Site Analysis & Programming
From inventory to program
Two phases are constantly confused on the exam.
Site inventory is objective fact-gathering: boundaries and legal description, contours and spot elevations, drainage patterns, soils and borings, vegetation, utilities, easements, floodplain and wetland limits, access points, noise contours, and views. Site analysis is interpretation: opportunities and constraints, the best building envelope, orientation, entry points, and where to preserve or buffer.
Programming translates user needs into quantitative requirements: goals and objectives, a space list, an area tabulation, net versus gross area, efficiency ratios, an adjacency matrix, bubble diagrams, then stacking and blocking diagrams. Bubble diagrams show relationships only; they are not a floor plan.
Reading topography
Contour interval is the vertical distance between contour lines. Water flows downhill perpendicular to contours; the steepest path is also perpendicular to contours. Slope percent = (vertical rise ÷ horizontal run) × 100. Always convert map distance using the stated scale before dividing.
Worked example
Contours at 2 ft intervals sit 50 ft apart across a measured distance on the survey. Slope = 2 ÷ 50 = 0.04 = 4%, which is workable for a driveway. If the same 2 ft rise occurred over only 12 ft, the slope would be 17% - too steep for most accessible routes and a strong signal to reorient the building or regrade.
Traps
- Calling inventory "analysis" (or vice versa).
- Using the wrong horizontal distance between contours.
- Reporting net area as though it were gross.