Food for thought: Land Design and a common domain design critique

So many times, when people send me their community or domain design for review, they send something that looks like this little doodle:

and every time, I have to tell them that this design only works in these ways.

1. It is organized.
2. It is regular, and therefore fair to the people who might purchase a lot within it.
3. It would work okay for recovering farmland for a kin domain or ecosettlement.
4. It would work okay in a temperate zone, with little or no annual snow or ice.

Here's some thoughts about working with the land to make sure not only ours but the Earth mama's needs are met too. There are some subtle nuances that vernacular architects are trained to know about the location of buildings and the way the buildings work within the landscape that can really help you with design. Here are the ones that come to mind most immediately.

When you purchase land, try to buy something that is on the edge of and has land on both the mountains and the plains, and has a natural drainage to a stream or SMALL river. This gives you access to water, and elevates you into the trees where the air is most pure! And since the river is downhill, you have a natural way of making sure all your fields are irrigated and you protect the houses upslope from flooding. Also, try and make sure that the land is facing south (northern hemisphere, reverse for southern) so that there is abundant access to sun for passive solar heating and for the fields and orchards.


Don't try for perfection in form. That's not how the Mother works, or the universe works. True, each galaxy looks like a galaxy, but if you laid them on top of one another, they'd be different. Aim for making each lot work with the landscape, and aim for a fairness in size, not for equality of size. This allows nature to take its course, literally and figuratively. Imposing order like this on the land makes creatures and water confused as to how to behave. Mess with a unknown natural pathway, and the creatures may bypass your land altogether. Also, find out what the people want. Some will naturally be more drawn to the forest, and others to the fields... let them choose their land based on that. Also, don't make all the domains look the same. We are all fed by different aspects of nature and one fit doesn't work for everyone.  For me, I want dense forest with a big fat meadow becuase I love connecting to the owls and bears and bobcats over the birds and coyotes found here in the plains.


Now, for the northern hemisphere (reverse this for the southern hemisphere), snow always comes from the north, and sometimes the west. That's also where arctic air masses come from. So never ever, if you live in a place that has snow and ice, put a house with it's front door towards the north. That's a broken arm waiting to happen, and a promise that those people will have an inordinate amount of shoveling and de-icing to do. In the sketch above, all the houses in the bottom half of the sketch will have their front doors facing north (= bad). But they will also have huge backyards with southern sun for plants (= good). However, all the houses on the top part of the sketch will have front doors facing south (= good) and huge backyards that are protected from the sun by the house, and likely will find they cannot produce as bountiful of fruits and veggies (=bad). Also, the morning light comes from the east, and the evening light from the west, so the people in the right side of the sketch will likely not have good light during the evening due to plantings on the west, and the people on the left half may not have good morning light (essential for naturally waking us up!) and very well may take on huge amounts of heat during the summer with their west facing backyards. That can be okay for fruit orchards but can be bad bad for the comfort of the house during summer.

Also, look at the historic architecture around you, especially house ruins. If they are low to the ground, build yours there. if they are raised on platforms, build yours that way too. Our forefathers didn't have mechanical systems to heat and cool them, so they worked hand-in-hand with nature. The further I have gotten into this work, the more I have realized that this is the way to go. I should admit here that I don't want or trust technology in my buildings anymore, as I am concerned about the effects of constantly being surrounded with an electric field (created by all the wiring around the house, especially with solar panels and batteries on the roof) on our health and well-being. It's like being inside a low-power microwave. For those of you who might feel this as well, but not know how to address it, I am currently doing houses that are non-electric with another building at a distance of 50 feet away that is a combination kitchen/dining/studio/classroom/work space and that people seem to love! You might try this idea yourself!

Okay, so I hope these ideas help!  Bless you all on your journeys!