4 Principles of garden design Flashcards
Balance
Weight and mass of elements are in balance
Achieved through symmetry repeating same feature on either side OR through balancing volume
A ‘state of visual comfort’ that helps to ensure that a composition is attractive.
Where the objects in a scene collectively have the same visual dominance or weight
on both sides of the picture, that is to say right and left of the vanishing point.
Explain the principles of garden design
The main principles for garden design are:
Balance
Proportion
Scale
Space and enclosure
Rhythm
Symmetry/Asymmetry
Unity
Harmony
Contrast
Texture
This is about Aesthetics, how to make something more visually pleasing; The notion that the perception of beauty is shared collectively is valuable for the designer, and it is embodied within many of the principles of ‘good’ composition which are taught in fine art but are equally applicable to landscape design.
These include the laws of perspective, focal point, balance and framing of views; the concepts of background, middle distance and distance, relative complexity, etc.
There are detailed principles for the use of line, plane, point, shape, proportion, scale, pattern, colour, texture, tone, etc.
Unity
Consistent use and linking of elements of garden features, relates also to the environment. All parts of the design form a unifying whole, linked by consistent styles, materials, colours…”
The architecture, hard and soft landscaping , planting and features all come together to form a single coherent design
Example for unity
The theme that gives a garden unity can be
its planting style ( a woodland garden, a Mediterranean or tropical planting)
a colour theme in plants ( Vita Sackville-West’s White garden at Sissinghurst)
the type of materials used for the hard landscaping ( a local stone or brick that matches the house, for example, or a similar architectural style in garden buildings and details)
consistent use of soft landscaping materials (the hedges of yew and box that define the garden ‘rooms’ at Hidcote)
It can even be something as simple as the colour used to paint benches, trellises, and planters throughout the garden;
A thread or theme running through the garden that connects everything together. May be:
Colour (see colour, can be in both hard and soft landscaping)
Period of history (eg Victorian, Landscape)
Style (eg Mediterranean, Japanese)
Repeated hard or soft landscaping (eg Buxus hedging)
Example for balance
When using symmetry, a perfect balance is achieved. A simple example of balance
would be a matching pair of conifers marking the entrance to a pathway.
It is also possible to achieve a sense of balance through asymmetry, by planting an informal group of tall shrubs or small trees half-way up one side of the garden to visually ‘balance’ a tall solid evergreen on the other side.
Example: Three Acer palmatum ‘Bloodgood’s ( that turn bright red in the autumn) are spaced apart on one side of the garden, and can be balanced with a single, larger Cotinus coggygria ‘Royal Purple’, (that also turns red in the autumn) on the other side of the garden.
Contrast
Contrast allows us to gauge the relative difference between things. Contrast between elements in a garden creates a visual tension that grabs the eye.
Example of contrast
The greatest contrast, and greatest impact, is created by putting an extreme next to the normal - not next to another extreme.
Coarse textured leaves next to medium textured leaves create a more powerful contrast than coarse leaves next to fine, feathery foliage.
Silver foliage doesn’t contrast well with golden foliage – both contrast strongly with green.
A green fence will not contrast with green foliage.. but a dark brown one will contrast brilliantly with silver foliage or with colourful yellow or bright red plants.
Form
Related to both outline shape of individual elements of the garden features and their 3 dimensional shape
Form Is important in designing for balance – the shape or form of individual plants contribute to the overall design and perform different functions.
Examples of form
a fastigiate (columnar) yew would be a strong vertical element in a garden and a good focal point;
a weeping birch would have a very different visual effect.
Example: Closely pruned Buxus domes contrast with upright Euphorbias and sprays of fine textured grasses.
Harmony
All parts of the landscape are adapted to one another, forming an agreeable whole.
Harmony does not need to be safe and conventional : unconventional, innovative designs can still be harmonious.
Example for Harmony
Same material for house, wall and terrace..brick or same stone
It can be colour harmony, harmony between plants and constructed elements, between one plant and another.
Example: Using a limited colour palette, such as burgundy and whites, the fluid planting, and rock and cobble stone hard landscaping create a harmonious whole.
Proportion
Proportion within a garden depends on several factors, including
• the size of the plot relative to the house,
• its size relative to its environment and surroundings, and
• the relationship between the garden and the elements within it.
Proportion refers to the relative size of parts within a whole, how the size of garden components relate to one another.
The divine proportion (golden ratio) is 1:1.618, using this as width to length is satisfying to look at.
Have a third hard landscaping to two thirds of soft (some styles do not follow this).
Example for proportion
- a huge tree in a small garden will look out of proportion. In a grand landscape a small sundial as a focal point could look ridiculous.
- if built features such as patios and decking are designed for entertaining they must be big enough for all the furniture required, with room to sit and move around comfortably.
- The supports and beams of a pergola must be in proportion to its overall size –massive pillars work at West Dean gardens for a long pergola but in a small garden height, length and thickness should all be proportionate.
paths, pots, hedges and plants all fit together in a satisfying way where no part feels out of place or wrongly sized.
Example for Rythm
- by repeating hard landscape element or plants
- a design uses many objects of different sizes, they could all be in the same colour or range of colours – or the shape could be standardised.
- when plants with the same form (even if not the same plant) are repeated from one area of the garden to another, it creates continuity or rhythm.
Movement and rhythm in hard landscaping could be a series of urns spaced along a pathway, the patterns of stone set in gravel. The closer the spacing , the ‘faster’ the flow.
In soft landscaping, the repetition of any type of planting, or a colour or form, drawing the eye on to look for similar elements through the design.
Example: A set of three, large, terracotta pots on a wall filled with identical purple Lavandula angustifolia ‘Hidcote’ bushes, edged with black Ophiopogon planiscapus ‘Nigrescens’. This purple and black colour combination can also be used elsewhere in the garden and the terracotta colour can be repeated in red brickwork.
Texture
Feel of a surface AND how it looks
Coarse textures advance towards you, visually;
fine textures seem to recede.
Texture is determined by leaf size, by light reflected from leaf surface or by comparative detail on hard landscaping. Combined with colour and form, plants can be put together in a way that is striking or subtle. Most designs will use a combination of striking accents in a subtle whole – all subtle can be dull, all striking is exhausting.
