Designing an Identity

A quick landscape study for a client.

This is part of a much larger conceptual idea I have for frontage in front of 3 office buildings.

These 3 buildings and 2 others form a “campus like setting” that is divided by one public two lane road. 1 building on one side of the street and the others across the way.

Identifier

My idea is to create some consistent “landscape frontage” to tie all the buildings together. Bringing cohesiveness to the site and the campus.

Where you would see this particular type and style of planting you would recognize those buildings as part of X corporation.

Tree ares along with a berm planting

The drawing represents some loosely determined tree plantings with irregular size and shaped berms in between-topography dependent. The berms would only have two types of plantings;  a low spreading groundcover and a rambling plant with multi-season interest(we are considering a Sumac sp.).

This rendering shows the concept, I have kind of squeezed things together here-let’s call that artistic license. I also did not get into rendering a berm with a lot of rolling topo. This drawing along with several others is a set of initial drawings to see what kind of interest we capture with the client.

Alternating Rhythm

A note about design principle(s). Showing large groups of deciduous trees, then a bed area with berming, back to another group of trees is definitely a rhythm pattern, some would call it alternating rhythm.

A pattern often used poorly. How so?

Think your local Wal-Mart or cheesy strip mall. What do ya got? Let’s see . . . 1 tree(Bradford Pear?!?) go 30ft . . . 1 burning bush?!? go 30ft . . . 1 tree and so on, and so on . . .you’ve seen the drill.

My hope here is to convey the concept of a collection of irregularly placed trees, with these rolling berm area’s in-between.

Berms not Breastworks

A note on these rolling berms . . . I do not, I repeat . . . I do not-start the rolling berm inside the bed and leave the grass/lawn area flat around said berm . . . I hate that, I repeat . . . I hate that!

The terrain starts rolling in the lawn space and just continues up into the bad areas. These are not Indian Burial Mounds nor are the Civil War Breastworks . . . everyone clear on that? Good.

Whew, I feel better now.

From the Moleskine (11)

Hangin' Out

Design Principles (06)

I wanted to go a little further on this idea of thinking beyond the ground plane. I keep coming back to this for a reason.

Designing for the ground plane only

Beginning designers, intermediate designers, and designers who are just not very good get stuck here . . . here on this surface and cannot think beyond this dimension. They cannot see the 2nd and 3rd dimensions.

A Designer needs to look at the power of dimensions

Small Thinking

The other big hang-up for this group of designers . . . thinking about the small, the details, the plant(s) before the look at the entire space . . . nothing kills designing a great space like looking at the small picture before the big picture. I’ve seen, or heard it hundreds of times, and I mean hundreds.

Back to Dimensions

Let’s take a look at two plan view drawings that I whipped up the other night. A couple of quick doodles to show the deception of designing in plan only.

Plan view, steps, wall, terrace, plants, etc.

Okay, that’s one. Here’s another:

Here's the other idea in a quick plan view sketch

So along with the above plan view designs/concepts I had drawn above, below are two renderings in what could be called 2D, or others might call them sectional drawings, for now lets call these 2 Rick Anderson sectionals.

These are the same kind of sketches I am liable to draw on-site or in a meeting, to help the clients see/understand/visualize the potential for their space. I cannot state enough how powerful drawing in front of your client is . . .

The 1st:

The opportunities for great space when adding vertical elements

The 2nd:

Focusing on the ground plane.

Obviously the 1st plan view goes with the 2nd rendering, creating a okay space which looked really positive in the plan view drawing. In the virtual reality of the rendering . . .  just so-so.

Just the Opposite:

The 2nd plan view drawing above was pretty meh(not so good), average, sufficient. Now look at my rendering for the space, the drawing below the 2nd plan view.

Much more interest, a better definition of the space. look at how happy those people are. A place to hang out, find some shade, feel good and be with people or  . . . as a space to relax, rest, enjoy, or even contemplate our economy!

Forms to Spaces

Back to the beginning. The work in more than one dimension helps in greatly defining that space and bringing it to another level. This ground plane has many uses and performs great function-almost all of our functions, but as designers we need to reach beyond simple function.

We need to reach for great spaces and places. Memorable form, grace beauty, structure along with that function.

For those of you stuck on the ground, get off that singular plane and add more planes, create the forms. Forms that allow for the designing and creating of great structures, elements and spaces.

More to come.

Disclaimer: I drew both renderings before I whipped out those fast plan view versions of the space(s).

Design Principles(04)

Here’s a look at someone who followed a very different type of design principles and a way of designing landscapes . . . art that become art in the landscape.

A RBM tapestry at the Paco Imperial Museum

Above is the tapestry work by the Brazilian artist and great landscape designer Roberto Burle Marx, the man was an incredible unique talent, a real one of a kind. To me his guiding principles were texture and color.

A terrace garden in Rio De Janerio

I found these on a blog called slow movement, a collection of a lot of varied material, thanks for the post about RBM.

WCI Workshops

Sticky:  03/30/09 update:

Stone Workshops

We are going to offer two hands-on stone workshops this year. The 1st will be August 7th, 8th, and 9th. the 2nd workshop will be October 28th-30th. Workshops will include designing with stone, placing boulders, and 2 days of wall work with a hard look at aesthetics of wall-building.

These two events will be part of a 5 year series of workshops with stone. My goal is to build something approx 450ft long with a series of “interesting” add-ons. Details to follow. Class size will be limited to under 20.

I’ve been asked about design classes, rendering classes, and more trips down through Hocking Hills, if any of that or something else interests you. Please get a hold of me.

Design Principles (03)

After the previous post on the 10 basic principles of design-in my opinion the 10 basic principles, I felt a follow-through was needed.

So here we go

I wanted to discuss this business about:

• Point
• Line
• Planes
• Forms

Connecting

This work by starting out with a point in space, we take this single point and add several other points together . . . connecting the points to create a line.

From here we connect several line together and presto-bingo! A plane is formed. Looking at this from a design perspective the 1st plane we deal with is the ground plane.

Ground Plane

The lines for the ground plane are the 4 horizons/horizon lines you see to your front/back and left/right.

Even more specifically to landscape designers the ground plane is the perimeter lines/boundary lines of the property.

We can get even more specific about this ground plane if our client only wants us to focus on the backyard, or perhaps we are only to look at a entry to the garage/front door. This just shrinks the ground plane the Designer is looking at or working with. Looking right down there, taking a measurement or two and looking for a way to connect a few lines to create a plane within a plane.

We are working on that ground plane, and looking for all solutions there.

The Problem:

Here’s the real issue in understanding planes and how most Designers fail in their work. I will digress for a moment.

Let’s face it most work in the U.S. is mediocre at best and I think I know why. The failure to get off the ground plane.

To work only looking down.

To draw everything in plan view, sketch lines in plan view, measure in plan view, look for solutions in plan view. The homeowner is leading you around the yard-looking down, you’re looking down, the dead shrubs or broken concrete is down there. Heck it’s all down there.

But it’s not all down there, it’s about more than 12 shrubs across the front, 2 trees, 3 pallets of sod and some mulch. Great design is about the entire space.

We need to quit looking down, we need to think, sketch, draw, conceptualize, create, develop, and find solutions in 2dimensional and 3dimensional thinking.

3rd Dimension

We live in a 3 dimensional world and it’s time all Landscape Designers design that way.

For me it’s a simple recognition of looking at all the planes(6) and finding the best was to work with them. To create the best designed space we possibly can.

In it’s simpliest explanation you have the ground plane, the house is usually 1 vertical plane, and walls, fences, trees, large shrubs, pots, pergola post, etc., can all be considered vertical planes, or at the very least elements that make up (a) vertical plane(s).

It’s making these planes relate to each other and connect with each other-landscape design.

Looking/Drawing

This way of designing/thinking also should lead to a new design process through sketching/drawing/conceptualizing.

The ability to render or sketch 2 dimensionally, or in perspective makes this process go much faster. Sectionals are another drawing tool in looking at these vertical planes.

Get off the ground. Quit looking down.

Looking Up

I always hear experienced designers say stuff like:

“Well I just know intuitively what I am doing”

“The space, the client, and the surroundings speak to me”

“I just know, I follow my gut instinicts”

Well how do we just know? How do we know right from wrong?

How did we get to where we are?

And; maybe most importantly, how do you teach intuition? gut instinct? feel?

<shrugs shoulders at the keyboard> I don’t know, is that even possible? I know I’m not anywhere near smart enough to teach Intuition 101 in Landscape Design.

So this is where I start

• Point
• Line
• Plane
• Form

I am anxious to hear what you think.

I’m sure some are thinking, what about:

1. Order
2. Unity
3. Rhythm
4. Harmony through Order and Unity
5. Unity of Three
6. Color
7. Mass Collection
8. etc, etc.

But we aren’t there yet, those are yet to come . . . in my way of thinking how Landscape Design should be taught.

Previous:

Design 01

Design 02

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Addendum: I went over this several times to try and make it read and or sound cohesive or somehow make some sort of sense. I continually am working this process through my head.

The entire idea of what landscape design principles really are is becoming close to an obsession with me. It seems no matter who I talk to the answer is different, and a lot of times . . . it’s really different.

Occasionally an academic or two will sound the same line, describing by rote some class they have taught over and over to wandering minds sitting in rows, inside a room, behind some walls their version of LD 101.

Not in the field, the wind, the dirt, the sun-or rain and mud. Dealing with clients who more than likely have unrealistic expectations, desires and dreams . . . this is design in the real World.

This is most likely where I will find my answers.

Design Principles(02)

All rightie then, coming off the heels of the previous post with the good Doctor here comes some more wackiness.

What I have below is what I thought was the most beginner of beginning design. Where all Landscape Design starts.

I have not touched or amended any of this. I wanted to show exactly what I had written for this 4 hr workshop on Beginning Design for landscape professionals.

The workshop was promoted for beginners and I assumed I’d have beginners. In reality I had a class of around 25 that was across the board. From complete rookie novices all the way to those 3 guys(I remember them clearly)* sitting on my right, who had been around for quite awhile.

Ten Building Blocks to Design-Design at it’s Most Primitive

7 physical and 3 Sensory Elements=The 10 Basics of  Design

Physical Elements:

• Point: where everything starts.
• Line: the connection of two points.
• Plane: connection of several lines—2 dimensional.
• Form: connection of several planes—3 dimensional.
• Motion: movement/experience, planes/form.
• Color: an added bonus to 3 dimensional space—courtesy of light.
• Texture: as in manipulation of plane, form, and color.

Sensory:

• Sound: Most powerful, out of sight, or irregular rhythm.
• Touch/Tactile: human nature, drawn to . . .
• Smell: kicks in memory, most powerful.

These ten create 3 dimensional design in the fullest sense. When you create with all 10 in mind you can achieve great design.

The above create the 3 dimensional World we live in.

So there it is.

This is the outline I started this class with and went through these 10 in around an hour; of those 4 hours for the workshop.

Moving on to other principles as I thought the class was picking up on the above.

What I am looking for is this:

• Are the above 10 where we should start when looking at design principles?
• Are they even design principles that need discussing when it comes to landscape design?
• If they are , is this the way the 10 should be separated?
• For the record I think so. Especially when it comes to explaining 3 dimensional work, and getting off the ground plane-but I digress.If those are the 1st 10, where do we go from here?
• If they really aren’t where is the actual starting point for teaching landscape design principles?

What’s next?

I’m sure I am missing some questions above about what I consider the 10 building blocks. So ask away.

We cannot find answers without examining and questioning.

I am not really wanting to get on to more advanced principles, or even arguing what are more advanced principles. I really am wanting to know where the start is. The actual starting line for teaching.

Everywhere I look the teaching. writing, lecturing is so very different.

Amusing

I can’t even count the number of times where I’ve sat in on a talk on supposed design principles and the talks are all over the board(see previous post/video) on those principles beginners must know.

I bet I could do a 2-4 day workshop where we could gather designers and do nothing but discuss those principles, identify those principles and have great argument as to what those design principles really are.

Sounds like a lot of fun, Are you up for it?

Back to the above, sound off about the above, let me know how you feel/think/teach/design/practice.

Let the argument begin . . .

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* I remember some of the discussions I had with those 3 they were clearly interested in what I had to say. They were interested in exploring from another perspective what design principles are and how we/they/I look at them.

There was also talk about how little is offered in the Green Industry on design principles, what they are, and how to really apply design principles in a productive way. Are you listening ANLA?

I enjoyed the give and take immensely.

Design Principles (1)

Here’s a video from Dr. Ann Marie VanDerZanden of Iowa State University discussing “principles of landscape design”. In my mind this is more controversy concerning design principles.

Going back to my earlier posting on just what in the hell are design principle, beginning design principles, and the biggie . . . what are advanced design principles ???

What do you think?

Where are those in the list of design principles?

Was that a good explanation of the 5 principles she described?

I plan on going much further into this discussion, I am more convinced by the more I read that there is no real consensus, no real agreement on starting point.

I’m sure the usual suspects will e-mail me, I also welcome comments left below.

Oh, I almost forgot there was a link I had found tucked away with this video. The page is a collection of links to extension sites.

Stimulus

Last week Washington D.C. was in an uproar to pass the stimulus bill, it was hurry, hurry hurry-time is of the essence.

It is critical that we pass this bill immediately or there will be dire consequences.

Heck I read Senator Brown had to leave his Mother’s funeral in Ohio and fly back to D.C. in time to cast the 60th vote for passage in the Senate.

Hurry, hurry, hurry-to hell with reading it, discussing it, glancing at it . . . just vote the damn thing in, and fast.

Saturday

Sunday

Monday

Tuesday. afternoon . . . in Denver.

I was right before, vote the whole damn bunch out, put some others in, and if they don’t work for US, vote that whole damn bunch out!

I’m just sayin’    .  .   .   .    .    .     .     .      .      .       .       .        .        .         .         .          .           .

ANLA; Mgmt Clinic, A Stick in my Side

There he was, sitting dead center-left side of the aisle in the very front row. The absolute maximum exposure spot to get the Presenter’s attention . . . the perfect spot.

Green Waste

The talk was on turning Green Waste into a positive, the speaker was from a German company GaLaBau Energy(BIOFerm), and sponsored by the ELCA(European Landscape Contractors Assoc.).

GaLaBau; as it became very clear to me, has gotten it together and come up with a terrific way to process all this waste material and turn it into usable fuel or electric energy . . . real cutting edge business.

Anyway, all of us go to thes conferences to learn, adapt, become smarter(I hope), be the guy back home who’s on the cutting edge . . . so we attend lectures, take notes, and ask questions.

Ask Questions

Look, I do some speaking and I think it’s great when attendee’s ask questions, search for more info, challenge some information considered more philosophical or opinion based than factual based.

When the audience member starts to inject their agenda, their philosophy, their local problems . . . that audience member crosses over a line. It becomes about them and not the presenter.

We do not spend over $1,000 dollars and 3-4 days of our time to hear about zoning regulations and “why this won’t work in my town in Illinois, blah, blah, blah . . .”  We do come to hear about cutting edge knowledge, ideas and possibilities.

Shooting ‘em down

So what happened? Around the 4th time or so when the audience heard something to the effect that this plant wouldn’t fly in “Somewhere, Illinois” because . . . bah, blah, blah.

I said loud enough from him to hear

Dude! we do not ‘care/need’ to know how you do it in Illinois. We ‘re here to hear the talk.

Or something very, very close to that.

Reaction time

So a few in the crowd chuckled, or smiled back at me, or just lowered the head momentarily. and Mr. Huber rolled on completely non-pulsed by the comment. The fellow from Illinois remained quiet for the rest of the talk.

Upon completion of the talk some in the crowd who knew me came over.

Rick you really shut that guy down.

Another,

Wow, you were pretty hard on that guy . . .

Also,

I expected nothing less, did he say anything to you?

Finally,

Well you must not like anyone from Illinois.

The guy who was making all the remarks did not look my way, nor did he say anything. Nothing else was said by anyone else, case closed.

Well, maybe not

Later I am walking through somewhere down a hall and someone who wasn’t even there walks up and says.

Hey, I heard you were pretty hard on some guy in the Green Waste talk, people are saying you really shut him down.

Yesterday morning, the last day of the conference, someone who I have known a long time, says to me.

Now Rick as your friend I just want to tell you to watch out because it’s getting around about how hard you were on a guy yesterday, and it’s not in a good way.

I just thought I’d let you know some folks are not happy and talking pretty negative about the way you were.

So there you have it. I spent 4 days of my time, over a $1,000.00 bucks to attend the Clinic and instead of listening to a guy bemoan, belly-ache, and whine about his zoning problems by telling him to can it . . . I am now the bad guy

. . . I need to be quiet(those of you that personally know me, know this is a impossibility).

My reaction,

Well guess what? I am not sorry, I would do it again. There’s a line and he went over it.

I cannot help if his feelings are hurt . . . maybe if we went back to winners and losers, keeping score, giving trophies only to winners and passing/failing people. The stick in my side could have taken it like a man, and there wouldn’t be such shock by my remark.

Will this hurt me down the road: as far as being hired to speak, at the Clinic in the future? I don’t know, heck this post may become part of the equation. But I do not regret what I said.

I do not take it back, nor do I wish I had just thought it rather than say it. Mr. Huber was delivering some great information, his company has great ideas, great goals . . . lofty ambitions to taking care of a very big problem . . . give me that any day over a lamenter in the crowd.

I love the ANLA Mgmt Clinic, it’s the best Conference in the industry and I will continue to attend, though I may be done as a speaker-I don’t know.

More about the clinic and some great info on sustainability, rain-water gardens, invasive vs non-native, and some final thoughts all yet to come.

All very postive events/talks/ideas.

ANLA Mgmt Clinic; Eric Wahl

Today’s keynote speaker was Eric Wahl on The Art of Vision and let me tell you something . . . it was art, art in every sense of the word.

From the opening line to the 1st note on U2 blasting onto the screen to the last note and brush stroke of a upside painted portrait of our 16th President-Abraham Lincoln. Simply put  . . . it was terrific.

In all my years of coming here it was only the 2nd time I have seen such a spontaneous outburst in the form of a standing ovation . . . a very rare happening for a public speaker, and about the highest honor a audience can give back.

Style, presentation, tone, visuals, music, montage(s) of images and music, along with performance. Well done.

Everybody likes to watch people draw, it comes across as magical. lines coming together and viola . . . images, forms, shapes . . . trust me, in my own little humble way in happens every time I’m scribbling in public.

Take that starting point, add a stage lights, 800+ in the crowd, music, visuals, energy and this artist who paints in great big bold graphic strokes on a blakc background . . . and you really got something.

If you ever get a chance to watch Eric perform, or speak-make the time, effort, and energy to go.

Tap into the wealth of ideas, creativity, and knowledge.

Bringing sand to the beach.

As an adult enjoy this idea of silliness.

Stop trying to be perfect, try for remarkable.

Stand for the aesthetic beauty of our environment, but also our sustainability.

The art of vision is couched in the purpose of reprogramming.

Drawing is a learned skill.

— Eric Wahl from 02/08/09 ANLA Mgmt Clinic

More as we go along, be strong, be powerful, take a chance or two . . . you never know what might be in the envelope!

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Addendum: The other outburst, was for A.E. Bye in(I think) 1993 when the APLD was here. Mr. Bye was our guest keynoter.

His collective wisdom, insight, and vision concerning beauty and simplicity was delivered with great humility and simplicity.

The finest talk on design and the design profession I have ever heard . . . still to this day.

ANLA Mgmt Clinic (2)

Sustainable, sustainable, sustainable . . . the word of the day. At least for me. Today and most likely my major emphasis of/at the Clinic  will focus on Sustainability issues.

Two very good talks today.

Robert Schutzki on What Sustainability Means to the Landscape Industry, and a talk by Bob Dolibois (our fearless ANLA leader) on Sustainability and the Green Industry.

One dealing with the science and practical and the other on the meanings/concepts/phrasology and practical for us in the industry.

More on these talks later tomorrow, it’s off to receptions and Muggets(why again is there only one night of Muggets? No answer is acceptable, btw)

One other note, the morning keynote by Neil Howe on Generations: LIfestyles and Workstyles was terrific, well-delivered and insightful.

More to follow.