Maybe you’ve always had the idea of building a new home and now you actually have the money to purchase the property. What should you look for when deciding what lot to buy?
In Florida the sun rises in the east and sets in the west and at noon it is just to the south in the summer. In the winter the sun is just slightly to the north at noon. What does this mean when you are ready to purchase a property?
Orientation
A new house design in Florida is going to make the most of the eastern and southern exposures. The northern exposure is good for indirect light but the western exposure is not very good for much of anything. The western sun which occurs late in the day, after 3:00 PM or so, is hot and casts long, uncomfortable shadows. It is unpleasant to sit near a window with a western exposure in the afternoon.
In house design this would mean, unless you do much entertaining in the late afternoon in the formal living room and dining room spaces of the house, I would try to get a lot with the entrance to the lot on the western side with the long side of the property running north- south. This would allow placement of the formal areas on the western side while the family room, bedrooms, and kitchen are on the eastern and southern sides of the formal areas. As an alternate, if the long side of the lot runs east-west, I would try to get the entrance to the lot on the northern side so as to preserve the southern side of the lot for the family room, kitchen, and bedroom areas.
Also, in South Florida the prevailing winds are from the southeast. This is another reason why the southeast corner of the property is the most valued. With the advent of “green” architecture and the importance of saving energy resources, it is imperative that the southeastern exposure be used to the maximum benefit and capture the prevailing winds. By designing the house with this in mind, with windows for cross-ventilation, the house can be comfortable without the use of the A/C in the winter.
Landscaping
Another issue that is important in the selection of a lot is the existing landscaping. If there are beautiful 100-year oak trees on the lot around the perimeter, or with sufficient space in the center of the property so that they would not have to be cut down, then this would be another reason to select the lot. An excellent design for a house can be achieved by working around the existing trees.
Soil Conditions
What kind of soil conditions does the lot have? Pool soil conditions such as muck would require either the removal of the muck or piles and grade beams for the foundations. Either solution is expensive. Generally, certain areas are known to have poor soil conditions. Some areas, however, are mixed and the only way to know for sure is to do soil borings prior to purchasing the property.
Views
And lastly, the views from the lot are also an important concern. If the lot has a great view but from the western side, it is not a good lot. The best lots are going to have views from the east or the south. A view from the north is not bad, but not much light is going to come in from that side, if the windows are put there to see the views.
Siting a house is a very important element in house design. Starting with a great lot will enhance the design while a poorly chosen lot will have many challenges for the architect to overcome. Look for the best. Do not settle for a substandard lot.
There is a lot of hidden wisdom in habits and customs. One such a habit is where local Spanish inhabitants leave the beaches around lunchtime and return at five. The logic behind this rhythm is that by avoiding the most dangerous period of sun-exposure, you could save yourself some significant health problems. That is one way of understanding culture: how large groups have handled the risks of nature. And one risk of nature is still present: sun exposure.
Other cultures – the tourists – reserve a dedicated amount of time to visit “the sun.” There is also a logic behind this habit; you have only two to three weeks and you want as much as sun exposure as possible. Three weeks of enlightenment are sufficient to return home. The strange thing is that also when the summer pattern of intensive sun exposure is no longer required, the same kinds of tourist still adhere to this habit. Residential tourists for example (in the South of Spain) continue the lunch-time sun exposure rhythm even when they already have much more time as pensioners.
The problem is clear. A newspaper in Malaga reports that twenty-five percent (25%) of the patients that are treated for skin cancer are foreigners. For one this is due to a more fragile skin and another cause is these difference in habits between both groups.
It could mean that (residential) tourists are not quite able to change their lifestyle when they move to the sun and continue to have lunch at twelve and dinner at six. Or that they do not understand the risks of sun exposure.
It could also mean that the individual tourist does not want or cannot give up the short-term pleasures in exchange for a (possible) longer-term good health. This change is much more difficult to handle: short-term satisfaction is directly rewarding. It is the same topic as “consuming versus saving for later.” You know what you have now and in the long-term… well that is also quite clear, but much less promising.
? 2007 Hans Bool
There is an extraordinary amount of literature concerning proper photographic exposure. The vast majority of it concerns the technical aspects of exposure and consequently that is where most of the photographic discussion lay. And with the advent of Digital Photography and the Histogram we have focused more on the technical aspect of exposure then at any time in the past. In this article, I would like to explore the artist qualities of exposure and how they affect our compositions.
So let’s talk a little about movies since it’s something we are all familiar with. Often a night scene in a movie is filmed in complete daylight. By under exposing and keeping extra light on the main characters we, the viewer, get the feeling of night time. Now there are a lot of other considerations for the filmmakers but you get the idea. By controlling exposure, we change the look and feel for the viewer.
I do need to talk about the technical properties of a light meter for a moment to get us all on the same page. I’ll limit it to the in camera meter but the same applies to all meters in general. Take two cork boards, one white and one black, and set them outside next to each other. Fill the frame and focus on the white one and set your shutter speed and aperture for what the meter says is the proper exposure and take a shot. Move to the black board and repeat. A review of the two shots will reveal that both were taken at completely different shutter speeds and aperture settings, they are both a medium shade of gray, and they are very close to the exact same picture. How could opposite ends of the light spectrum be so close in our captures? The experiment divulges what the meter is doing for us – adjusting the exposure for a mid point between what it would show as black or white. Great photography is dependent on a fundamental understanding of this property of light and how sensors (or film) react to it. I encourage you to try this experiment.
So with the above in mind, let’s look at how we can use exposure to improve our compositions. It’s not unusual for me to purposely under expose a composition to give the viewer a different impression of the scene then what I am actually seeing. Additionally, because I shoot exclusively in Camera RAW, I get an extra 4 stops of exposure compensation above or below my original capture in the post processing part of my procedure. This is priceless as I don’t often visualize what could be when I’m shooting.
By under exposing I can realize numerous emotions beyond just making it look like the shot was taken at night; fear, coldness, dread, anxiety, and the list goes on and on. Normally, it is the content of what I am shooting that dictates when to deviate from what the meter tells me to shoot at.
I don’t regularly over expose compositions. This is probably due to the visualization process of my own mind. I have an adverse reaction to a lot of pure white. But I do over expose upon occasion. I mention this simply to emphasize that the study of photography and the artistic expression of our photography often times is a study of who we are. And by understanding who we are and what we like often times solidifies our compositions on an artistic level above what we have been previously achieving.
The common situation where I over expose is when there is a lot of light (sun high in the sky) but the scene is very dark, usually a lot of dark greens, and I want those greens to pop. Because I do this less than under exposing, I tend to take more shots at different exposure. Once again, the exposure compensation of Camera RAW comes in handy to get the right emotion in post processing.
I hope I have stimulated some thought, experimentation, and ideas with this article. Our cameras are just the tools of our art. The better we understand our tools, the better our range of abilities become and therefore artistic expression becomes more dynamic. Happy shooting.