The residential building program is a narrative description of the spaces and special design features that define the new home you intend to build. The scope of the building program encompasses both large and small design items ranging from conceptual design issues, such as view or site orientation, to specification details for moldings or kitchen appliances. It is very important to fully document the building program in order to achieve a comprehen- sive overview of the spaces and design characteristics that will comprise your new home. If you endeavor to design your home without properly documenting the building program, important features could be overlooked that may be difficult to integrate at a future date. For instance, if the plan of a two-story house is designed

with only one staircase and you later decide to incorporate a second stair, the task of modifying the plans to include this feature will be monumental. A change of this nature significantly impacts both the first and second floor plans and should be part of the initial concept. Thus, careful thought should be given to the devel- opment of a comprehensive building program since it will be the planning guideline for designing your new home.

     Once, as we were starting a meeting to design a new home, I was asked the question, "Well, where do we begin?" My response was simple, "It really doesn't matter where we start because we need to discuss everything before we are finished!" Developing the "building