The building location should maximise opportunities to capture important local and strategic views, while mitigating any negative aspects of the site such as visual intrusions or noise.
Optimise and enhance the natural resources of the site by using and protecting natural features such as planting, topography and waterways.
Public fronts and private backs:
All buildings should have a public front and a private back. It is better to align buildings with public streets or open space and create a defined street edge, and to maximise back to back distances with other buildings. This pattern of development allows for ‘perimeter blocks’ which reinforce the street edge and maximise the available open space within the centre of the block.
On sites with limited road frontage, the accessway or lane becomes the equivalent of a public street, and this should be defined as the public front of the building. On these and any other awkwardly shaped sites, it is important to make it clear to the public how the building and spaces around it can be accessed.
Apartment buildings should not expose the ‘back’ of a building onto the ‘front’ of an adjacent building.