A Comprehensive Site Selection Workbook for LEED BD+C

Sensitivity to site is one of the first principles of design. Climate, light, ecosystem, water, accessibility, culture—close attention to the place of a project can have an outsize impact on the success of the product of a project.

Yet as members of design, construction, and consultant teams, we so often lament how little transparency there is into site selection. Site may or may not end up being a priority for clients faced with the other demands of delivering a building. We are left sentimental for the days when this sensitivity to place played more of a role in design, and resigned to the notion that place-agnostic design is simply a common symptom of contemporary practice.