The most beautiful old houses are often the best sited to take advantage of what a site has to offer such as views, exposure to the sun, shading trees, fresh air, and water. Modern advances in engineering divided the design of buildings into two separate specialties, architecture and engineering. This permitted architects to build anywhere in the world, but some wisdom is lost in this approach. MVA’s approach is to restore this essential synergistic link of a building to its site. The house and the environment become one durable entity, each feeding the other. This is not to say engineering is not necessary, but if the sun can heat a house in winter and reduce space heating costs by up to 90%, why not use that energy?