Atypical Lots
Atypical shape lots can be tricky to work with.
The most common shape for a residential lots is roughly a rectangle. However, not all lots were born equal. Some can be pie or triangle shaped. On some lots the ratio between the width and length of the lot is so high that it ends up being a 'sausage' lot.
Houses, however, are often designed with a traditional rectangular footprint, give or take. Regulations and building codes aside, there are also practical considerations for prioritizing right angles. For example, non-rectangular rooms are hard to use and furnish, and the house itself is more expensive to build. Our world is set up to prioritize right angles.
Nonetheless, in the natural environment there is almost no such thing as a right angle. It's organic, curvilinear, flowing - anything but geometrical. When trying to 'invite' the natural environment in through landscape design, it's always a balancing act between site conditions and functionality. Of course, a design can be made geometrical, but the very elements of landscape - plants, rocks, or water - cannot. A house footprint that does not respond to the shape of its lot, may cause tension between the structure and its surrounding outdoor spaces. What do we mean by tension? Let's take a look at this project as an example.
This is a design for a trapezoid-shaped property in Squamish. Due to the lot's shape, the backyard is rather small so the side and front yards become the main usable spaces. Since the backyard is too small to accommodate all desired functions, we proposed a side patio for dining, causal seating, and as an outdoor work space. However, this patio is disconnected from the leisure functions in the back, which is not ideal. Normally, we would try to avoid fragmenting a space into smaller sub-spaces, but in this case it was inevitable.
Subsequently, we connected this patio to the main entrance and the front lawn. Although this is not a traditional solution, it works quite well. In this scenario, the grown-ups will be able to enjoy a chat on the side patio without compromising eye contact with the kids playing on the lawn.
