Showing posts with label design. Show all posts
Showing posts with label design. Show all posts
Thursday, March 6, 2014
Effective Elements in Landscaping Design
It is so exciting to start any Landscaping Design project. Many home owners begin without a plan and end up dissatisfied with the overall result leaving them with wasted money and time. The planning stage is one of the most important pieces in the landscape Design and should be carefully planned out to give your home the best look in regards to Landscaping. There are many things to think about when Designing the Landscaping in your yard. Create the space on paper and let your imagination go before you spend money and time on planting and the creation of the space.
Here are some things to think about before your green thumb gets to work.
1) Accessible: Make sure your yard is still accessible to all areas that might need maintenance further on down the road. When we began Landscaping I had to take into account access into our back yard. We have a grinder system that needs to be accessed by the township so it was important that they did not trample my new Landscaping. Other things to consider are where your well and septic are contained. You will have your own obstacles to review before you begin your Landscaping Design project.
2) Focus: It is important that you Design your Landscaping around a point of focus. Options for a focal point include a larger tree with flowers, a statue or garden art piece or even something as simple as a bench. All it needs to be is something that says look at me and brings the attention to your Landscaping Design. It needs to stand out not stick out like a sore thumb so plan accordingly.
3) Ditch Formality: When a landscape Design is formal it sets up the garden for disaster for the inexperienced landscape Designer. For instance if you are trying to keep complete symmetry that will require weekly maintenance and up keep. Also, if you are planting in symmetry and one object dies or is infected it will need to be removed leaving the challenge of finding a replacement of equivalent size.
4) Straight not Curvy: Landscape Designs that are overly curvy are not appealing to the eye. Instead of a small garden with lots of curves look into something with subtle curves and more lines.
5) Make it Move: Make sure your garden has Elements that move in the wind. Larger grasses or shrubs that move with the wind add interest and leave your garden from becoming stagnant and still. You want slight movement. Plants that attract animals are wonderfully pleasing to the senses as are the creatures they attract. Butterflies and birds bring another degree of movement which is pleasing to most.
6) Accents: Do not allow the landscape Design to overkill your homes Design but also dont let it completely over shadow the home either. It is important to keep things in proportion and to soften any flaws in the home.
7) Delete: Instead of Designing the landscape around Elements that you dislike remove them. If you dislike that oak taking up the entire back yard remove it. It may give you a new motivation in your Design and you will be making it a space you love instead of one you can just deal with.
8) Follow Direction: It is important to make sure you plant items where they will thrive. If you have shade dont plant items that are in need of full sun. They will not thrive and you will be wasting funds. It is important for you to review what the plants need before you make purchases to make sure your environment is one in which will allow the landscape Design to flourish.
It is best not to walk into a Landscaping center without a budget and a plan. Without those two items you can end up throwing valuable resources down the drain. Lack of planning will end up costing you money that could be used elsewhere in your landscape Design. It is important to also remember that Rome wasnt built in a day and that a landscape Design can be added as you continue to live in your home.
Wednesday, March 5, 2014
Create 3D Landscape Using Online 3D Landscape Design Services
Landscape design services are similar to landscape architecture and now a day online landscape design continues to increase in popularity across most of the programs and the same happened to landscape designing. Landscape architecture design is a superior and bright concept in residential landscape architectural division as landscape design does not only mean the drawings of hills and trees.
Landscape architecture and landscape designer plays an important role in landscape design services as he takes you through the entire design development process including consultation and program development, analysis of the existing site, conceptual landscaping design and construction documentation. Whether you have simple landscaping design that only encompasses landscape planting or a complex construction package, it is essential that you hire a landscape designer or landscape architect who is proficient in ability with require sets of detailed. At the same time it is also important to differentiate between off-the-shelf landscaping design and a designer who can reflect your unique style.
If your desire is to get a real landscape design then the prospect requires some serious planning. There are some points which need to be considered like space availability, lighting conditions and soil condition when they are attempting to put together a complete design plan.
Online landscape design services are offered by many services provider but it is advisable to get accurate services form services provider who have vast experience in this field with all needed service and expertise available online anytime. Interactive online landscape are very important as it will save the client time, money and effort because the online landscape designs can be altered depending on the preferences with the recommendations of the landscape experts.
Online landscape designs are readily available and another benefit is that the landscape architects can work like fresh input to get unique and accurate landscape design services. For any queries regarding landscape design and its applications, please feel free to contact us. For more details visit us at: http://www.autocaddraftingindia.com/2dimension/civildesigndrafting/landscape_drawing.php
Tuesday, March 4, 2014
Local Landscape Design History Lecture Series
The Revealing Landscape Narratives lecture series is part of the City of Arcata Historic Survey Project. Lectures take place Thursdays from 7-8:30 p. m. Feb. 10th-Mar. 10th. For more information, contact the Historical Resourses Survey Project Office 825-2044.
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Landscape and Garden Design
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| Modern River Rock Island Planter |
Before beginning your project, prepare yourself for a a successful project!
- Have insurance, plans, construction schedule in place.
- Test your soil and amend it as needed. Consider purchasing a soil testing kit or having your soil tested at a lab like Northcoast Labs. It seems like most county extension offices offer the soil testing kit or service for free as another alternative.
- If you use a contractor, make sure he or she is a licensed landscape contractor.
- Order materials and confirm your order and delivery date
- Make sure you have all if any local, state or federal permits required for your project.
- Be aware of noise ordinances, traffic control plans, etc.
- A few days before beginning any do-it-yourself landscaping project, call 811 to make sure that all underground utilities are marked. If you are using a landscape contractor, make sure he or she is aware that you expect him or her to do this.
- Be sure to have all existing irrigation and other electrical lines marked prior to digging.
- Look into other pre-construction check lists to make sure you have not overlooked anything.
- No worries, this is not rocket science. Just be conscientious about your responsibilities and try to be a good neighbor and not leave your site a construction zone for any longer than necessary. I have a friend who is a contractor who finishes up everyday tidying up the site so that it appears as neat as possible when the homeowners return, not finished, just neat. It doesnt take long to do this, maybe 15 minutes. If you are a professional, it will make you look more professional than some of your competitors that dont take this step. Your project will also seem less like a nuisance, which on some level all construction projects are.
Conceptual Design & Planting Plan Examples from previous work.
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| Landscape Design & Planting Design Map |
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| Planting Plan |
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| Updated Planting Plan |
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| Enclosed Courtyard for Professional Building Scale Concept Model |
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| Recommend Emu Bistro Furniture in Red & Industrial Upcycled Firepit |
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| Before |
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| After |
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| After |
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| Pierson Park Plaza Concept Drawing |
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| Eco-Progressive Mixed Use Concept Drawing |
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| Eco-Progressive Mixed Use Presentation Board |
Great Landscape Design by Innovative Fire Light and Warming Trends
Innovative Fire & Light, out of Brick, New Jersey, and Warming Trends, have partnered to create some amazing, contemporary outdoor fire features.
Innovative Fire & Light uses Warming Trends Crossfire Burners exclusively for all of their custom outdoor fire pits and we are honored that they do so. Below are some examples of the work we do together and we are happy to share.
Two 5 long linear fire features cut into a Brazilian bluestone wall. Burners topped with black fireglass. Both units work off one remote.
Fire pit made using a 100-150 year old French planter. Topped with a custom copper ledge. Custom ceramic firestones cover the burner. This shows that somethings can be reused to create one of a kind features. Fire Pit Design by. RENEE BYERS, LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT, P.C.
This is a 60" round fire pit table. Framed with aluminum tubing, then faced in cement board. Custom cut tile for the 10" ledge and travertine mosaic tile for the field. Topped with a mix of 8 different colors of fire glass to get the look of sea glass.
Innovative Fire & Light recently installed a Warming Trends Crossfire Burner in their installation of an outdoor fireplace.
Innovative Fire & Light recently installed a Warming Trends Crossfire Burner in their installation of an outdoor fire pit.
If you are on the east coast, please check out Innovative Fire & Light for all of your outdoor fire pit and landscaping design needs. To learn more about Warming Trends and our Crossfire Burners, please visit us online or call today. 1-877-556-5255.
Backyard Landscape Design
Backyard Landscape Design
Backyard Landscape Design
There are several backyard landscape design ideas that you can collect and save from many different magazines operating theater on-line services. You privation your own unique landscape design to reflect your finical life style and sol it does not resemble the design of everyone else.
You execute not want to make the backyard landscaping ideas a difficult project. There are several designs that are actually low maintenance. There are besides options that bequeath award you some privateness for relaxing reading vitamin A book or for meditating. If you already have a swimming pool it is best to erect a fence in about it for the safety of your kinsperson and the rubber of others. You can argue off some other portion of the backyard for playacting yard games. There are several types of landscape decorations that hindquarters represent installed plants to be planted for watching birds and flirt gardens. Your backyard landscape does not have to be just one design; you can sort out your yard into designs for particular activities.
You do not want your ideas to resemble your neighbors. You want to have a one of angstrom unit sort send to
Backyard Landscape Design
Backyard Landscape Design
reflect your way of aliveness and as well to be low maintenance. You require to embody able to give out on vacation and know that your backyard is taking care of itself. If your yard is Brobdingnagian but you neediness something low-spirited maintenance plant only ampere small while of grass. You can put pavers or pebbles to make pathways or walkways around the yard. You can create an area of the yard for a conversation pit away placing outdoor rug and some well-situated patio furniture. Flowers and herbs can constitute grown in raised beds or containers; this adds a lilliputian gloss to the backyard. These containers can glucinium rotated just about the backyard for temperateness needs operating theatre to tote up color to another part of the yard.
If you and your family need to have more than privacy you do not inevitably birth to have a fence built. There are former ways to create a fence such as decorative trees that are at least seven feet tall or higher tall hedges creative fretwork ferment that is covered with angstrom unit favorite vine or two. However regular fencing should atomic number 4 around a pool for safety device and close to fencing can be made to give you privacy spell swimming and sunning. Regular fencing should as well be surrounding the game or sports areas not exclusively for the safety of those not involved Indiana the game Beaver State sports but for the safety of your garden.
Your natural fencing of hedges or bushes can be grown wherever Oregon yet you privation atomic number 49 club to produce a reading or meditating area. These areas fundament likewise make flowers planted on the internal side of the bushes to help one relax. Backyard decorations such as birdbaths fountains and gazing balls can be added to any area of the backyard. A well-heeled chair or bench is good for meditation or reading and antiophthalmic factor bistro hold over and chairs can be for lunch operating room an afternoon snack.
There are several unlike styles of deck backyard and patio article of furniture available today that seat be set in the different areas of your backyard that leave tell what that area is generally used for. For example modest bistro table and chairs for card playing; childs play table for dining; angstrom unit loiter chair for meditating or reading. These are just angstrom few backyard landscaping tips you can use in your design.
Backyard Landscape Design
Relate Tag : Backyard Landscape Design,Backyard Landscape Design Photos,Backyard Patio Design,Backyard Hardscape Design,Backyard Landscape Design Pictures
Interior Design Software Benefits
A wide array of major companies offer interior design software. The design software will help a consumer to virtually plan out the room and view the outcome and never have to leave their home or office. An investment in three-dimensional software will make the designing experience much more realistic. Its true to real life.
With interior design software, the consumer is not limited to simply selecting paint colors. These software programs will allow the user to place furniture throughout the virtual room. Additionally, the consumer is not limited to just one room for the design process. Any good software program is set up to allow a number of rooms to be designed all at once.
Interior Design Software: How Much Will It Cost?
Interior design software comes in a wide range of price tags. Prices may range anywhere from as low as $30 to as high as $500. But its important to be aware of quality in addition to the price when making the purchase. A less expensive software program, obviously, will not offer as many features as a more expensive one. However, if the consumer is not in need of a high-tech program, then saving money by going with one that offers less may be fine.
When selecting the interior design software that is just right for you, take the time to consider the task at hand before making your purchase. Since the different levels of programs could be overwhelming at first, be careful about purchasing one that is beyond what is needed. The different levels of software might include an architectural series, a pro series, and a home series. Another thing to consider when purchasing is whether or not the software is compatible with your particular home computer. If you purchase a software program that is too advanced for your home computer you will be frustrated indeed.
When shopping for a software program that offers excellent quality in interior design consider looking into the Better Homes and Gardens software. The programs offered through this company have been found to be of exceptional quality. They boast many excellent features such as three dimensional viewing, multi-room design capability, and accurately scaled floor plans. Another viable choice for your software is offered by Chief Architect. Each of these companies offer programs that make designing simple for the home enthusiast as well as the professional designer.
Interior Design has benefited greatly by the addition of easy-to-use software. Choosing an interior design software program will turn designing into a fun adventure for any individual. No matter your skill level, you can undertake that long awaited home project today after purchasing interior design software.
You can also find more info on Types Of Interior Design. Interiordesignbliss.com is a comprehensive resource which provide information about interior designs.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=William_Hopkins
Read More..
With interior design software, the consumer is not limited to simply selecting paint colors. These software programs will allow the user to place furniture throughout the virtual room. Additionally, the consumer is not limited to just one room for the design process. Any good software program is set up to allow a number of rooms to be designed all at once.
Interior Design Software: How Much Will It Cost?
Interior design software comes in a wide range of price tags. Prices may range anywhere from as low as $30 to as high as $500. But its important to be aware of quality in addition to the price when making the purchase. A less expensive software program, obviously, will not offer as many features as a more expensive one. However, if the consumer is not in need of a high-tech program, then saving money by going with one that offers less may be fine.
When selecting the interior design software that is just right for you, take the time to consider the task at hand before making your purchase. Since the different levels of programs could be overwhelming at first, be careful about purchasing one that is beyond what is needed. The different levels of software might include an architectural series, a pro series, and a home series. Another thing to consider when purchasing is whether or not the software is compatible with your particular home computer. If you purchase a software program that is too advanced for your home computer you will be frustrated indeed.
When shopping for a software program that offers excellent quality in interior design consider looking into the Better Homes and Gardens software. The programs offered through this company have been found to be of exceptional quality. They boast many excellent features such as three dimensional viewing, multi-room design capability, and accurately scaled floor plans. Another viable choice for your software is offered by Chief Architect. Each of these companies offer programs that make designing simple for the home enthusiast as well as the professional designer.
Interior Design has benefited greatly by the addition of easy-to-use software. Choosing an interior design software program will turn designing into a fun adventure for any individual. No matter your skill level, you can undertake that long awaited home project today after purchasing interior design software.
You can also find more info on Types Of Interior Design. Interiordesignbliss.com is a comprehensive resource which provide information about interior designs.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=William_Hopkins
4 1 Pattern Assisted Design
4.1 Pattern Assisted Design
Contents list
Patterns in use
Design on an environmental backcloth differs from other types of design, in two crucial respects. First, it compares with drawing on sand or on the bark
of a tree, rather than with drawing on white paper. Second, it differs because "the environment is not one thing or a thousand things: it is interpreted
and used by each species and each individual in different ways, depending on their niche in society and in the ecosystem. You may think of your garden
as a rectangle; babies, birds, worms and spiders will have different conceptions of the "same space. Ideas about what the environment is lie at the heart
of the design process. They may be viewed as structures and represented by patterns, as discussed in the previous chapter. Three analogies (Figure 3.1),
each concerned with purposive change, can be used to illustrate aspects of the environmental designers predicament.
[Fig 4.1 ] Analogies for the environmental designer’s predicament: a coach, a doctor and the flight of a honeybee – see discussion below.
Design on the bark of a tree
4.2 Stagecoach Analogy
Contents list
Environmental planning is but a stage in a journey. At best, planners can aspire to hold the reigns and guide the horses over rough ground. They may leave
footprints on the sands of time. Others will then take over. The process is never finished, and land characteristics affect ones ease of travel. From
the top of a precipice, vertical travel requires little effort. Making ones way through a mountain, horizontal travel requires great energy. From the
heart of a volcano, upward motion is fast but risky. Traversing quicksand can be slow. According to the nature of the land and the intended direction of
travel, planners require different information, different tools and different skills.
4.3 Medical Analogy
Contents list
One difference between doctors and stagecoach drivers is that the latter have a clearer view of where they are going. Staging posts can be defined but health
is a nebulous concept. Doctors must use the relative notion of "improvement, instead of any absolute measures of fitness, obesity, blood pressure or whatever.
Yet without a vision of what constitutes "a healthy person a doctor would have as much difficulty as an environmental designer without a concept of "a
good place. To recommend a course of action, doctors must have ideas about human behaviour, about the environment, about the look of a healthy person
and about the archetypal patterns of treatment. Environmental designers must have comparable knowledge of places. Diagnosis comes before treatment.
A landscape requiring treatment.
4.4 Honey Bee Analogy
Contents list
Bees also have clearer goals than doctors: to collect nectar and make honey. Yet they do not fly in straight lines. They proceed in a spiralling and apparently
chaotic manner. The process of environmental design is closer to the flight of a honey-bee than to the path of a stagecoach. It passes between four types
of pattern, before settling on a proposed course of action.
Fig 4.2 Ideas are at the heart of the design process. The dotted line shows the flight of a bee, collecting nectar from a selection of flowers.
Each analogy indicates that the planning process must begin with an idea, or a vision, of some future state, not with a survey. In fairness to Geddes, who
began the survey--analysis--plan method, it should be said that he fully recognized that goals have precedence in the planning process:
Our whole life is governed by ideals, good and bad, whether we know it or not. North, south, east and west are only ideals of direction: you will never
absolutely get there; yet you can never get anywhere, save indeed straight down into a hole, without them. (Tyrwhitt, 1947)
Without a vision of the future, one does not know what type of survey to conduct. A need, a want or a desire for power leads to the formulation of concepts,
which are then used in the collection and analysis of survey material. The stagecoach analogy illustrates this point. Ones first decision is about a destination.
Nothing can be done until this is known: that is why ideas lie at the heart of the design process. Then comes an analysis of the possible means of travel.
When a horse-drawn coach has been chosen, a survey of routes can be made. In the terminology of linguistic philosophy, the types of analytical concept
to be employed are constructs. The process can be represented as:
Desideratum -> Idea -> Survey -> Analysis -> Plan
This sequence can and should be applied to each characteristic of the environment. Desiderata, the things that are desired, lead to ideas about future states
of affairs. Figure 2 shows thinking, represented by a nexus of arrows, at the heart of the design process. The ideas upon which it operates are placed
in one of four stacks: Primary Patterns relate to the natural environment; Secondary Patterns relate to human behaviour; Tertiary Patterns relate to aesthetics;
Quaternary Patterns relate to design archetypes, so that the four pattern types can also be described as Natural, Social, Aesthetic and Archetypal. A similar
diagram could show a doctors vision of a sick and healthy patient, with mediating concepts of physiology, environment, behaviour and aesthetics. There
is no such thing as "a survey that will serve for every purpose. Treating a nervous disorder requires different information from that required to treat
a broken leg. Planners too must define their starting and finishing points, though they can begin at many points and travel in many directions. This principle
applies at every scale, from placing a garden seat to designing a house or planning a town extension.
4.5 Planning a garden Seat
Contents list
Placing a garden seat is the elementary task in outdoor planning and should be the first assignment for every student. Some of the patterns that govern
the decisions are shown in Figure 4.3.
[Fig 4.3 ] Placing a garden seat is elementary, but requires careful thought.
The circulation layer shows four alternative locations for the seat, as B, C, D and E, with the most commonly used routes. The shadows layer shows the noon
and 6 pm shadows at the spring solstice. In a temperate climate, this rules out position B and favours position E, as the family like inviting their friends
for evening barbecues. The views layer shows the direction of a view to the sea, making position D unattractive. The archetype layer shows an Alexander-type
pattern for a garden seat, which could work in a variety of locations but is shown in position E. The geometrical layer shows an idea for the plan geometry:
there is a transition from a regular paved area, which is the realm of Art, through a serpentine curve to an irregular area, which is the realm of Nature.
Finally, there is a story underlying the garden. It belongs to a couple who remember walking along a coastal path on a fine summers evening. The girl
slipped. The man caught her. They fell into each others arms and later became engaged to marry. This garden, being within sight of the sea and having
a bank behind the gardens prime seat, reminds them of that evening.
What was the design process? One cannot say which idea formed the starting point for locating the seat: the natural patterns of sun, shade, and views, the
social patterns of how the seat was going to fit into its owners lives, or the geometrical idea for the garden plan. They came together. Because of its
personal and social aspects, the design does not entirely satisfy Christopher Alexanders pattern 176, Garden seat:
Make a quiet place in the garden -- a private enclosure with a comfortable seat, thick planting, sun. Pick the place for the seat carefully; pick the place
that will give you the most intense kind of solitude. (Alexander, 1977)
4.6 Planning a water feature
Contents list
One might think nothing simpler than planning a fountain and pool. A garden centre can supply one with all the means: a pre-formed liner, a hosepipe, and
a fountain kit. They simplify pool construction, and, more often than not, produce the most hideous results (Figure 4). The pool shapes are ugly, the pumps
whine, the fountains make one think it is raining, the plastic becomes stained and discoloured. But water is the lifeblood of towns and gardens. What can
be done? Good water features require the conjunction of, at least, a social pattern with an aesthetic pattern. As there have been so many abject failures
in pool design, it would be wise to employ a good archetypal pattern, and no bad thing to make a response to a natural pattern.
Fig 4.4 A garden pool, made from garden centre supplies: it is ghastly.
Lawrence Halprin has the unusual distinction of having devised a successful new archetypal pattern that is eminently reproducible: the walk-through canyon
fountain. The first of its type, at Portland in Oregon, has a geometrical character (a tertiary pattern), which was inspired by a primary pattern: the
natural waterfalls of the Sierra Nevada. The secondary pattern upon which it rests is the ancient human desire to be surrounded by water and able to leap
from rock to rock.
Mostly, pool and fountain designers have revealed an outstanding ability to go wrong with each of the pattern types. They ignore the sun by placing pools
in cold shady places; they forget about reflections; they disregard the beauty of ice; they allow water to be blown over pedestrians. They display a lack
of consideration for social patterns by forgetting the different ways in which people enjoy water in different climates: in cold places they design water
features that make people feel colder; in hot places they discourage paddling. They forget the joy of geometrical patterns and they go astray with the
technology of water retention and water-edge detailing. If one has a bad archetype, it is difficult to produce aesthetically pleasing designs.
4.7 Planning a house
Contents list
4.5 Alternatives for placing a house on a plot of landPlacing a house on a plot of land deserves more attention than it generally receives (Figure 4.5).
The simplest and worst solution is to dump the building in the centre of the plot, as in A. Though it may give some feeling of aggrandizement to the designer,
or owner, it kills the outdoor space. Another solution, which is almost standard in housing layout, is to place the building near the road on the edge
of the plot, as in B. Except when the road is to the north of the plot, this policy is in conflict with Alexanders pattern 105, South-facing outdoors:
[FIG 4.5 ] Alternatives for placing a house, responding to A. the designer’s ego, B. a desire for shade C. a designer for sun D. a desire to protect an
ecological or scenic resource.
Always place buildings to the north of the outdoor spaces that go with them, and keep the outdoor spaces to the south. Never leave a deep band of shade
between the building and the sunny part of the outdoors. (Alexander, 1977)
Position C satisfies this pattern which, in cool climates, has great force. If a garden is to be used for outdoor living or for growing plants, sun is the
vital necessity. Even if there is a magnificent prospect to the north, the desirability of a view is nothing compared with the need for sun and warmth.
However, Alexanders Pattern 104, Site repair, could militate against Pattern 105, South facing outdoors. It may rest, as in D, on ecological and/or aesthetic
considerations:
On no account place buildings in the places which are most beautiful. In fact, do the opposite. Consider the site and its buildings as a single living eco-system.
Leave those areas that are the most precious, beautiful, comfortable, and healthy as they are, and build new structures in those parts of the site which
are the least pleasant now. (Alexander, 1977)
The most appropriate social pattern for planning a house varies with the character of the occupants. Pattern 76, House for a small family, recommends:
Give the house three distinct parts: a realm for parents, a realm for the children, and a common area. Conceive these three realms as roughly similar in
size, with the commons the largest. (Alexander, 1977)
A different social pattern, which hardly suits when land is subdivided into small plots for small houses, is the Place for Living and Working. In an agricultural
context the Family Farm is one of the most enduring patterns in human history. Although the layout must be closely related to the natural patterns of the
environment in which it is set, the starting point in the planning of a family farm has to be the farming pattern by means of which the family will earn
its living. A modern parallel to the family farm is the home office, based on the convergence of video, telephone and computer technologies. This will
create a new kind of "house, in which the operational pattern will differ from that in conventional houses.
4.8 Planning a group of houses
Contents list
Apparently, this is an extremely difficult task. Nobody much wants to live in a "housing tract, a "housing estate, a "housing project or a "subdivision.
They are especially disliked by the planners and designers who make such places, and who are slightly to blame for their repetitious horror. Most of them
would rather live in real country or a real town, or to have a front door on the town and a back door on the country.
US housing subdivision
Many of the errors in housing layout result from the use of bad archetypal patterns. Finance companies have fixed ideas on what sorts of houses will hold
their value. Highway engineers have rigid patterns for the layout of roads. Zoning regulations impose severe restrictions on land use. The fire service
and the refuse collection service have immutable procedures for vehicular access to dwellings. Houses come to be laid out like dominoes beside roads, with
the position of each dwelling fixed either by its predecessor or by the road, in absolute disregard for the spaces between the dominoes.
If the archetypal patterns for housing were good, they could be reused. As few are, it may be better to start with another class of pattern. Any of the
three can be used. Natural patterns can be a superb starting point, as instanced by the following examples: houses built into an existing woodland, earth-sheltered
housing fitted into a hillside, swampland housing with an ecological drainage system, arid zone houses grouped for defence against the sun, coastal housing
designed for defence against the wind. Ideally, each neighbourhood should be associated with a topographic feature: a hill, a wood, a valley, a stream,
a habitat, an orchard. If there is a pond on the site, let it be preserved as the heart of the layout. If there is no pond, make one: it is easy to group
houses around water.
Social patterns also provide good starting points for housing, provided they relate to the actual tastes and preferences of those who will occupy the houses.
Different housing layouts can provide their occupants with good gardens, good views, high security, good communal spaces, good provision for home extensions,
good space for running a home business, good access to schools, shops, recreation or transport. One cannot have all these things in a single neighbourhood,
but one can have a much wider choice of neighbourhood types than is available in mass housing. Ideally, each house and each garden should be planned in
relation to its future occupants.
Aesthetic patterns are also important. Gordon Cullen emphasized the design of space in urban areas, which he called Townscape (Cullen, 1971). For house-buyers,
it is often the built elevation that is more important. Some prefer traditional dress and traditional houses. Others prefer modern dress and modern houses.
It is a question for context theory whether traditional and modern dwellings should coexist in one neighbourhood. The fact that both types have a right
to exist is beyond dispute, surely. Aesthetic patterns can also be used to create harmonies of colour, texture, mass, shape, rhythm and other visual characteristics.
Alexander proposes a range of archetypal patterns for use in housing layout. The following are my favourites:
14. Identifiable neighbourhood. "Help people to define the neighbourhoods they live in, not more than 300 yards across, with no more than 400 or 500 inhabitants...
Keep major roads outside these neighbourhoods.
35. Household mix. "Encourage growth toward a mix of household types in every neighbourhood, and every cluster, so that one-person households, couples,
families with children, and group households are side by side.
36. Degrees of publicness. "Make a clear distinction between three kinds of homes -- those on quiet backwaters, those on busy streets, and those that are
more or less in between... Give every neighbourhood about equal numbers of these three kinds of homes.
40. Old people everywhere. "Create dwellings for some 50 old people in every neighbourhood.
48. Housing in between. "Build houses into the fabric of shops, small industry, schools, public services, universities -- all those parts of cities which
draw people in during the day, but which tend to be ``nonresidential`.
In the above pattern-descriptions, the passage in quotation marks is taken from Alexanders solution paragraphs. In my opinion, these patterns could lead
to great improvements on the present arrangement of mass housing.
4.9 Planning a new town on a marsh
Contents list
As towns often develop beside water, and the margins of water are often marshy, urbanization of marshland is common the world over. Normally, the interests
of the town have been placed above those of the marsh, which is only sometimes the best policy. The following examples are of marshland development beside
the River Thames in London.
In the 1870s, Battersea had one of the few surviving marshy areas in Central London (Chadwick, 1966). It was thought to be unhealthy, because of the bad
odours that emanated from the marsh, to be unsightly, because it was neither neat nor tidy, and to be socially undesirable, because licentious public fairs
took place, with singing and dancing. To the Victorians, it was a very unplace. Excavated material was brought in and the land "reclaimed for
Battersea Park
and for housing. It remains a good example of the shortcomings of survey-based, problem-solving design. For what was "the problem at Battersea? To "reclaim
the marshlands, to "improve an unsightly view, to "discourage licentious behaviour, to "improve the value of the surrounding houses, to "dispose of
the excavated material from the dock excavations, or to "create a recreational facility?
Should one seek to make a case for tipping spoil on wetlands, one would survey "noxious odours, "bad drainage, and dead dogs. Should one wish to make
an opposite case, for retaining wetlands, one would make detailed surveys of fauna and flora, as environmental impact assessors do. Survey work is always
selective, and is always carried out for a particular purpose. The only full "survey is the site itself. At Battersea, after surveying all the un features,
the marsh was made into a public park. The social pattern behind the park design was that of dressing up on a Sunday afternoon to look at the flowers and
listen to brass bands The aesthetic pattern was the
Serpentine Style.
Between 1870 and 1940 many other Thamesside marshes were developed for manufacturing industry. As at Battersea, no surveys of fauna or flora were conducted.
Instead, surveyors concentrated on drainage conditions and foundation conditions. Both were judged to be "bad. The Ford Motor Companys plant at Dagenham
is a good example. Almost all the land was hard-surfaced, and the sole layout objective was to create an efficient circulation pattern for motor vehicle
manufacture (see note on
Modernist,
or Fordist, design). The patterns on which the layout was based were those of circulation and drainage.
From the 1950s onwards, other marshes beside the River Thames were developed for residential use. Thamesmead South was developed in the 1960s and 70s. Looked
at retrospectively, it is evident that the planners used a combination of the Battersea and Dagenham approaches. Little or no effort was made to understand
the natural patterns of the ecosystem. The dominant social pattern was that of vehicular circulation. The dominant aesthetic pattern, so far as there was
one, was that of the Serpentine Style. The result was semi-Corbusian. Tower blocks and slab blocks rose from shaven grass mounds interspersed with trees
(Figure 4.8). Similar developments could be found in Sweden, Spain, America, Taiwan and most other countries. This is because the development patterns
did not come from the local site or the local people.
Thamesmead North shows the beginnings of a new spirit (Figure 4.9). A decade of environmental protest, supported by new educational courses in ecology,
led to a serious interest in the patterns of the natural environment. Because of soft foundation conditions, low-rise houses were used instead of high-rise
blocks. Drainage water was collected in canals and ponds instead of underground pipes. Where possible, marshland vegetation was used instead of mown grass
and exotic shrubs. The natural patterns of the site were brought to the surface, and the result differs from Sweden, Spain, America or Taiwan. Aesthetically,
the dominant pattern is that of the
Picturesque Style
of garden design, as used in England between 1800 and 1820.
On the north bank of the River Thames, in East London, is a great expanse of semi-derelict, semi-industrialized, semi-marshland, which was proposed as the
site for a London garden festival (Turner, 1987). Amongst other things, it had been polluted by a sewage works and a coal-burning gas works. The illustrations
were made as glazed clay tiles to dramatise their status as patterns.
Figure 10 shows the existing site as it might be shown on a survey map.
Figure 11 shows this as a diagrammatic primary pattern, with some artefacts included, because man is part of nature.
Figure 12 shows a butterfly. It is an aesthetic pattern, which, as a metaphor for metamorphosis, is the idea that begat the design.
Figure 13 shows a social pattern, for vehicular and pedestrian circulation within a garden festival site.
Figure 14 shows the circulation pattern integrated with the aesthetic pattern
Figure 14 shows the integration of the natural pattern, the social pattern and the aesthetic pattern into a garden festival. It is as described as an archetype
because it could be re-used
Figure 15 shows a metamorphosis of the garden festival into a special type of urban area (a New Town) with a marshy character and an ecological approach
to stormwater and vegetation management (like McHargs plan for Woodlands in Texas). The past, present and future of the marsh can be recounted
as follows.
4.10 One Right Way?
Contents list
Metamorphosis on the Thames
On that bright morn of our primal dawn, we fried our wings on the shore.
Soaring from reed and marsh, we copulated and died.
The Angles then the Saxons came. The forests fell but the marsh lived on.
Till dark Bazalgette brought a river of shit, and the cold black rock was burnt for gas.
We all died then.
Now let the marsh revive.
Bring back our butterflies.
Meta morphosis from Father Thames.
Glory was and glory will.
Flutterby.
Carelessly.
The above examples illustrate the point that design sequences can begin at different points and proceed by different routes. Sometimes, the patterns of
the existing site will be the most powerful influence on the final design. Sometimes, the nature of the intended human use will come first. Sometimes,
an artistic conception will take priority. There is no One Right Way.
Read More..
Contents list
Patterns in use
Design on an environmental backcloth differs from other types of design, in two crucial respects. First, it compares with drawing on sand or on the bark
of a tree, rather than with drawing on white paper. Second, it differs because "the environment is not one thing or a thousand things: it is interpreted
and used by each species and each individual in different ways, depending on their niche in society and in the ecosystem. You may think of your garden
as a rectangle; babies, birds, worms and spiders will have different conceptions of the "same space. Ideas about what the environment is lie at the heart
of the design process. They may be viewed as structures and represented by patterns, as discussed in the previous chapter. Three analogies (Figure 3.1),
each concerned with purposive change, can be used to illustrate aspects of the environmental designers predicament.
[Fig 4.1 ] Analogies for the environmental designer’s predicament: a coach, a doctor and the flight of a honeybee – see discussion below.
Design on the bark of a tree
4.2 Stagecoach Analogy
Contents list
Environmental planning is but a stage in a journey. At best, planners can aspire to hold the reigns and guide the horses over rough ground. They may leave
footprints on the sands of time. Others will then take over. The process is never finished, and land characteristics affect ones ease of travel. From
the top of a precipice, vertical travel requires little effort. Making ones way through a mountain, horizontal travel requires great energy. From the
heart of a volcano, upward motion is fast but risky. Traversing quicksand can be slow. According to the nature of the land and the intended direction of
travel, planners require different information, different tools and different skills.
4.3 Medical Analogy
Contents list
One difference between doctors and stagecoach drivers is that the latter have a clearer view of where they are going. Staging posts can be defined but health
is a nebulous concept. Doctors must use the relative notion of "improvement, instead of any absolute measures of fitness, obesity, blood pressure or whatever.
Yet without a vision of what constitutes "a healthy person a doctor would have as much difficulty as an environmental designer without a concept of "a
good place. To recommend a course of action, doctors must have ideas about human behaviour, about the environment, about the look of a healthy person
and about the archetypal patterns of treatment. Environmental designers must have comparable knowledge of places. Diagnosis comes before treatment.
A landscape requiring treatment.
4.4 Honey Bee Analogy
Contents list
Bees also have clearer goals than doctors: to collect nectar and make honey. Yet they do not fly in straight lines. They proceed in a spiralling and apparently
chaotic manner. The process of environmental design is closer to the flight of a honey-bee than to the path of a stagecoach. It passes between four types
of pattern, before settling on a proposed course of action.
Fig 4.2 Ideas are at the heart of the design process. The dotted line shows the flight of a bee, collecting nectar from a selection of flowers.
Each analogy indicates that the planning process must begin with an idea, or a vision, of some future state, not with a survey. In fairness to Geddes, who
began the survey--analysis--plan method, it should be said that he fully recognized that goals have precedence in the planning process:
Our whole life is governed by ideals, good and bad, whether we know it or not. North, south, east and west are only ideals of direction: you will never
absolutely get there; yet you can never get anywhere, save indeed straight down into a hole, without them. (Tyrwhitt, 1947)
Without a vision of the future, one does not know what type of survey to conduct. A need, a want or a desire for power leads to the formulation of concepts,
which are then used in the collection and analysis of survey material. The stagecoach analogy illustrates this point. Ones first decision is about a destination.
Nothing can be done until this is known: that is why ideas lie at the heart of the design process. Then comes an analysis of the possible means of travel.
When a horse-drawn coach has been chosen, a survey of routes can be made. In the terminology of linguistic philosophy, the types of analytical concept
to be employed are constructs. The process can be represented as:
Desideratum -> Idea -> Survey -> Analysis -> Plan
This sequence can and should be applied to each characteristic of the environment. Desiderata, the things that are desired, lead to ideas about future states
of affairs. Figure 2 shows thinking, represented by a nexus of arrows, at the heart of the design process. The ideas upon which it operates are placed
in one of four stacks: Primary Patterns relate to the natural environment; Secondary Patterns relate to human behaviour; Tertiary Patterns relate to aesthetics;
Quaternary Patterns relate to design archetypes, so that the four pattern types can also be described as Natural, Social, Aesthetic and Archetypal. A similar
diagram could show a doctors vision of a sick and healthy patient, with mediating concepts of physiology, environment, behaviour and aesthetics. There
is no such thing as "a survey that will serve for every purpose. Treating a nervous disorder requires different information from that required to treat
a broken leg. Planners too must define their starting and finishing points, though they can begin at many points and travel in many directions. This principle
applies at every scale, from placing a garden seat to designing a house or planning a town extension.
4.5 Planning a garden Seat
Contents list
Placing a garden seat is the elementary task in outdoor planning and should be the first assignment for every student. Some of the patterns that govern
the decisions are shown in Figure 4.3.
[Fig 4.3 ] Placing a garden seat is elementary, but requires careful thought.
The circulation layer shows four alternative locations for the seat, as B, C, D and E, with the most commonly used routes. The shadows layer shows the noon
and 6 pm shadows at the spring solstice. In a temperate climate, this rules out position B and favours position E, as the family like inviting their friends
for evening barbecues. The views layer shows the direction of a view to the sea, making position D unattractive. The archetype layer shows an Alexander-type
pattern for a garden seat, which could work in a variety of locations but is shown in position E. The geometrical layer shows an idea for the plan geometry:
there is a transition from a regular paved area, which is the realm of Art, through a serpentine curve to an irregular area, which is the realm of Nature.
Finally, there is a story underlying the garden. It belongs to a couple who remember walking along a coastal path on a fine summers evening. The girl
slipped. The man caught her. They fell into each others arms and later became engaged to marry. This garden, being within sight of the sea and having
a bank behind the gardens prime seat, reminds them of that evening.
What was the design process? One cannot say which idea formed the starting point for locating the seat: the natural patterns of sun, shade, and views, the
social patterns of how the seat was going to fit into its owners lives, or the geometrical idea for the garden plan. They came together. Because of its
personal and social aspects, the design does not entirely satisfy Christopher Alexanders pattern 176, Garden seat:
Make a quiet place in the garden -- a private enclosure with a comfortable seat, thick planting, sun. Pick the place for the seat carefully; pick the place
that will give you the most intense kind of solitude. (Alexander, 1977)
4.6 Planning a water feature
Contents list
One might think nothing simpler than planning a fountain and pool. A garden centre can supply one with all the means: a pre-formed liner, a hosepipe, and
a fountain kit. They simplify pool construction, and, more often than not, produce the most hideous results (Figure 4). The pool shapes are ugly, the pumps
whine, the fountains make one think it is raining, the plastic becomes stained and discoloured. But water is the lifeblood of towns and gardens. What can
be done? Good water features require the conjunction of, at least, a social pattern with an aesthetic pattern. As there have been so many abject failures
in pool design, it would be wise to employ a good archetypal pattern, and no bad thing to make a response to a natural pattern.
Fig 4.4 A garden pool, made from garden centre supplies: it is ghastly.
Lawrence Halprin has the unusual distinction of having devised a successful new archetypal pattern that is eminently reproducible: the walk-through canyon
fountain. The first of its type, at Portland in Oregon, has a geometrical character (a tertiary pattern), which was inspired by a primary pattern: the
natural waterfalls of the Sierra Nevada. The secondary pattern upon which it rests is the ancient human desire to be surrounded by water and able to leap
from rock to rock.
Mostly, pool and fountain designers have revealed an outstanding ability to go wrong with each of the pattern types. They ignore the sun by placing pools
in cold shady places; they forget about reflections; they disregard the beauty of ice; they allow water to be blown over pedestrians. They display a lack
of consideration for social patterns by forgetting the different ways in which people enjoy water in different climates: in cold places they design water
features that make people feel colder; in hot places they discourage paddling. They forget the joy of geometrical patterns and they go astray with the
technology of water retention and water-edge detailing. If one has a bad archetype, it is difficult to produce aesthetically pleasing designs.
4.7 Planning a house
Contents list
4.5 Alternatives for placing a house on a plot of landPlacing a house on a plot of land deserves more attention than it generally receives (Figure 4.5).
The simplest and worst solution is to dump the building in the centre of the plot, as in A. Though it may give some feeling of aggrandizement to the designer,
or owner, it kills the outdoor space. Another solution, which is almost standard in housing layout, is to place the building near the road on the edge
of the plot, as in B. Except when the road is to the north of the plot, this policy is in conflict with Alexanders pattern 105, South-facing outdoors:
[FIG 4.5 ] Alternatives for placing a house, responding to A. the designer’s ego, B. a desire for shade C. a designer for sun D. a desire to protect an
ecological or scenic resource.
Always place buildings to the north of the outdoor spaces that go with them, and keep the outdoor spaces to the south. Never leave a deep band of shade
between the building and the sunny part of the outdoors. (Alexander, 1977)
Position C satisfies this pattern which, in cool climates, has great force. If a garden is to be used for outdoor living or for growing plants, sun is the
vital necessity. Even if there is a magnificent prospect to the north, the desirability of a view is nothing compared with the need for sun and warmth.
However, Alexanders Pattern 104, Site repair, could militate against Pattern 105, South facing outdoors. It may rest, as in D, on ecological and/or aesthetic
considerations:
On no account place buildings in the places which are most beautiful. In fact, do the opposite. Consider the site and its buildings as a single living eco-system.
Leave those areas that are the most precious, beautiful, comfortable, and healthy as they are, and build new structures in those parts of the site which
are the least pleasant now. (Alexander, 1977)
The most appropriate social pattern for planning a house varies with the character of the occupants. Pattern 76, House for a small family, recommends:
Give the house three distinct parts: a realm for parents, a realm for the children, and a common area. Conceive these three realms as roughly similar in
size, with the commons the largest. (Alexander, 1977)
A different social pattern, which hardly suits when land is subdivided into small plots for small houses, is the Place for Living and Working. In an agricultural
context the Family Farm is one of the most enduring patterns in human history. Although the layout must be closely related to the natural patterns of the
environment in which it is set, the starting point in the planning of a family farm has to be the farming pattern by means of which the family will earn
its living. A modern parallel to the family farm is the home office, based on the convergence of video, telephone and computer technologies. This will
create a new kind of "house, in which the operational pattern will differ from that in conventional houses.
4.8 Planning a group of houses
Contents list
Apparently, this is an extremely difficult task. Nobody much wants to live in a "housing tract, a "housing estate, a "housing project or a "subdivision.
They are especially disliked by the planners and designers who make such places, and who are slightly to blame for their repetitious horror. Most of them
would rather live in real country or a real town, or to have a front door on the town and a back door on the country.
US housing subdivision
Many of the errors in housing layout result from the use of bad archetypal patterns. Finance companies have fixed ideas on what sorts of houses will hold
their value. Highway engineers have rigid patterns for the layout of roads. Zoning regulations impose severe restrictions on land use. The fire service
and the refuse collection service have immutable procedures for vehicular access to dwellings. Houses come to be laid out like dominoes beside roads, with
the position of each dwelling fixed either by its predecessor or by the road, in absolute disregard for the spaces between the dominoes.
If the archetypal patterns for housing were good, they could be reused. As few are, it may be better to start with another class of pattern. Any of the
three can be used. Natural patterns can be a superb starting point, as instanced by the following examples: houses built into an existing woodland, earth-sheltered
housing fitted into a hillside, swampland housing with an ecological drainage system, arid zone houses grouped for defence against the sun, coastal housing
designed for defence against the wind. Ideally, each neighbourhood should be associated with a topographic feature: a hill, a wood, a valley, a stream,
a habitat, an orchard. If there is a pond on the site, let it be preserved as the heart of the layout. If there is no pond, make one: it is easy to group
houses around water.
Social patterns also provide good starting points for housing, provided they relate to the actual tastes and preferences of those who will occupy the houses.
Different housing layouts can provide their occupants with good gardens, good views, high security, good communal spaces, good provision for home extensions,
good space for running a home business, good access to schools, shops, recreation or transport. One cannot have all these things in a single neighbourhood,
but one can have a much wider choice of neighbourhood types than is available in mass housing. Ideally, each house and each garden should be planned in
relation to its future occupants.
Aesthetic patterns are also important. Gordon Cullen emphasized the design of space in urban areas, which he called Townscape (Cullen, 1971). For house-buyers,
it is often the built elevation that is more important. Some prefer traditional dress and traditional houses. Others prefer modern dress and modern houses.
It is a question for context theory whether traditional and modern dwellings should coexist in one neighbourhood. The fact that both types have a right
to exist is beyond dispute, surely. Aesthetic patterns can also be used to create harmonies of colour, texture, mass, shape, rhythm and other visual characteristics.
Alexander proposes a range of archetypal patterns for use in housing layout. The following are my favourites:
14. Identifiable neighbourhood. "Help people to define the neighbourhoods they live in, not more than 300 yards across, with no more than 400 or 500 inhabitants...
Keep major roads outside these neighbourhoods.
35. Household mix. "Encourage growth toward a mix of household types in every neighbourhood, and every cluster, so that one-person households, couples,
families with children, and group households are side by side.
36. Degrees of publicness. "Make a clear distinction between three kinds of homes -- those on quiet backwaters, those on busy streets, and those that are
more or less in between... Give every neighbourhood about equal numbers of these three kinds of homes.
40. Old people everywhere. "Create dwellings for some 50 old people in every neighbourhood.
48. Housing in between. "Build houses into the fabric of shops, small industry, schools, public services, universities -- all those parts of cities which
draw people in during the day, but which tend to be ``nonresidential`.
In the above pattern-descriptions, the passage in quotation marks is taken from Alexanders solution paragraphs. In my opinion, these patterns could lead
to great improvements on the present arrangement of mass housing.
4.9 Planning a new town on a marsh
Contents list
As towns often develop beside water, and the margins of water are often marshy, urbanization of marshland is common the world over. Normally, the interests
of the town have been placed above those of the marsh, which is only sometimes the best policy. The following examples are of marshland development beside
the River Thames in London.
In the 1870s, Battersea had one of the few surviving marshy areas in Central London (Chadwick, 1966). It was thought to be unhealthy, because of the bad
odours that emanated from the marsh, to be unsightly, because it was neither neat nor tidy, and to be socially undesirable, because licentious public fairs
took place, with singing and dancing. To the Victorians, it was a very unplace. Excavated material was brought in and the land "reclaimed for
Battersea Park
and for housing. It remains a good example of the shortcomings of survey-based, problem-solving design. For what was "the problem at Battersea? To "reclaim
the marshlands, to "improve an unsightly view, to "discourage licentious behaviour, to "improve the value of the surrounding houses, to "dispose of
the excavated material from the dock excavations, or to "create a recreational facility?
Should one seek to make a case for tipping spoil on wetlands, one would survey "noxious odours, "bad drainage, and dead dogs. Should one wish to make
an opposite case, for retaining wetlands, one would make detailed surveys of fauna and flora, as environmental impact assessors do. Survey work is always
selective, and is always carried out for a particular purpose. The only full "survey is the site itself. At Battersea, after surveying all the un features,
the marsh was made into a public park. The social pattern behind the park design was that of dressing up on a Sunday afternoon to look at the flowers and
listen to brass bands The aesthetic pattern was the
Serpentine Style.
Between 1870 and 1940 many other Thamesside marshes were developed for manufacturing industry. As at Battersea, no surveys of fauna or flora were conducted.
Instead, surveyors concentrated on drainage conditions and foundation conditions. Both were judged to be "bad. The Ford Motor Companys plant at Dagenham
is a good example. Almost all the land was hard-surfaced, and the sole layout objective was to create an efficient circulation pattern for motor vehicle
manufacture (see note on
Modernist,
or Fordist, design). The patterns on which the layout was based were those of circulation and drainage.
From the 1950s onwards, other marshes beside the River Thames were developed for residential use. Thamesmead South was developed in the 1960s and 70s. Looked
at retrospectively, it is evident that the planners used a combination of the Battersea and Dagenham approaches. Little or no effort was made to understand
the natural patterns of the ecosystem. The dominant social pattern was that of vehicular circulation. The dominant aesthetic pattern, so far as there was
one, was that of the Serpentine Style. The result was semi-Corbusian. Tower blocks and slab blocks rose from shaven grass mounds interspersed with trees
(Figure 4.8). Similar developments could be found in Sweden, Spain, America, Taiwan and most other countries. This is because the development patterns
did not come from the local site or the local people.
Thamesmead North shows the beginnings of a new spirit (Figure 4.9). A decade of environmental protest, supported by new educational courses in ecology,
led to a serious interest in the patterns of the natural environment. Because of soft foundation conditions, low-rise houses were used instead of high-rise
blocks. Drainage water was collected in canals and ponds instead of underground pipes. Where possible, marshland vegetation was used instead of mown grass
and exotic shrubs. The natural patterns of the site were brought to the surface, and the result differs from Sweden, Spain, America or Taiwan. Aesthetically,
the dominant pattern is that of the
Picturesque Style
of garden design, as used in England between 1800 and 1820.
On the north bank of the River Thames, in East London, is a great expanse of semi-derelict, semi-industrialized, semi-marshland, which was proposed as the
site for a London garden festival (Turner, 1987). Amongst other things, it had been polluted by a sewage works and a coal-burning gas works. The illustrations
were made as glazed clay tiles to dramatise their status as patterns.
Figure 10 shows the existing site as it might be shown on a survey map.
Figure 11 shows this as a diagrammatic primary pattern, with some artefacts included, because man is part of nature.
Figure 12 shows a butterfly. It is an aesthetic pattern, which, as a metaphor for metamorphosis, is the idea that begat the design.
Figure 13 shows a social pattern, for vehicular and pedestrian circulation within a garden festival site.
Figure 14 shows the circulation pattern integrated with the aesthetic pattern
Figure 14 shows the integration of the natural pattern, the social pattern and the aesthetic pattern into a garden festival. It is as described as an archetype
because it could be re-used
Figure 15 shows a metamorphosis of the garden festival into a special type of urban area (a New Town) with a marshy character and an ecological approach
to stormwater and vegetation management (like McHargs plan for Woodlands in Texas). The past, present and future of the marsh can be recounted
as follows.
4.10 One Right Way?
Contents list
Metamorphosis on the Thames
On that bright morn of our primal dawn, we fried our wings on the shore.
Soaring from reed and marsh, we copulated and died.
The Angles then the Saxons came. The forests fell but the marsh lived on.
Till dark Bazalgette brought a river of shit, and the cold black rock was burnt for gas.
We all died then.
Now let the marsh revive.
Bring back our butterflies.
Meta morphosis from Father Thames.
Glory was and glory will.
Flutterby.
Carelessly.
The above examples illustrate the point that design sequences can begin at different points and proceed by different routes. Sometimes, the patterns of
the existing site will be the most powerful influence on the final design. Sometimes, the nature of the intended human use will come first. Sometimes,
an artistic conception will take priority. There is no One Right Way.
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