NO TIME FOR SITE ANALYSIS = LARGE PROBLEMS
Take notes on what you see and what you do not see.
You will never cross a river a the same point, never. Take exceptionally good notes on what water is doing and try to anticipate where it will go. This, my friends, is vital!
“Fire and Water have no mercy” ~ old English proverb.
BEWARE - The designer that designs without visiting a site!
You must visit a site at least twice. Once is not enough and neglecting to take proper site inventory on multiple site visits can be costly to the Client, To your business and to the Earth.
I, personally, do not like to design on a site where the owner has not seen at least 2 to 3 years of full four seasons. Full seasons, that include all of the wind patterns, all of them and the highest wind velocity to no wind at all. They must observe their microclimate to its fullest. The winter and summer sun patterns, the animals, the sounds and the water. The storm water is especially important. Where does it come from, where does it go, does it go?
Only the property owners will know their site. This is true for residential, commercial and government. Site analysis is a vital part of the Design process and it can only be done by visiting the site. Do not be fooled by designers that do not visit your site.
Once again nature will demonstrate the way. Below is another reading from a book by Jon Krakauer, Into the Wild. Where a young man travels to Alaska, crosses a trickle of a river, before the spring thawing, then becomes trapped with no way out, he soon realizes that the small streams have turned into torrents of water trapping him, with little food, no maps or experience on this particular land and climate, the worst happens. He starves, unbeknownst to him (lack of analysis), he was surrounded by cabins and a major highway to the east. I little site analysis would have made a huge difference to the young man. Don’t underestimate the power of a little site analysis.
The book is a fast read. It’s a quick review of the young man’s final year/years. The author attempts to dig into his upbring to place the blame somewhere other than squarely on Chris (the main character in the book). But to me, Chris was a Man with no plan, no purpose or mission. Before he hitchhiked to Alaska, he was very lucky as a traveler without any plans. Luck was on his side most of the time, even as he made his way down to Mexico. But luck is not luck, it is chance, a roll of the dice. Failure to plan equals planning to fail. You can’t plan without analysis.