Bridges and drainage structures are visible community elements, especially in hillsides or mountainous terrain. If these structures have the same aesthetic as the rest of your community, they help complete the overall theme of the project. Espiritu Loci works with your structural engineers to create great looking, cost effective, community-identifying infrastructure elements. We provide them detailed sketches for structural engineers to work from that blend low-cost solutions and the overall aesthetic vision. As plans and schematics progress, we assist with obtaining the necessary design review approvals. After build-out, we can assist with photography and marketing of these key community elements to obtain the highest return for your infrastructure investment.

Our team looks at all constraints within a given site, whether they are engineering, natural, entitlement or aesthetic, and then works to present the limitations clearly and effectively so that our clients know exactly where they can and cannot build. Our graphics also make it clear to interested parties exactly what they are buying in a parcel sale.

We have found that a field review of lotting allows for a degree of refinement not possible in the office or with the practical limits of constraint mapping. Distant views, noise created by adjacent uses and the “perfect place for a home,” are conditions quickly realized through site visits. We study the site ahead of time and prepare field graphics to ensure efficient use of the team members’ time while on site.

Espiritu Loci performs conceptual grading studies to reduce the need for extensive site grading and unnecessary costs. Our team tackles conceptual grading from both aesthetic and functional perspectives. We maximize the use of clever grade transitions while working with existing landforms and reduce the need for cut, fill and retaining walls. We begin by creating an ideal set of grade relationships, usually in the form of cross-section sketches. These sketches express the relationship we would like between houses and the street, as well as the various grade conditions that can exist between each. Then we pull major contours to work out important lot-to-lot and lot-to-road conditions. Through this exercise, we become aware of the difficult pinch points and challenging areas of the site. We then produce a conceptual rough grading plan depicting the major drainage and minor transitions that step or blend between uses. This provides the engineers with an understanding of how we would like to see the grade fall across the neighborhood, and a starting point for their creation of the final grading plans.

Often needed for marketing, city submissions and business plans, renderings express in both soft and realistic terms your vision for the development of an area. To create those images, Espiritu Loci uses both in-house talent and style-specific rendering consultants. We tailor the images to be specific to both the audience and the purpose. As a result, we use a wide range of rendering techniques, including traditional hand-drawn, computer-generated and photo-realistic methods that ensure desired results.

Espiritu Loci creates custom study models that allow you to see a parcel's potential outcome. Our team uses these models to ensure that architecture, landscape and site planning are in harmony. These models are used not only to inform a client about the look of a space, but also as an invitation to play. We craft our models out of inexpensive, easy-to-alter materials that invite modification. We encourage everyone involved in the project to work with the model and make changes until they are excited about the outcome.

Using three-dimensional (3-D) computer models, we are able to convey a lot about a site, including how it will look at full build-out. For master planned communities, a simple 3-D model of the topography is useful in determining possible obstacles and locating key features on the site. For individual parcels, we use 3-D modeling to analyze street scenes and individual lots. These models are especially useful for determining the view from each lot. We can then refine the site plan to increase the number of lots with premiums or to perfect the view from a single lot.