Category ARCHITECTURE

Based on this house addition, which consisted of a large family room and a second- story master bedroom, two major spaces were developed to provide useable outdoor space. A major formal entertaining garden is located just outside both the living room

and the family room. The central part of this space is a large formal stone terrace. An ornamental stone wall fountain is centered between the two doors of the living room and on axis to the large fireplace. An angled checkerboard pattern of stone slabs and lawn provides a visual pattern for the garden. A stone path leads from this space, around a small formal garden sculpture, into the major lawn area for children’s play...

There are two driveway entries on this property. One serves as place for visitors to ar­rive, to drop people off at the front door, as well as for deliveries. The side entry leads to the auto court and garages, which also serves as a basketball court. This access also serves as an exit for those entering the other end of the drive. The front entry space, defined by low walls and hedges, focuses on a specialty paved area and small central viewing garden. The major entertaining area is in the back of the house. The pool, ter­race, outdoor kitchen, special seating areas, and overhead arbor make for pleasant places to sit, relax, cook, and entertain. The views to the rear of the property are kept quite open to allow for spectacular views to an adjacent golf course...

The main drive of this site passes through an allee of trees into the front court. A four – car garage is to the right, which exits into the minor auto court and out to the drive. Adjacent to the front court is a central lily garden with walkways and pools. The recreation area contains a tennis court, a half-court basketball court, and a gazebo for relaxation and viewing. A special walkway leads from the house to a gathering space with a grand view to the adjacent pond. The back area of the house is the entertaining area. The living area and master bedroom view onto this space and to the pond. A swimming pool and terrace are the central features. Adjacent to these are a series of terraced gardens, a guest house, and a large spa, all overlooking the entertaining area...

Figures 15—29 and 15—30 each show 20 examples of section drawings of individual trees.

The site plan in Figure 15—33 represents about a quarter of the entire site. This resi­dential property consists of the main house, the business office of the owners, barns for agricultural equipment, a horse barn with paddock, formal lawns, meadows, masses of woodlots, and a large proposed pond, as well as roads and walks through­out. When developing landscape designs of this size, initial design and planning are
directed primarily toward the location of major structures, locations of vehicular and pedestrian circulation, major masses of plant materials, large individual shade trees, and general sizes and...

The two renderings in Figure 15—28 were also computer generated. Adobe Photoshop was used to develop them. Just as in hand-drawn rendering, the computer can be uti­lized to produce loose and freehand-like drawings, as well as more refined drawings that look more computer generated. Both renderings use colors from around the color wheel, which is different from the “analogous” schemes.

The rendering on the left uses a variety of techniques developed by changing the patterns of the brushes and the mixture of colors used for each design element. Once these patterns are selected, each element is outlined to separate it. Then the applica­tion of the color is like painting with a roller...

As stated earlier in this chapter, some designers have the requisite computer skills to de­velop color renderings using various programs—among many others are Adobe Illustrator and Adobe Photoshop. The two renderings in Figure 15—27 were developed using Adobe Illustrator. Both were developed as “analogous color schemes.” Rather than using colors from most of the color spectrum (reds, oranges, yellows, greens, blues, and violets), each of these renderings focuses on a small range of colors that are closely related.

The drawing on the left uses various values of yellows, tans, and browns...

Functional Diagram Stage (Figure 15-25, Top Left)

In presenting color-rendered functional diagrams to a client, there are a few major guidelines. First, use simple individual colors to represent the various design elements. For instance, use yellows and greens to denote plant ma­terials, earth tones to represent paving materials, blues to identify water elements, and purples, pinks, and reds to identify specialty areas. Second, use some variety of line types to draw the outline of the forms to help differentiate the elements. Scallop and reverse scallop outlines can be used to differentiate deciduous trees from evergreen. Square patterns are appropriate for representing pavements. Large trees can be rendered with a simple outline and a faded color from top left to bottom right...

There may be times when only a color rendered plan is desired. This second method of color rendering deals with the application of color on a basic plan, one in which only simple circles and lines are drawn. This will undoubtedly save time, but it will usually require most of the needed copies to be reproduced in color.

When a designer decides to add color to a basic plan, it is important to follow another simple yet important guideline: When coloring a basic plan, use the pencils and fine-tipped markers in drawing a variety of line types to provide visual texture to some symbols. Because there are no textures rendered on a basic plan, adding some texture will produce a more exciting drawing.

Rendering on a basic plan does allow heavier and darker color application, be­cause the textures c...

The plan on the left in Figure 15—23 has already been rendered in black and white. The line weights, values, and textures are very well coordinated in representing the va­riety of items in this design. All that is missing is a series of labels identifying all the design elements. A number of landscape designers may elect to prepare their land­scape design plans in this fashion. This type of plan can be copied much more cheaply than a color copy, but it does not have the sales potential of a color drawing.

When a designer decides to add color to such a plan, it is important to follow a simple yet important guideline: Use a soft touch as you apply thin and transparent layers of color so as not to lose the graphic character of the existing landscape symbols...

Fences and Benches

(Left) Use a brown and yellow combi­nation for wood fences and posts, along with some shadow to the bottom right.

(Right) Benches are rendered in any combination of colors. Shadow them to portray their three-dimensional quality.

Walls and Planters (Left) Use gray and light blue for limestone caps, rust colors for brick, and tans and peach for sandstone. (Right) Differentiate planter walls with different colors than the planting within, and make the sculptures colorful.

Arbors

(Left) Color wood arbors with brown and yellow, and then color the rest of the elements between the arbor patterns. (Right) Create contrast in the colors of the arbor and the adjacent elements, and add some shadow to the framework.

Water Fountains

(Left) Darken inside edges of fountains with darker...