This is an interesting question… While each quality of good design is, on its own important….

Great design is when ALL of these happen at the same time.  A beautiful modern box house in Nantucket, would break the “fit the neighborhood” rule. 

A house bare on its plot of land, breaks the Prospect and Refuge rule.

A house with an open floor plan, too many stairs, breaks the flexible rule.

Great designers think of all these rules at the same time… This is why good design evolves slowly…You fix one aspect then toggle over to the other. You fix the interior space demands, then adjust the exterior look of the house. Then you rethink the entire house, to meet the visual and practical goals of the roof, the pitch, the gutters, the size and even the axis changes.

This is why it all takes time… Go slow, enjoy dreaming… it costs nothing!