One of the recommended books on this forum has been:

Designing Your Perfect House, Lessons from an Architect, by William J Hirsch

I checked it out of the library last week and it is a fantastic read. I'm about halfway through it. One of the things I really like about it is that it is detailing how architects think about space. It also makes it even clearer than it already was that I don't know squat about defining space :-)

It's making things such as placing a house on a lot, what a site diagram is, etc. more explicit to me.

We're still looking into one of the lots we've identified--current utilities, what county fees have been paid and which haven't, etc., how to handle the drainage issue in the back part of the property, and if we want to deal with that.

In the meantime, I'm enjoying this book and starting to think if we can interview an architect or 3 via phone--if we get the lot figured out, we may try do a charrette session next month when we return to the area.