SITE ANALYSIS Topography – the topography of the land can greatly affect the urban pattern’s GROUND FORMS The preliminary site analysis aims to gather circulation system, building form and data for preliminary planning and evaluate texture, utility systems, size and shape, etc. TOPOGRAPHY the site for compatibility with the proposed (hilly; flat) project. The art or practice of graphic or exact Relationship with Nature – landscaping, delineation in minute detail, usually on The value of a site analysis is its clear and bodies of water, nature in general, and its maps or charts of the physical features of complete identification of issues and the relationship with the urban fabric are any place or region especially in relation to character of the site relating to the significant features of a city. (Cities within their exact position and elevation. proposed project. Nature; Cities in hand with Nature; Nature Topographic elevations are indicated along SITE CHARACTERIZATION within Cities) given contour lines. TOPOGRAPHY AND SLOPES Topographic maps are printed in 5 colors: A more detailed site investigation is usually o Black – cultural features such as roads, undertaken after some degree of Slope Form – or slope profile or a silhouette railroads, and civil boundaries preliminary site planning. of a slope drawn to known proportions with o Blue - water bodies It includes a geotechnical analysis of distance on the horizontal axis and subsurface conditions such as depth to o Green – woodlands elevation on the vertical axis. The vertical o Red – developed urban areas bedrock, depth to groundwater, seasonal axis is often exaggerated to ease high-water table, and soil makeup. o Brown – contour lines construction and accentuate topographic Topographic map labels: LOCATION details. o Summit – closed concentric rings Four basic slope forms are detectable on It refers to the project’s relationship to the o Valley – contours pointing uphill contour maps: community. o Ridge - contours pointing downhill o Straight Concerned with visibility, site access, and o Gradual slope o S-shape traffic. o Steep slope o Concave Problem to consider o Spot – elevation of a depression o Convex o Street infrastructure adequate for the Knowing what material comprises the slope SLOPE ANALYSIS anticipated traffic? interpret accurately the meaning of o Is the site accessible from the street? different inclinations. For any earth Useful for making decisions about the o On-site improvements material, there is the maximum angle, distribution of land use o Zoning classification called the angle of repose, at which it can Different angles of slope have different o Utilities nearby be safely inclined and beyond which it will implications for development o How far from other facilities such as fail. o Bldg. cost (structural) school, hospitals, etc. o Lose clay (saturated) - 15°-25° o Land development cost (earth o Sand (well drained) - 33° shifting) o Boulders and cobbles - 35°45° SLOPE o Bedrock - 65°-90° PERCENTAGE OF SLOPE = 4. Conduct all water to storm sewers (or else VERTICAL DISTANCE to the edge of the lot) HORIZONTAL DISTANCE 5. Build a good wide road – inexpensive but wide 6. Set the house well back for a big front yard THE ESSENCE OF LAND PLANNING FOR ANY SLOPE MAP 7. Keep the fronts even (this looks neat) PROJECT: 8. Hold to a minimum side yard The algorithm is based on the formula: 1. Seek the most suitable site 9. Throw on some lawn seed slope equals rise over run GIS – Geographic Information System 2. Let the site suggest plan forms SLOPE & LAND USE 3. Extract the full site potential <1% - do not drain well 1. <4% - usable for all kinds of activities 4% - 10% - suitable for movement and informal activity >10% - can be actively used only for hill sports or free play 17% - approaches the limit that an ordinary loaded vehicle can climb, for any sustained period 20% -25% - normal limit of climb for AESTHETIC ULITARIAN FUNCTIONS pedestrians without resorting to stairs > 50% - may require terracing or cribbing
LAYING OUT BLDGS. RELATIVE TO CONTOUR
Difficult street patter: a mixture of meandering Clear the land and curvilinear could be used. FUNDAMENTALS
2. Strip the topsoil
3. Provide a “workable” land profile (that is, as flat as possible) Planting – selected trees, shrubs, and vines (indigenous preferred). Plant roots and LEVEL SITE detritus knit and hold the surface soil layers. Mortar bags – treated bags filled with dry It offers the planner the best and easiest sand-cement mortar solution to site development. Rip-rap – facing of dry grouted units of Advantages: stone or cast concrete. o Economical in site development Piling – interlocking sections of steel or pre- o Adaptable to a great variety of planning cast concrete forms (grouping of bldgs.) o Adequate to all types of street patterns Dry-stone wall – cut or un-cut stone laid up Disadvantages: with open joints o Grouping of bldgs. Should be carefully Cribbing – a laid-up “crib” of interlocking studied to create a satisfactory system SLOPE STABILIZATION METHODS wood, metal, or concrete member filled of drainage. with rock ballast o Surfaces or recreation area and yards > 50% slope – cannot be protected from require some pitch for discharging erosion in a humid climate, except by terracing, cribbing or other slope water to surface inlets stabilization methods SLOPING TERRAIN THE NAME OF SLOPE STABILIZATION This provides planner with a variety of building types and grouping. Different street Mulch – knitting the soil surface by seeding patterns can be employed. or the application of a mulch such as wood Advantages: chips on shredded bark. The prior cross- o Variety of bldg. types and bldg. groupings o Drainage problems are simpler. Water flows to lowest level o Adaptable to a great variety of street patterns ROLLING TERRAIN More difficult to manage but creates a far more interesting land development Advantages: o More interesting land development could attract high-end buyers o Economies of first cost in sewer and raking of the slope face is recommended drainage lines procedure o The practice of bldg. parallel to 2. The presence of geological features Test pits, trenches, tunnels contours will reduce costly which restrict the options of development because of varying SOIL SURVEYS construction, grading, and filling o On very steep sites, the bldg. itself degrees of hazard to life. Soil samples – taken from small pits or by could serve as the retaining wall earth augers or boring tubes at many points FOR ENGINEERING PURPOSES Disadvantages: where construction is to occur. o Very steep sites could cost excessive Engineering characteristics – soil stability, development cost drainage, bearing capacity Systematic borings must be taken for heavy o Adaptability to terrain is imperative Determine the exact composition of a construction, and the soil and rock samples o Drainage problems though posing particular soil body through laboratory tests must be tested in specialized laboratories difficulties may require a workable on field specimens Borings: 15 m. (50ft.) interval to depths at system of channeling from one area to least 6 m. (20ft.) below the bottom of the another LANDSCAPING proposed foundation, or to bedrock. o Less variety of street patter Topsoil – critical medium for plants o Less variety of bldg. type Features: Others: Aerial photographs, geological o Drainage reports, studying old reports, examining SOIL CLASSIFICATION previous structures and excavations, etc. o Content of humus Series – each one has an identifying place o Relative acidity (pH) SOIL BEARING LOAD TEST name and further divided according to o Presence of available nutrients, texture of the surface soil, i.e., Marikina cay particularly potassium, phosphorus, and Test should be made and interpreted so as to loam nitrogen take into account all significant factors, such as: o Texture of surface soil – refers to The presence of soft underlying strata relative percentage of sand, silt and clay GEOPHYSICAL INVESTIGATIONS Variations in size of footings on the surface layers Made to determine the geologic conditions Compressibility of the soil encountered o Series Name – groups soils of similar that affect the design, safety, effectiveness history, constituents, depth, and and cost of a proposed project structure, therefore, exhibit similar GROUNDWATER OBSERVATIONS characteristics as to: Maps – topographic maps, geologic maps, mineral resources maps, soil maps Springs • Bearing capacity • Drainage Existing wells GEOPHYSICAL METHODS Boreholes • Agricultural value Observation wells Geophysical exploration methods – GEOLOGICAL PROBLEMS seismic, electrical resistivity, sonic, electrical 2 Main Ways in which geology influences the logging, magnetic and gravity methods site planning decision-making process: Subsurface borings – probing, wash 1. The soil bearing capacity limiting what borings, core drilling, calyx drilling, borehole can be built on the site photography, churn drilling, jack and hammer drilling SIMPLE DIAGRAM OF AQUIFERS
Aquifers – are underground “reservoir” of
water. The water is not usually held in ponds of water but in the pores between individual particles which make up the rock, or in the fissures of the rock. WATER TABLE Low water table – problem for water supply and for vegetation Fluctuating water table – will cause heavy clay soil alternatively to shrink and swell High water table – difficulties in excavation, cause flooding in basements, flood utilities and unstable foundations Underground water course – critical and no structure should be sited over them. Floodplains – soil is likely to be deep and uniform perhaps with alternating layers of fine and coarse material o 10-year floodplain o 50-year floodplain o 100-year