ABSTRACT
Around 30 B.C. Vitruvius wrote of the need to choose the most temperate regions of climate, since we have to ‘seek healthiness in laying out the walls of the city’ and went on to say that ‘the divisions of the sites…the broad streets and the alleys…will be rightly laid out if the winds are carefully shut out from the alleys. For if the winds are cold they are unpleasant…’1
As Vitruvius knew, the site will have a marked effect on the functioning of the building and the building, in turn, will affect the site. Issues of particular concern are:
– site selection, microclimate and landscaping – sunlight and solar gain – daylight and views – wind – noise – air quality.
