

STUDY
michael farkye agyemang
“For every site there is an ideal use. For
every use there is an ideal site”.

- Anonymous
 Highlights

 Context Analysis
 Site Inventory
 Site Analysis
 Context Analysis
Context is the character and setting of an
area within which a projected scheme will sit
Note that……“Everywhere is somewhere”
Urban Compendium I

The Constituents
 Natural plus Human history
 Forms of settlements, buildings and spaces
 Ecology and archaeology
 Location and routes that pass through it

Included is also is the people, the individuals living in

and near an area and how community is organized
 Importance of Context?
 Context in its entirety is about understanding the
position of development, and how to position a
development

The Priorities
 Strengthen host community
 Create places of distinction
 Harness intrinsic site assets and resources
 Integration with surrounding
 Provision of vision
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 Site Inventory
It is the gathering of facts and information
about a site
 Definition of Inventory
 It identifies and records the location, size,
material, condition of existing site elements such
as walkways, terraces, fences, utilities, soil type,
degree of slope, location of utilities, prevailing
wind direction

NOTE
 Some site information is apt to be common
knowledge that results from experience of
working in a geographic area over a period of
time e.g. prevailing wind direction, sun angles,
soil types, zoning regulations
  Others sites information is unique to each
project, such as surface drainage pattern, off-
site views, existing vegetation, areas of shade

Process
 Look at the site with an open and inquisitive
mind
 Be well organized (follow an outline of items that
need to be identified and measured)
 Be accurate in recording the required
information
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 Site Analysis
It covers an evaluation of the value and
importance of information gathered in the
Site Inventory
 Analysis
 Makes judgement about this information and
determines how the design solution should respond
to these conditions
 Purpose is to determine the problems and potentials
created by existing site conditions so that design
solution can meet the site conditions
 Investigate and analyse the selected location: not
only the specific area contained with the property
boundaries but the TOTAL SITE (site + environs to
the horizon and beyond)
 Analysis
 The process of site analysis commences from
Region……..Vicinity……..Area………..Site
 Analysis
 Analysis is usually initiated with investigation of the
region embracing the project site, a less thorough
study
 The immediate vicinity and its interrelationship with
the property to be developed, a more thorough
study [Context]
 Project site itself is analysed, intensively to gain full
understanding of the site [Genus Loci] which is
important to site planning
 The challenge of site analysis is basically to
describe graphically + verbally the Spirit of the Site
 Genius Loci
 The prevalent feeling of place….PERCEPTION

The perceptions of a place are made up of layers

of understanding;
 the settlement in the landscape
 its overall structure
 the structure
 the district
 the street
 the building
 Site Selection
 For every site there is an ideal use, for every use
there is an ideal site
 Selection is to help wed a proposed function
[project] to a site
 Site selection is to enable ensure that the
parties, that is, project and site are compatible
 Designers sometimes are tasked with guiding an
entrepreneur to select the best possible place
for a project
 This leads designers to analyse ALTERNATIVE
SITES in order to arrive at the IDEAL SITE
 Alternative Site
 Designers act as advisers of determining the
requisite requirements for any given venture
 Must be able to weigh the relative merits of
alternative situations with respect to what we are
looking for to help narrow down
 Favourable and unfavourable aspects of each
site is carefully noted and assayed, i.e.,
comparative analysis of the various sites
 This leads to the IDEAL SITE
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 Ideal Site
 Determine landscape features, natural and built,
that is best suited to our needs and search for a
site that provides them [Brief versus Site]
 The ideal situation is one that with least
modification most fully meets the project
requirements
 Determining or knowing the ideal site is carried
on the wheels of good SITE VISITS
 Site Visit
 The Site (specific area contained within the
property boundaries) plus Total Site (the
environs to the horizon beyond) are all
investigated and analysed…[Reconnaissance
Study]
 The Feel of the land (site visit plus repeated
visits) is gained only by actual site observation,
which gives a sense of site’s relationship to the
surrounding areas
 Visit enables designer observe the DYNAMIC
LINES that the site possess ,i.e., the character
of the site
 Site Visit
 Examples of these dynamic lines which is
enabled by visit to the site includes;
site bounding roads, built areas, insistent lines of
pedestrian approach, arc of the sun, prevailing
breeze, good views, bad/ugly views, prevalent
noise, sculptural land forms, springs, vegetation,
site axes, rock outcrops, usable areas and
unusable areas
 The visit helps the designer determine those
features to be preserved if possible and those to
be eliminated
 Site Visit
 Whatever seen along the lines of approach is an
extensional aspect of the site (what can be seen
from the site or will be seen in the probable
future) is part of the site
 Thus anything that can be heard, smelled or felt
from the site is part of its property
Site Visit
 Elements Considered in Analysis
 Slope + Drainage – contours, site section and
drainage ways (natural + constructed)
 Climate – site specific information such as exposed
and sheltered areas (micro-climate)
 Water resources – location of water bodies and
waterways, nearest potable water source, water-table
level
 Vegetation – plant communities and key specimens
 Structures – existing buildings, bridges, culverts walls,
drains, major embankments
 Circulation – existing routes of vehicular and
pedestrian movements
 Elements Considered in Analysis
 Visual analysis – scenic features and views with notes
as to their nature and best points or sectors of
observation, unsightly features that are in need of
removal, modification or screening
 Preservation + Conservation – notations to areas +
features to be preserved in their entirety or conserved
with limited compatible uses
 Impact Assessment – constraints such as areas of
ecological sensitivity, difficult terrain, hazard, planning
possibilities inherent in specific site and its environs
 Process
 Is the information from the inventory important?
 If important , does it create a problem or offer a
potential?
 If it creates a problem, how might it be resolved?
 If it offers a potential, how might it be taken
advantage of?

OPPORTUNITY …………..HARNESSED
THREAT…………………....RESOLVED
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Common Graphics Used in Site Study
Common Graphics Used in Site Study
Inventory Versus Analysis
Inventory Versus Analysis
 References

 Llewelyn-Davies (2007) Urban Design

Compendium I English Partnerships & Housing
Corporation
 Booth N. K. and Hiss J. E. (2007) Residential
Landscape Architecture
 Site (n.d.) Chapter 6
 KNUST Architecture Students Studio
Assignments (2009-2012)