Oaktown, my comments in the other thread were specifically about that plan, as shown.

When drives and walks are designed (rather than simply constructed), and integrated with the architecture of the house and with "soft" landscape materials and lighting, they can be very handsome and appealing, IMO. The key is "design", so that the architecture and the landscape are integral together. The same thinking applies to these elements both in the daytime and at night.

Without thought and design, however, paving of whatever material, just becomes a utilitarian material, ultimately deteriorating with use, and without care, an eyesore that may detracting visually and from property values.

This is just another example of how site and house are inherently linked and should be considered as a whole. Sounds like that's what you are doing.

Good luck with your project.

can you post the plan he was referencing? i think i would generally disagree with that blanket statement but i have no idea the context.

virgilcarter, thanks for the explanation, much appreciated. Our garage siting was not the architect's first choice but we got no pushback on the forecourt concept -- and plenty of pushback on other design ideas, the architect is (almost) always right! When it comes time, would you be willing to take a look at the driveway paver layout? ;-)

maggiepie11, here's the link to the other thread. If you cut the garage off that house, made it smaller and moved it down and to the right, put a tree in between house and garage, that would resemble our site plan.

Here is a link that might be useful: Other plan thread

Of course. Post your site/landscaping plan when you can for comments.

Good luck on your project.

Our architect wanted to turn the garage so you couldn't see it from the road, but we insisted not. So instead he lowered it and set it back and balanced the mass of the rest of the house so it looks appropriate.

We like that when people pull into the yard, they know exactly where to go. We like the prominent front door entry and that people actually use it. They don't have to fight their way past cars, trash cans and laundry to get in. So many houses with the garages on the side don't even put a side walk to the front door...guests are left wondering, do I go to the front? Do I go through the back? Or do I walk through the garage? We love the shorter driveway our design yields esp when we are removing snow.

But VC is right that that has to be accommodated. Nothing worse than seeing someone's garage that happens to have a house attached rather than the other way around.