You are currently browsing the monthly archive for March, 2007.
A job I designed a couple of years ago for Enviroscapes, Inc. of Louisville, Ohio was designated the Honors winner in a commercial design category by the OLA, Ohio Landscapers Association. Enviroscapes also won a maintenance award for this project.
I remember very specifically being asked to create a Japanese feel to this landscape. The real focus was the walk from the parking lot to the front doors which led me to design my version of a stroll garden for this approach. The owner also wanted a pond with Koi and we gave it to him.
You can see in the above 2 shots, I was there very early in the process. I was able to get a lot of input and there was good dialogue through the design process, and good dialogue during the install of the project. A great client to work with.
This shot below really shows the pond, stream, falls and bridge(which had to be ADA compliant). This was taken the 1st growing season and it will be interesting(for me anyway) to go back and take shots this June which will be going into the 3rd growing season.
I’ll come back with images from then to show the growth in plant material. This garden is really far away from looking peak, I’d say by year 5 or 6 it should really start to look good. When all the background material starts to fill in and have a presence in this landscape.
[courtesy of the Fudgefactory]
By now those of you who’ve been following this job (haven’t been? please read previous 4 post) know that the pergola idea is long gone. Replacing that idea . . . some sort of ruins or a folly. Patrick McAfee gave a great perspective from a European (Ireland, is he) point of view in a comment on #4:
There is a rich history of this kind of thing in 18th and 19th century Britain and Ireland. Thousands of follies were built by landlords to create what you talk about. Some of these are amazing. I worked on one estate which had a man-made lake, islands with stone ruins, a temple, boat house, eel house and more.
Views through openings like you have drawn were popular, sometimes arched and often framing a distant view. This concept of framing seems to have been important. Wall tops were often ragged and not level or straight.
This trend or fashion disappeared but I have heard of its revival at a famous rock stars residence, with a ruined bridge etc.
Originally I think you brought your visitors around your estate and these were talking points, a place to stop or maybe to take out your easel and paint or write a poem. It is interesting to see the concept return.
Great stuff, and a good, quick tutorial . . . thanks Patrick! Anyway, to add to the previous drawing’s explanation of the site I have added an axonometric drawing for the client to look at:
[some would consider this a version of an axonometric conceptual]
I think it’s a pretty rough drawing, kinda crude . . . it’s down and dirty . . . however the client should be able to read this and along with the other drawing get a good idea of what I am after.
An aside: I missed getting the walls wide enough with respect to the height I have shown the walls at. This will drive me crazy every time I look at this drawing. Let’s hope the owner doesn’t mind my lack of drawing skills.
[plan view and a sectional drawing]
This quick plan view will allow the contractor to do a rough estimate on price for this proposal. There is an included sectional for the contractor also. These 2 drawings are not intended for the client. This is a working document between contractor and designer. Please click to enlarge.
Now that this is done guess what I really want to put in this space . . . ? A crane. That’s right, an old crane, or steam shovel, something like that. How cool would that be. Bury that sucker down in there, throw a few boulders around it, drifts of grasses and meadow-like perennials, and to top it off some vines growing up, around, through and over the cab and bucket of the crane.
After all this golf course is called the Quarry, and it’s on a site where the old quarry actually was. The local press would jump on it, it would be some nice history, and when a photographer needs a backdrop for a photo . . . here ya’ go. I love my job.
For you really bright observers you can see the rendering below is not a pergola, this is the replacement for the pergola. As mentioned in previous post this week the thought was pergola for the large open area but that idea was blown quickly out of the water. The owner wanted nothing to do with a pergola.
In this part of the country there are several old farm/barn buildings that are partially standing. These old structures are usually out in a field surrounded by overgrown brush, or nestled into an old grove of trees, often times Locust or Black Walnut trees.
[This color rendering will be shown to client]
I am hoping this drawing will give the owner a good idea of what I am trying to achieve. Why did I draw this angle?
- I wanted to get away from the standart straight on look
- There was no reason to do a sectional drawing because there are no issues near the ruins that need to be shown
- Perspective . . . this 2 point seems a more powerful way to get the viewer interested in the scene, showing the 2 walls brings depth to the scene . . . I think.
- Showing the view as though the observer was underneath an old locust tree; to me, brings you right into the scene . . . you’re there! After all I/we are trying to sell this as an option to what’s there . . . nothing.
- Lastly . . . it’s fun!
The rough sketch was my initial drawing for the scene. I thought the angle along the top of the walls was a little too severe and backed off that in the color rendering. All the wacky marks along the lower edge were me determining which ink line to use for the shrubs along the base of the wall. I just couldn’t decide on line weight.
The key to remember is the ruins are the focal, and deserve the focus . . . but . . . I am trying to sell the entire scene, It is the designed space in its entirety that will either make or break this space.
[This pergola rendering was shown to the client]
He didn’t like it. Not even a little. This was shot down faster than Ann Coulter would have been at a moveon(dot)org party. However there is a ray of hope for that big flat space. Ruins, yep ruins . . . . working on that drawing as we speak.
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Addendum: It’s 2:42 pm EST, and I see the pic. I hope it is there . . .
[This was 1st sketch for site]
I drew this before yesterday’s posted drawing. I like to work really rough, really fast trying to get a feel for how elements would play out in the given space. By the way; a drawing like this is not something I am doing to show a client-this drawing style of rough conceptuals is how I like to think through the problem.
When I started designing concepts by rendering it was weird at 1st because what little I knew(about design) we did in plan view. Well clients cannot read a plan view landscape drawing. That plan view drawing doesn’t tell a client how they will live in the space, or how the designed structures relate to the space and the people in those spaces.
This pergola needed to be big, and it had to have some large overhead to be visually strong enough to be seen a couple hundred feet-from several directions. Other than that I was given no directive, which is not unusual for commercial work . . . for me anyway. The direction I usually get for commercial/industrial is;
“Come up with something different, and use that space over there, and uh, fix the entrance“.
No different this time. Something for the open space between parking and the entry, and a waterfall for the entry. I will post the color rendering of the pergola tomorrow and share the response to the pergola idea from the owner of the course.
[This early conceptual is on trace over another conceptual with photo below]
A quick pencil study of a pergola this view is looking into the end. The goal here was to find something that was aesthetically pleasing and at the same time hold the space.
The space is 50×300 but we are looking at end of parking lot that is the closest to the main building. Originally there was some thought that this would be part of the cut-through. You know how us humans are. We like are shortcuts.
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An aside: for pencil work I like to use a Sanford pencil called Design Ebony, the lead is soft, smooth, and very dark with pressure. This pencil can be very expressive.
If you are a newer reader to the Blog I will also note that the images I work from have been printed out in black&white . . . I am interested in tonal values, light/dark, and positive/negative rather than the existing colors in the “before” landscape. It’s a quirk of mine and it’s become the way I prefer to work with images.
The interview with a client is a very understated part of the design process. Here is our chance to really get into the mind of the client a chance to find out not only what they need, and what they really want in their landscape. How is this part of the design process is so understated?
In 18+ years if going to conferences and workshops I have never been to a talk specifically about the interview process. Never. I’ve heard a few speakers touch on it e.g. “when you go in a client’s home make sure you ask to use the restroom so you can get a look at the house and determine their style” . . . no kidding this is the piece of advice I’ve heard the most . . . “Look in the bathroom“. Sitting here typing this out, and now re-reading this I don’t know whether to laugh or cry-I chos laughter.
2nd most heard on the circuit trail; and a good piece of advice it is, “get inside and look out the windows“. Sounds obvious, but some designers don’t. Never an entire seminar: seems amazing actually(now that I think about it), on a so crucial part of the design process. I also understand in is not part of the typical college curriculum.
[The backyard, where everything will be.]
So in talking to Mr. X here is what we found out he wanted, some he volunteered some information right away and more juicy tidbits were determined through further questioning:
- Swimming Pool, and with the swimming pool the following
- Swim up bar-Tiki style if possible
- Changing room
- Bathroom
- Shallow end for small children, he has no small children and apparently is anticipating some from somewhere. No, no grand kids yet . . . the man is an optimist.
- Swim behind a waterfall into grotto/cave area. Said area to have hydro-jets, or the like.
- Dive off boulders into the swimming pool, somewhere near falls.
- Slide through the boulder hillside down into the pool.
- Separate spa that sits higher than pool and spills water into pool.
We’re not done yet. On top of the swim up Tiki-bar he wants an enclosed seating area. We think we can get some sort of material to roof this in “authentic” Tiki style. This will have to have steps up and be part of the “pool function” structure. Tiki-bar, changing room, bath, utilities(?), and on top the enclosed seating. Also;
- Another gazebo-like screened-in, structure, away from pool. If possible the one already there attached to deck
- Cooking area: grill, food prep, electrical, fridge(?), gas line.
- Hot tub; if not the existing one in the deck . . . it needs to be designed in somewhere in this space.
- Fireplace, not firepit. The firepit is a trend whose time has already passed in the high-end landscape. The move is to some sort of vertical fireplace. This is either gas, or gas-start with room to store wood.
- Ability to project onto a large flat surface, i.e., an outdoor theater. this is not necessary but was thrown in the list.
I also have to design in a fence, and keep in mind that there are two dogs, including one very active Lab. This Lab has been let out the kitchen door and does a lot of business . . . need to remember that. A lot of money is going to be spent here so the last thing I want to do is design this fence(any fence) right up against the new designed space.
Fences right up close to pool are drive me crazy, I know for some it’s a budget constraint. In high-end the fence shouldn’t be close, it’s not the Motel pool we’re designing here.
About this deck. In almost every case on a project this size (99 times out of a 100) that deck is gone, kaput, outta-here! This may be the 100th time. The homeowner seems rather determined.
Keep in mind the deck is 22/23 years old, it is nearing it’s life-span. While all the new material around it, is brand new. The wood deck will start to fall apart before the rest, and then replacing, working around will be difficult. Add to this it will never match up if at that point the homeowner decides to scrap the deck and go to a hard surface.
[looking to the hillside where cave, waterfall, and slide will be]
There is a construction issue also. There is going to be a lot of underground work that is going to need to be done, a lot. I am glad I won’t have to deal with that work-around.
My 1st solution . . . large landing type steps coming out of kitchen and study to get everyone down to one or two levels, for ease of movement and harmony in surfaces and steps. Much easier to maintain and live in/with.
I cannot see which way the design will go, leave existing deck or entirely new surface(s). To that end I’ve been asked to do 2 concept drawings. One with existing deck, and one without the man needs to see visuals.
An aside for you gardeners and plant lovers. This meeting was just over an hour and a half,, and in those 95-105 minutes less than 5 minutes, more like 2-3 were spent on plant material, shrubs, etc. most of the talk was about annuals and pots. Slight disclaimer, another 5 minutes or so was spent on spading up the 4″ and 5″ caliper trees where the pool will be and moving them.
I’m involved in this more and more, these folks are busy, and when they go into down-time in their backyard retreat they want down-time. This means no gardening. For them gardening is work, not a hobby. This is just the way it is, and I don’t see it changing.
Anyway, back to the drawing board. I’ll keep you posted on this one.
This weeks stone comes from a waterfall I built a couple of years ago in Omaha, Nebraska for a photography studio. The stone is typical Colorado fieldstone.
To give you an idea of scale the falls is very close to 7.0ft high. and that’s about 3.0ft across the top. The double falls starts with 2 upflow filter boxes and we are moving about 4800 gallons per hour. The hardest part was getting the weir stones to break the water into a very uneven pattern. The owners(photographers) were insistent on the falls line being broken apart. Why? . . . you ask . . . good question.
The explanation to me was a straight clean falls created too strong of a horizontal line in the photographs, literally cutting the pictures into distinct sections. I was told this is a very bad thing in portrait photography . . . a very bad thing. I remember thinking-how interesting! After all this time building waterfeature . . . “Now this was interesting because of the uniqueness of the request”.
The typical homeowner is always looking/asking/begging for the sheet falls look, that clean straight horizontal line and I am advocating against that look. My reasoning was/is/always will be . . . the sheet falls creates a white noise that becomes too much of a predictable background noise. A droning white noise . . . snoresville.
A man-made weir where there is no sheet creates what I like to call a non-discernible rhythm of sound. Sounds like these always stay interesting because the observer/listener inability to pick up a pattern. No straight line weir means the waterfall is always splashing, trickling, crashing, dancing, falling in such a way that it’s impossible to pick out a pattern to the noise created by the falls. Viola! always interesting.
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Addendum: My goal is to try and create a waterfeature that looks naturalistic/natural (not man-made). This means there are no lights in the water. I have yet to be anywhere in the natural World and see lighting in a pond, stream, waterfalls. If the waterfeature is built in any other style of modern, or fountains, or pools I am the 1st to advocate lighting.
The philosopher(name escapes me). who is responsible for that famous quote would have to rethink that thought if he were able to see this picture/situation. As for me; all I can say is, wow! That is one stubborn/and or greedy dude.
[Photo and Story courtesy of Ananova]
The copy to go with the story was very brief, here it is . . . in it’s entirety. I can only laugh looking at this picture:
Developers have turned a house into an island in China after the owner refused to move out. The villa now stands alone in a 30ft deep man-made pit in Chongqing city, reports Jinbao Daily.
The Chongqing Zhengsheng Real Estate Company wants to turn the area into a £40m ‘Broadway’ square, including apartments and a shopping mall.
But the owner of the villa says he won’t move out unless the company pays his price – the equivalent of £1.3 million.
“The villa owner refuses to move, so the real-estate developer has had to dig out all around it to force him to,” says a saleswoman at Weilian Real Estate Sales Company.
“He wants 20 million yuan, or he’ll stay till the end of the world.”
This Blog’s main focus is Landscape Design so normally we would discuss how he is going to landscape his little plot. Forget that, how in the hell does he get in and out of there, and surely he’s not living in there . . . is he?
We could go on and on, forget about the vegetable patch . . . where does he park?
Now that the developer has completely engulfed him is his property actually worth anything? I mean other than the developer who’s going to buy it? The poor fella, what is he going to do?
Guy says he’s staying until the end of the World, well that may be, but how’s he gonna go shopping-that 1st step is a doozy. I remember seeing the picture of the little house in Atlantic City surrounded by a large casino, and a few images with roads going around the house or a parking lot, but this takes the fried dumpling.
Finally; what happens when it rains(the remaining Earth will no doubt give way), surely someone has pointed this out . . the end of the World is going to come sooner than later for this fella.
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Addendum:
I’ve been to Chongqing and without a doubt the absolute hottest food I have EVER put to my lips. I mean unbelievable . . . WOW! The Hot-Pot dishes are beyond any human description I can give. I’ll say this . . . the food was so hot you could literally smell the heat, made most Mexican dishes I’ve had seem like a bowl of Sherbert.
So you think you have a dynamite lay-out for your Blog or web-page(s)? Pretty happy with the headers, headlines, target stories? Images . . . are your images up to par? Doing what you need them to do?
I bring up these questions because I have come across a study of what people actually;
- Look at 1st on your page.
- Read on your page.
- What areas readers really focus on when looking for information.
- Images, the difference between what men and women focus on.
- Images, what kind of images are wasted on the page, are effective on the page.
- White space, as in any other type of design . . . the negative accentuates the positive . . . are you listening-Landscape Designers?
I’m also bring this up because I had several discussions with folks who wanted to Blog and were very hesitant to jump in. I promised any info I ran across that I thought would help . . . I would pass along.
The article;
Eyetracking points the way to effective news article design . . .
Applies to any type of web writing. I think it really hits home with those of us who are writing a Blog to:
- Provide information about our chosen profession.
- To promote what we do for a living.
- Credibility . . . I don’t know, this is a sticky one.
- To expand our professional presence on the web.
- Putting yourself out there to open up other avenues of/for finding work.
- Use this opportunity to give back to our professions.
- It’s fun, a unique opportunity to communicate with others of a like-mind . . . globally.
- Plus many more reasons I can’t even think of.
The article is from the Online Journalism Review, with great examples and explanation. and is associated with USC. I find this a great read, and a great resource for web writers like me with absolutely no training, formal or otherwise.
In what has come to me as a shock, I have discovered a real boomer of a story. This explosive new evidence shows us that the founder of the Nobel Peace Prize, Alfred Nobel is connected to Rudbeckia Hirta, or the beloved . . . (planted almost everywhere I go), Black-eyed Susan.
You have to read this . . . it really is a blast. There is absolutely, no way, no how, nowhere else this type of info could have been bundled together and delivered in such a knockout virtuoso piece of reporting. It truly makes me pause and wonder what the World would be like with the Blog-o-sphere.
I must seriously(seriously . . . ) salute the County Clerk for a great piece of writing. From Linneaus, to Rubeck, through Nobel and his far reaching impact, all the way to the hallowed grounds of one-third of the Triple Crown, the Preakness. Writing with vigor, wit and passion the Clerk fuses it all together taking the reader for quite a ride.
This post will blow the competition (cough-cough) away. My early; and solid, leader for Gardening Blog Post of the Year.
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[Gif is courtesy of the Nobel.org web-site, linked above]
My hope is to use this site to spread some info about the art and practice of Landscape Design. It is a very misunderstood profession; I do not cut grass like the next door neighbor's cousin who carries 3 mowers and a blower in the back of his truck.
I will also pass along comments on industry happenings, events, etc., and any maybe a few other adventures going on in my world-after all this is "my" blog. Thanks for stopping by and taking a look. Questions? Drop me an e-mail.
rick (at) whisperingcraneinstitute (dot) com
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