A comprehensive design of a building along with the development of a surrounding land may counterbalance the tendency of housing estates comprising houses built on the basis of “ready-made projects” - which have no references to the existing urban tissue and which do not create a new one. In the first place, the energy intensity of buildings using the so-called passive methods should be lowered, and only then active systems should be applied, considering economic balance. The problem should be considered from two different perspectives i.e. for intensively and for less urbanised areas. The article results in the formulation of guidelines for energy-efficient modernization of contemporary buildings and their surroundings.