Building on sloping sites can result in interesting, exciting homes. The celebrated American architect, Frank Lloyd-Wright, built his most famous house ‘Falling-water’ on a steep slope (http://www.wright-house.com) and there are any number of great examples of architecture where the gradient of the site has provoked an inspirational response. Angled plots allow us to enter different parts of a house at different levels, to create views over the top of lower levels, and to cut into the earth to create spaces that are basement at one end and ground-floor at the other.
It’s important to recognise that the design of a house must be driven by the site it occupies and any arrangement will depend upon the shape of the site, it’s orientation to the sun, proximity and direction of neighbours, position of trees, any views that might be utilised and the position of access from the road.
Your site deserves a bespoke response. Don’t dwell on the technical challenges at the outset; these will all be solvable once your design has taken shape. Start with a plan of your site as a diagram and in rough terms lay out the affecting factors, such as those listed above. Make photocopies of the base plan and draw lots of different options. Use a soft pencil or a fat marker pen and try various arrangements in broad diagrammatic terms.
This would be the best stage of your project to ask to seek an architect’s help. They can bring technical expertise to a project, experience, contacts, planning knowledge, management advice – all of which can be of huge benefit. But an architect’s ability to help formulate a design that is suitable to its site, and the requirements of its owners, is probably where they add the greatest value.