AR 803 Landscape Design & Site Planning

Compiled Notes & Hands out

by: Professor Bharat Sharma
Assoc. Prof. Chand S. Rana
Updated 14 Feb., 2016

Introduction

Broad course contents

1. Definitions of Landscape
2. Interdisciplinary relations
3. Landscape theory
4. Ian McHarg’s proposition in his book “Design with Nature”
5. Sites and their attributes
6. Plant materials
7. Soft and hard landscape elements
8. Landscape approach in east and west
9. Landscape process and technique
10. Design and composition
11. Site factors and use factors
12. Built environment
13. The roles of Plant materials
14. Pronounce Landscape elements of Kathmandu Valley
a. Chaur
b. Squares
c. Ponds
d. River Ghats
e. Dhungedhara (water spouts)
15. Maintenance and design of landscape
16. Open spaces and their roles in urban and rural contexts
17. Soil water geology
18. Overlay technique and analysis
19. Site planning topography and grading
20. Physical environment and EIA
21. Historic perspective of academic training of landscape (Harvard was the first institute to start
landscape study)
22. Green architecture and bioengineering

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Definition of Landscape

- Very briefly, natural landscape can be defined as the shape of the Earth (topography) with
other natural attributes.
- It is an antithesis of wilderness
- Landscape could be defined as external architecture.
- Landscape is not a cosmetic application but rather thoughtful design process.
- Landscape doesn’t happen by chance, but by contrivance.
- Landscape is not a museum piece, rather is a concept compatible with a particular site hence
it is site specific.
- The academic study of landscape was started in Harvard University in the year 1900 as a
pioneer of landscape design.
- Ohm’s stead could be called the pioneer of landscape in USA.
- Germans have defined it as landshaft

Interdisciplinary aspects

- Landscape has an intrinsic relationship with architecture, urban design, urban planning, and
civil engineering.
- Hence while doing landscape design one has to consider the other disciplines also.
- It is not a compartmentalized study.
- Landscape could be taken as the basis of other disciplines because it deals with the land
resource.

Theory

- As such, landscape doesn’t have any fixed theories as in science and mathematics.
- But, the designer could have his own philosophy of doing landscape planning and design.
- Perhaps, we could name Ian McHarg as a proponent of design with nature because in his
book Design with Nature he has very clearly stated if we understand the nature and the site,
it helps us to design better.
- Until and unless we have the pulse feeling of the sites we cannot design a site for any
particular purpose in a meaningful way so it is very essential to know the site and its
attributes completely and in a comprehensive way.
- When we talk about the attributes of the site we mean the site factors which consist of the
topography, the vegetation, the hydrology, the geology, the soil condition, the artifacts, the
visual qualities within and without the site, plant materials, and the site slopes and gradient,
opportunities and constraints of the site.
- So once we have an understanding of these we could analyze the site in a deeper way

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Ian McHarg’s proposition in his book “Design with Nature”

- Ian McHarg has stated in his proposition that, “The site is some total of its physical, social,
historical, and biological attributes”
- And once we understand them very well we understand the site very well
- To analyze his data, he employed overlay technique
- In this technique, thematic maps are prepared for each of the themes, such as soil,
topography, the plant materials, the visual quality, etc.
- By having certain weghtage system he devised a way of taking the weight of the theme to
come to a composite map
- In overlay technique, transparent sheets are used of the same scale
- Transparent sheets of the site for each theme are prepared.

Sites and attributes

- In this aspect we consider specific sites for specific specific purposes or use factors for that
particular site as stated above

Plant materials

- Very broadly, plant materials could be classified in the following categories:

 Grass cover
 Bushes
 Trees
 The trees could also be deciduous, and evergreen
 Deciduous trees could be flowering, non flowering, fruiting, or non fruiting
 In grass cover also, there are many kinds and types

- The plant materials could be broadly classified into two categories

 One is local or indigenous
 And another one is exotic (imported from another country)
 The indigenous plant materials survive better as compared to the imported plant material
because of its climate conditions and the soil and other factors
- Plant materials have a tremendous role.
- Grass cover is like a skin to the ground, which takes the rainwater and passes over to the
underground level. It also provides an aesthetic aspect as it makes the ground look green.
- The trees have again big roles. They provide cover against the sun, protects the houses
against the big wind as a wall cover and then it provides the green wall situation and it looks
pleasant and is not like hard materials which is sore to the eye.
- The plant materials adds aesthetic to a house, city, or town.
- Plant materials have a tremendous role in providing volumes to the external environment of
any particular house or complex.

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Soft and hard landscape elements

- Again, very broadly, two landscape elements are used in design.

 Hard
 Soft
 Hard as it implies, consist of stone, bricks, sand, boulders, pebbles, etc. which are
inanimate
 Soft landscape consists of plant materials, water, etc. which symbolizes life
- In landscape design these elements play pivotal roles

Landscape approach in east and west

- Very broadly, the landscape approach in the east and west differ on socio religious cultural
philosophy.
- In the west, the trees and plant materials are deemed essential to provide good environment
in design, whereas, in the east the plant materials culturally and from a religious point of
view are worshipped also, so in places like India, Nepal, Japan, etc. they worship the plants
and soil which is not done in the west. So it is much more holistic in the west, it is not a
utilitarian aspect; it is a socio cultural aspect.
- In Japan, the Shinto religion, the pure materials are used and that again comes from the
religious and cultural background

Landscape process and technique

- Landscape design is a systematic process which follows the creative concept.

- Landscape design is not a gardener’s affair. Very often we take it that landscape is a
cosmetic aspect as done by the gardeners, it’s not that, first it is a concept and then it is
followed by proper technique and application.

Design and composition

- In design and composition, we should understand that as in basic design or composition of

any creative art, we apply the elements of composition like contrast, symmetry, texture,
colour, light and shadows, the rhythm, etc.
- They are also equally applied in music and other creative arts, but here also the design
aspects are similar. The designer has to think about all these elements and come out with the
proper and compatible design.

Site factors and use factors

- There is a tremendous interface between site factors and use factors

- There has to be complete interface between site factors and use factors like the symbol Yin
and Yang.
- So one must consider this aspect very seriously, while pursuing landscape design.

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Built Environment

The built environment is an environment generated by built structure and when you talk about urban
or rural environment, we interface built environment with landscape design to impart environmental
quality into it.

- To have a good built environment one must strive to have a complete mentality between the
built structure and the surroundings which is basically landscape as it is external architecture
- There has to be a symbiotic relationship between external environment and internal
environment of architecture.
- The special fluidity should be as such that it should flow in and out and provides dynamic
play into the space.

Pronounced Landscape elements of Kathmandu Valley

- The pronounced landscape elements as stated above are unique landscape elements in
Kathmandu Valley
- The quality of chaur (which is open space), the temple squares, and other open market
squares, and the ponds, and the water spouts and the river ghats are very much related
lifestyle of the people of the town
- It covers the life cycle from birth to death
- So, these elements are unique assets of Kathmandu Valley.

Maintenance and design of landscape

- It is very essential to consider this aspect because maintenance of landscape in our context is
expensive work, hence we should use that kind of landscape design where the maintenance
is less and where it doesn’t look run down.

Open spaces and their roles in urban and rural contexts

- Open spaces are like lungs of our lungs

- Open spaces are not only there to change carbon dioxide into oxygen through
photosynthesis, but rather they are means of our survival also.
- They provide aesthetic quality to a city or town, or any habitat.
- In Nepalese context, these open spaces are the centre of socio cultural values also.
- They provide opportunities for active and passive recreations.
- Open spaces in context of Nepal, or particularly Kathmandu, are like sanctuary during times
of natural disaster.
- Open spaces play a role in moderating the urban design of a place to enhance its urban
quality
- So, open spaces are a very essential aspect to provide living quality

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Soil and water geology

- These are the site factors as stated earlier also, which one must consider in the context of
landscape design of that particular place.

Overlay technique and analysis

- Overlay technique is a technique employed by Ian McHarg in his landscape design analysis
and proposition
- It is qualitative as well as quantitative analysis to come to a viable solution.

Site planning topography and grading

- The proposed planning of a site is interference on the site in such a way that the natural
landscape is not destroyed and for doing that the grading technique is used that which
respects the existing terrain and doesn’t destroy it.
- The contours are changed in such a way that they are sensitive enough and not drastic.

Physical environment and EIA

- Basically when talking about the physical environment we are talking about the ecology of
the environment
- As far as possible, ecology of a place should not be destroyed.
- It has to be handled in a sensitive way, because ecology of a place is very brittle
- Design approach should be, such that, one takes care of that.
- The physical environment that we intend to provide through landscape design should be
such that it is complimentality with the built environment of the place.
- In this context, EIA plays a pivotal role
- EIA is nothing but Environmental Impact Assessment in such a way that negative impacts
generated by the project doesn’t destroy the place.

Historic perspective of academic training of landscape

- Academically, Harvard was the first university to start graduate study in landscape design in
1900.
- From then formal education on landscape started rolling
- After 1900, there were numerous institutes which started imparting landscape study
academically.

Green architecture (organic architecture) and bioengineering

- The green architecture and bioengineering is very briefly concerned with design approach
considering the ecological aspect of a place and application of natural materials as far as
possible so that there is a fit between green architecture and the natural setting of a place and
that the natural materials are used.

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 History of Landscape Architecture
The Ancient World

Ancient Egypt

Gardens and parks from the ancient world were the traditional form of the organization of the
surrounding space with the aid of the green planting. The history of
the gardens and parks creation, and as a whole the development of landscape design spans
millennia. We find descriptions of gardens and parks in the treatises of ancient historians,
philosophers, and also in the works of poets and writers. Archaeologists reveal interesting
information about garden decoration of the ancient world. Even the small pieces of historical
information about the gardens of antiquity testify to the high level of the development of garden
decoration in those times. They obtained special popularity with the courts of rulers and the
grandee of the countries of Ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia (Assyrian - Babylonian Period),
Ancient Greece, Ancient Rome.

Mesopotamia (Assyrian - Babylonian Period)

This period in the history of humanity bears the name Assyrian and Babylonian culture, begins its
rise in the VIII c. B.C. and concludes in the VII c. B.C. During this period Babylon reached the
apex of its bloom.Famous Tower of Babel was built with a height of 91 meters. It was a six floor
multicoloured structure and contained the Gold Temple of the God Marduk at the apex. The city
was guarded by two defensive walls with a width of 6-7 meters. The main gates of city, dedicated to
the goddess Ishtar, were a miracle of architecture. The walls of Babylon and its tower are famous,
but the Hanging Gardens of Babylon occupied their place as one of the 7 wonders of the ancient
world, it had gardens on its terraces, grown with the application of a unique technical-engineering
water supply system. Cities with the regular arrangement of streets and a system of channels
appeared, curvy by-streets were replaced by straight and wide streets. The beautiful, well
maintained gardens appeared at the same time as the cities. They belonged to the aristocrats and
priests. The elements of landscape design and construction were already being adopted at this time.
The special feature of this period is the active construction of houses and stepped towers -
ziggurats - on the terraces, which at that moment were the special artificially filled platforms,
slightly elevated above the surface of the streets (for protection from the floods). This principle of
construction was used with the creation of the temple - pyramidal towers, which took the form of
stepped towers. Such temples consisted of a series of smoothly diminishing square or rectangular
platforms. As a rule the upper platform usually housed a temple. On the protruding parts of the
lower platforms the plants were planted on the perimeter into specially designated pits which were
filled with special soil.
The densely packed houses, enclosed by several fortress walls, did not include plants. An exception
was the sacred gardens built on the ritual terraces of the stepped towers. Secular gardens on the
hills which surrounded the cities differed in terms of the rich composition of the plants, exported
from other countries, by regular plan, by gazebos and by pavilions. Being based on a regular plan,
caused by irrigating systems, the gardens of Mesopotamia were already not divided into the
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symmetrical squares, as they were in Egypt - plants were located more freely, were small in size
and were arranged between the habitable houses. Gardens were guarded by high unapproachable
walls and were decorated with ponds, sculptures, gazebos, arbours. In the gardens the flowers were
planted and beautiful birds lived here.
Specifically, here in Assyria and Babylon the Hanging Gardens appeared for the first time,
marvellous in their beauty according to the eyewitnesses. They were built in the ancient city-state of
Babylon, near present-day Iraq in between the Tigris and the Euphrates in the naked sandy plains 90
kilometres from modern Baghdad of around 600 B.C. when Babylon reached its bloom and it
became the center of ancient eastern culture. They are sometimes called the Hanging Gardens of
Semiramis. The Hanging Gardens of Babylon are the most famous ensemble and considered to
be one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World - they were built by the Babylonian
king Nebuchadnezzar II to please his homesick wife Amitis, who longed for the trees and fragrant
plants of her homeland Persia, the king Nebuchadnezzar ordered the construction of unimaginably
beautiful gardens. Nebuchadnezzar assembled the best builders and architects and ordered them to
build them for his wife without worrying about money. Such beautiful gardens had not been seen
before by the ancient world. He ordered his subjects to bring back the strange and distant plants that
they may find on their travels, their military marches and trips.
The gardens at Nineveh with their rich assortment of trees and bushes can be considered the
prototypes of contemporary botanical gardens. The Hanging Gardens of Babylon got special
attention. The Hanging Gardens had a pyramidal shape, which was arranged into four stepped
terraces, which became narrower each level and were located on the green stepped terraces in the
court of southern palace (605-562 B.C.) of Nebuchadnezzar II. A garden was arranged on each
terrace on which they grew flowers that had never been seen in Babylon before and trees in which
the birds that had been brought from overseas sat and sang while swans swam on the surface of the
ponds the stretched between the gardens. The main garden was arranged on the upper terrace.
Terraces were connected by spiral staircases. Gardens was located on the north-eastern side of the
city walls. Its southern part extended to the palace. The exteriors of the terraces served as galleries
and the interiors as grottos for relaxation in the hot hours, decorated with colour glazed tile and
frescoes. Servants and musicians also hid here during the hot hours. The terraces were small in size,
the roof of the lower terrace was almost level with the walls of city and had a height of 8 m and an
area of 45x40m. Thesecond platform with the height of 13m it had an area of 40x30m. The overall
height of the gardens above the level of walls was 22m. On the lower terraces they planted trees,
and bushes and flowers on the higher ones.
Gardens on the terraces were grown with the use of a unique technical-engineering water supply
system. Through an opening in one of the columns the water of the Euphrates rose by pumps to the
upper level of the pyramid, where a pond was located. The water then flowed via small waterfalls
downward onto the ledges, watering the plants growing on it. Many slaves watered the garden at all
times with the aid of the water-lifting wheels, scooping up water from the Euphrates and from the
deep wells (dug out under the first floor of gardens) with leather buckets. The base of each floor
was made of flat stone plates, they were covered with the layer of reeds, flooded with asphalt and
covered with sheets of lead which had to withstand the pressure of the soil (on which they planted
gardens with big trees) and keep the water from filtering into the lower floor. The bushes, flowers
and vines grew and covered the terraces.
The royal gardens in plains of Babylon seemed miraculous, they provided shade, freshness and
the aroma of the strange rare plants, which were brought into Babylon in carts pulled by oxen from
around the world. Unusual trees and beautiful flowers bloomed in the gardens. From the side this
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pyramid was similar to a green, blooming mountain and did not seem like a man made garden, but a
mirage in the hot desert. On the terraces the trees and bushes seemingly climbed at the sky, possibly
because of this they named them "the Hanging Gardens".
The Hanging Gardens did not exist very long in their splendour. Even with the heirs
of Nebuchadnezzar IIBabylon took over and ransacked the Persians headed by Cyrus the Great.
In two hundred years the city again underwent seizure and plunder - this time by the Greeks headed
by Alexander of Macedon. Aggressors destroyed specialists, who supported in action the unique
system of irrigation of the gardens. They did not have means and desire to contain the mass of
slaves for the manual irrigation, removal and planting of new plants. Flowers and grasses withered,
large trees dried up and stood with naked branches on their high platforms. Time destroyed the
terraced supports of platforms.
One hundred years ago with the excavations of the ancient city archaeologists found deep wells
and remainders of powerful terraced structures, this confirmed the existence of suspended
gardens - a wonder of the ancient world, which did not survive the wars, invasions and negligence.
Evergreen gardens with rare trees, the smelling sweet flowers and freshness in the dusty and hot
Babylon are the truly unsurpassed masterpiece of landscape design. Unfortunately, there are no
remains of this magnificent structure, nevertheless, the idea of the creation of the stepped gardens,
or “the Hanging Gardens”, has proved to be sufficiently fruitful. Later it found its development in
the gardens of Persia, Italy, Russia (The Upper Gardens of the Moscow Kremlin at the end of the
17th c.) and in somewhat changed forms reached the present in the form of roof gardens.
The Hanging Gardens of Semiramis - Amitis was the name of the wife of the Babylonian
kingNebuchadnezzar, for whom the gardens were created, were the prototype of the irregular
landscape design style.
Also in the Assyrian and Babylonian culture there was a skill of surrounding their home with
excellentparks as, for example, the expansive park, created by Assyrian king Sargon II in the 8th
century B.C. in the new city of Dur-Sharrukin (now Khorsabad). In it many trees brought from
other countries were planted: cypresses, cedars, sycamore, willow, poplar, box-tree and some
fruit trees. There were very large parks, intended for hunting and horseback riding. These parks
are the predecessors the large parks we have today that can contain entire forests and more.

Ancient Greece
Landscape design of ancient Greece (VI B.C. - IV A.D.) was in essence garden design. The
presence of a good combination of utilitarian, religious and aesthetical features was typical to the
gardens of that time. The aggressive conquests of Alexander of Macedon played a basic role in the
forming of the landscape design of this state and a substantial part of it underwent strong Asian
influence - culture and the traditions of Egypt, India and Persia. But since the Greeks originally had
characteristic tendency towards harmony with nature, use of a relief as by topographical component
and the landscaping design of ancient Greece was characterized by considerably freer planning and
structure of composition. Already in VI B.C. Greeks learned to harmoniously combine the
construction of cities with the natural landscape, mutually supplementing each other. Gardens
and parks became similar to living organisms, which have a close connection with the natural
environment and man. Acropolises, theatres, forums, squares, seemingly grow from nature,
harmonizing and merging with the surrounding landscape.
The most extensive characteristic exclusively for ancient Greek forms of re-planting ,such
as Herron, are more commonly known as sacred groves, private and philosophical gardens:
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• Herron - the memorial garden - grove, planted on the spot of the burial of a hero. Gardens had a
racetrack, a hippodrome, an area for gymnastic games and competition in the memory of heroes.
With time Herrons began to be decorated with statues and colonnades which became the accents of
parks. In the majority of cases Herrons had a memorial nature, they were made with the process of
the creation of different architectural structures and forests. Over time these sacred groves ceased to
bear a memorial nature and became sports parks.
• Philosophical gardens were created specially so that philosophical conversations could be
conducted in them. On the terraces were created straight, wide alleys with space for sports, statues,
vases and fountains. In such gardens school and gymnasium lessons were conducted by the famous
philosophers Plato, Aristotle, etc. Academy Garden on the Ilisos river in the outskirts of Athens
(460 B.C.). Philosophical gardens were isolated from the public parks. The largest squares of all of
the cities belonging to the state were surrounded with plants which were also placed along the
roads.
• The public garden appeared in the V B.C. and was located in the main area of the city near
temples and fountains.
• The private gardens of prosperous owners most frequently bore an exceptionally utilitarian
nature.
• Nymph - sacred oak, cedar or olive grove located in center of an artistic water source or grotto
with a regular planning style. Over time new decorations such as columns and sculptures appeared
and enriched the nymphs. These places were thought to be inhabited by gods, nymphs and muses,
because of this people brought sacrifices here. The flow of water, which fell into the pond, was the
prototype of the water features in the parks of Western Europe.
• The pleasure gardens like those of the Persian's - appeared after Alexander of
Macedon victoriously marched into Persia (336-323 B.C.). Such gardens were created for the
aristocracy - "nobles". In Alexandria, for example, they occupied ¼ of the city.
In the landscaping construction of ancient Greece a strict symmetry predominated. Alleys and
parks were decorated with fountains, columns, vases, sculptures. The public park has its origins
here. In the gardens the Greeks widely used cypresses, fir trees, oaks, sycamores, palms, olive
trees and other tree species, decorating temples and its dwellings with them.
Here stepped gardens were also built, on which fountains were arranged and flowers and trees
were planted. The Hellenic garden had many components: massive amounts of plants, spiral
staircases and many decorations. In this context it should also be noted that the basic principles
of city construction of Aristotle (IV B.C.), who considered that the design of populated
areas and parks must be examined not only as a complex technical question, but also from an
artistic point of view and that a city must be built so as to ensure the peoples safety and to make
them happy at the same time.
Acropolises and theatres of the Hellenistic cities of the Peloponnese and Asia Minor (Athenian
acropolis, the amphitheatres of Ephesus, Priene, etc.), made up the centers of urban composition,
frequently look like the sculptural completion of those cliffs on which they are located. For
example, relief was used especially expressively in the special features of Priene, where the slope
of mountain naturally forms a terrace for the areas and the public places. The Athenian
acropolis looks like the sculptural completion of the cliff, on which it is located. The geometric
shapes of decorative gardening of the ancient world into the epoch of its bloom made a valuable
contribution to the treasure-house of world culture and had a big impact on the development of
landscape design in Europe.
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Ancient Rome

In the history of ancient Rome three epochs are separated. The epoch of kings (VIII -VI c. B.C.) is
characterized by the forming of the slaveholding system. The epoch of republic (VI- I c. B.C.) -
Rome is separated as a city-state. Its territorial achievements were completed by the accumulation
of enormous riches, which made it possible to widely develop houses. The epoch of empire (I- V c.
A.D.) - Rome is established as the state center. Town construction increases rapidly: the
construction of ensembles, public forums, stadiums, theatres, emperor
palaces and villas increases. The composition of the architectural ensembles is improved. By the
end of III c. A.D. the decline of the slaveholding system caused a crisis in the empire. In 410. A.D.
the Roman empire fell under the attacks of the Visigoths. The greatest bloom of landscaping in
ancient Rome occurred from I c. B.C. to I c. A.D. The climate of the Apennine peninsula
was Mediterranean, but softer and less arid than in Greece. The abundance of water in the form of
rivers and channels was characteristic, as well as mountainous relief, presence of valuable
construction materials (marble and limestone) and a broad spectrum of trees, shrubs and flowering
plants. Different forms of pine trees, oaks, cypress, sycamores, strawberry trees, poplars,
chestnut edibles, pomegranates, olives and other fruits grew here. There were also types of trees
which are well suited for trimming such as boxwood, laurel, myrtle. Flowers such as lily,
gillyflower, irises, tulips, narcissuses, violet, carnation and other were popular.
The landscaping of ancient Rome was developed on the basis of the traditions of Ancient Greece.
Using the achievements of Egyptian and Greek culture, Romans created their park culture, which,
until now is considered one of the richest in the ancient worlds history. Ancient Roman landscaping
is different from Ancient Greek. The new element of landscaping - peristyle - in which the
courtyards of ancient Roman houses were decorated with ponds and columns. These are a further
improvement of the methods of Ancient Greece. Special features such as use of sculptures in the
decoration of gardens, neatly trimmed and shaped shrubs and trees - topiary, alleys, arbors are
created. By I c. A.D. new types of gardens such as sacred groves, gardens in villas, public
gardens, peristyle gardens and hippodrome gardens appeared.
• Sacred groves - are connected with religion. As in Greece their territory was occupied with small
temples, water sources, chapels and altars;
• Urban public gardens - the emperor built these gardens around public buildings
like theatres andtherms because he cared about his citizens. They were arranged over the areas and
they were different sizes. They were similar to contemporary recreational parks in some ways, since
they had alleys, groups of trees, covered galleries with niches for relaxations. Ponds and ponds,
which were decorated with sculptures, were always present.
• Urban private gardens - were insignificant and were added after the planning of the house.
Theatrium-peristyle type house was formed in ancient Rome, in volume of which were found
courtyards which were surrounded by colonnades, decorated by sculptures, shrubs and flowers, and
decorated with pools and ponds. The sizes of such courtyard were different: 9x20m (in the House of
Vette) , 28x22m (in the House of Faun). The walls of the galleries, which surrounded courtyard,
were decorated with paintings of plants. Such courtyards were called peristyle.
• Gardens in villas and palaces - had different purposes - from the purely economic to
entertainment. These gardens were arranged on the stepped terraces were decorated with flowers,
fountains, sculptures and other architectural structures. The terraces were connected together by
stairs, however, as in Greece, stairs did not have composition value yet.
• Hippodrome gardens - The Romans borrowed this idea from the Greeks. In Rome it lost its
purpose as a place for sport competitions, but nevertheless they preserved the shape of a rectangle

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with rounded edges. Hippodrome gardens had a lawn with flowers, framed by alleys and trimmed
shrubs. Shrub and tree compositions, flower gardens, fountains and gazebos were also placed on the
edges. The empty space in the center gave an opportunity for observation.
• Xyst gardens - flat garden, took the form of a parterre and it was connected with the portico of
the house.
Examples of such gardens are given in the descriptions of the villas of Pliny the Younger. An
interesting example is the Tiburtine Villa of emperor Hadrian (117-138 A.D.), located near Rome
and occupied extensive territory. The garden was arranged on the stepped terraces with a height
difference of 40m and was a unique museum of different devices and structures. Ponds with the
grottos, ponds, hippodrome gardens, garden groves, the Garden of Pericles and Canopy
Orchard were located here. Near the hippodrome on the island, surrounded by channel, was an
aviary. The emperor's palace was located here as well as numerous other structures (libraries,
theatres, colonnades, porticos) that were built with thetypical Roman style. The composition
connection between these structures is not seen. Out of the Ancient Roman parks Emperor Nero's
park is notable. It was created on the spot of a fire and arose in Rome in the I c. A.D. The park was
successfully combined with the rural area.

In ancient Rome they proclaimed the idea of the contrast of the geometric and rectilinear forms of
the artificial landscape of free shape of the surrounding nature. Roman tradition preferred
the regular planning not only of streets and areas, but also out-of-town villas, surrounded by
extensive gardens. Villas, as a rule, were built in the mountainous country; therefore they had the
stepped composition solution. Romans used monumental and immense structures for landscape
design in the compositions, i.e., they seemingly tried "to subordinate nature". Specifically, the ideas
of the architects of ancient Romeserve as the basis of contemporary gardens in the regular
style and are the basis of the creation of artificial medium.
Rome memorized with the luxury of its urban palaces, villas, gardens and parks. Internal
courtyards, which were surrounded on all sides with colonnades, were located in the volume of
practically each villa and palace in ancient Rome. Each colonnade always had water features and
was frequently decorated with flowers, sculptures, different shrubs. Almost in each urban patio it
was possible to find a fountain with shrubs and flowers next to it. The excavations
of Pompeii make it possible to imagine what thegreen internal patios called viridarii were like.
They were surrounded by columns and decorated with afountain or small pond and flower beds.
So that it would not be felt that the space of the garden from all sides is small, patio walls were
covered with frescoes, which depict the different perspectives of fantastic gardens.
In most of ancient Rome the gardens were treasured and were located both in the city center and in
the outskirts. The ponds with fountains and parterres which were bisected by alleys were the key
elements of these gardens. Marble statues were located between the trees, and green shrubs were
frequently trimmed in the most unique ways. They most likely trimmed verdure so that its lines
would be coordinated with the lines of the houses and adjacent colonnades and porticos. Gardens
were decorated with an abundance of rare flowers, brought from distant countries like India. The
great migration of peoples destroyed these gardens as well as many other structures of ancient
Rome. Aqueducts were destroyed and the fountains ran out of water.
As a whole the landscape design of ancient Rome the following features are characteristic:
• the improvement of the methods of ancient Greece and the creation of their own. Specifically, in
the landscape design of Ancient Rome appeared arbors, alleys, topiaries - neatly figured trimmed.
• the creation of new types of gardens (public gardens, peristyle gardens, gardens in the villas,
hippodrome gardens);
• the absence of composition unity in the gardens.

12
Evidence of the development of landscape design is the fact that at the beginning of our era a
relative ofEmperor August - Agrippa built large therms (bath complexes) with gardens, he built
about 700 ponds, 500 fountains and many aqueducts in Rome. Many methods of the creation
of regular gardens, works with the soil and plants, parks and aqueduct construction rise from the
antiquity and they serve as the basis of the creation of modern landscaping artificial medium. Many
methods of the creation of regular gardens and parks are encountered for the first time in the
history of landscape design of Ancient Rome. For example, the skill of paving garden paths, which
is one of the basic elements of landscape design. Even by this time people attempted to change
nature and to give splendour and refinement to their gardens.

After the fall of the Roman Empire the construction of new villas began, but they no longer
transferred that grandeur, for which the Roman villas were famous. New gardens partially
resembled the Roman type of before the empire epoch and at the same time they slightly resembled
the gardens of the Ancient East. The traditions of Roman landscape design found their further
development in the Italian gardens of theepoch of revival, and then in the regular parks of
Europe.

The Middle East and South Asia

Traditionally, the Middle Eastern and South Asian gardens became the reflection of the
perception of peace through religion and philosophy. In this region gardens were symbols of
paradise. For example the charbagh, or paradise garden was intended for rest,
reflection and contemplation. For this reason, these gardens usually included places for sitting,
unlike European gardens, which were often designed for walking. They were created for leisure at
the royal residences and they required high financial expenditures.
Persia - Persian garden design influenced the creation of the gardens of the entire Ancient East.
Landscape design arose in many other gardens of the world under the influence of the Ancient
Persians - in Turkey, the Moorish gardens in Spain and the gardens in the Crimea Tatar Khans.
Muslim science and medicine formed the powerful system of medicine and gardens with medicinal
plants have been maintained since olden times in the regions of India, Iran and Tibet.
India - Indian civilization gave birth to Buddhism, with which began the creation of monastery
gardens. Worshiping trees were an ancient custom of the Hindus. In the sacred Hindu
books the Lumbinetsky garden is mentioned, which was the property of the Hindu kings. In
the first period of the spread of Buddhism in India the construction of gardens and parks, intended
for contemplative leisure, began. In the parks there were ponds of amazing beauty that had
open gazebos which were easy on the eyes andflower gardens that were organized using
the principles of Zen. This was the complete failure of theutilitarian purpose of the garden. This
park embodied the idea of the unity of man and nature.
The traditional Middle Eastern and South Asian gardens included certain shared design elements.
The most common were enclosing walls, water features, trees and flowers, and extensive use of
thearabesque, a Islamic geometric decoration.

 The first design element was shade. One of the central features is to create shade to keep cool,
as a way to cope with hot climate.
 The second design element was walls for shape, temperature regulation and insulation. The
garden's provided protection from the harsh desert environment and from the dust and pollution

13
 of the adjacent streets, to emphasize the privacy of the family and of its female members in
particular, and to display a modest and humble exterior to the outside world.
 The third design element was water or reflection ponds. Water played many roles within the
garden design, emphasizing architectural elements, masking outdoor noise, producing pleasing
sounds, irrigating plants, moisturizing and cooling the hot dry microclimate, soothing the dusty
wind, and to embrace a high regard for water as the indispensable support of life. Their
application of water as a design element often produced clean alignments and crisp colours.
 The fourth design element was plants. Fruit trees, in general, had a very high priority in the
overall design scheme. They provided not only food and daytime color but also a canopy over the
courtyard at night. This canopy restricted losses of cold air from below effectively trapping cool
air. Traditional designers circulated this cool air from the garden through the house, thereby
creating a natural cooling system. Poplars and cypresses gave climatological protection. Elms,
willows, and oaks gave shade in summer and let the sun shine through in winter. In order to
alleviate the problems of turbulence caused by walls, tall narrow-leafed cypresses were added
to filter the dust and to reduce windspeed within the garden. These were planted across the entire
east and west sides and thus cast shadows across the whole garden throughout the
day. Pines were used as a large-scale contrast. Citrus trees were treasured for their fruit and
perfumed flowers. Animals, introduced to give life to the garden, includedswans, pheasants,
pigeons, ducks and singing birds.
 Mosaics were another important design element. This was an interesting combination of a
pebble intricate mosaic tiles with the parterre design.
International garden designers in search of inspiration and useful ideas are exploring
the old Middle Eastern and South Asian gardens, but many emphasize fanciful geometric
patterns, elaborate water features, and colorful planting schemes at the expense of the historical,
philosophical, metaphysical, and poetic dimensions of these "earthly paradises."

Persia
Persia was characterized by the high level of developments of landscape design. An example of
this garden was built in IV c. B.C. The Garden of the King Cyrus I in the capital of Lydia was
created with thethinnest trees and the most splendid flowers, picturesquely located on the flower
beds.
The basis of their strictly geometric (regular) planning was - charbagh - the form of the garden,
which attempts to imitate paradise from which four sacred rivers escape and divide it into four
squares - the parts, which represent peace. The alleys, which were lined with plates, bisected each
other and the space between them was filled with thick wooden vegetation or was occupied by
ponds and luxurious flower gardens. The formed large square was divided into four smaller squares
and so on. This separation of space was accomplished not only by paths, but also with the aid of the
plants and a large number of small channels filled with water, which pass through each of
these four gardens in order to be connected at thecentral pond. Trees and flowers of rare forms
occupied the main and best part of the garden, thesycamore enjoyed special popularity, under
which gazebos were arranged. In it cypresses, sycamores, poplars, plum trees, peach trees,
apricot trees, almond trees and silkworm trees grew. The garden was surrounded by walls and
decorated with beautiful pavilions with the refined finish and revetment ofgold and blue tiles at the
entrance. The gardens contained deer, partridges and other animals.
Basic special features of the charbagh garden included the retaining wall, the use of terraces,
rectangular ponds, the internal network of channels, garden pavilions and the broad spectrum of

14
magnificent vegetation. Persian gardens frequently attempted to unite the indoor and outdoor
spacesand to make a combination aesthetical and functional features. All these gardens are
completely isolated from the external world and they were surrounded by elegant
houses, galleries, colonnades, arcades,artistic rock lattices located between the external and
internal parts.
It is traditional that such gardens were closed. The purpose of these gardens was to provide a place
forrelaxation through spiritual methods and a place for leisure time to be spent (meeting with
friends, for example) and to essentially create paradise on the earth. Because of their luxury and
perfection these small gardens were called paradise gardens.
The skill of creating parks was conceived in Ancient Persia. These were the larger parks-zoos on
the artificially watered soil and were utilized as a place for royal hunts. The Ancient Persians were
one of the first civilizations to create such parks. These parks were mainly populated for the hunting
of animals such as lions, panthers, boars and they occupied enormous areas. Ancient Persians
loved to hunt with comfort; therefore in the parks were picturesquely scattered the richly decorated
pavilions, around which flower gardens and fountains were arranged . Watch towers were placed
along the roads. Sycamores were planted on both sides of the roads which were paved with wide
plates. Ponds were made and flower gardens were arranged along the roads. Sometimes wild parks
and fruit gardens were united into aunified whole.
Specifically, the Persians began to practice planting and neatly trimming of the hedges - hedges.
These hedges helped to divide the park into several zones, where they attempted to recreate
different unique landscapes.
Persian garden design influenced the creation of the gardens of the entire Ancient East. Under the
influence of the Ancient Persian landscape design arose many other gardens of the world -
in Turkey, the Moorish gardens in Spain and the gardens in the Crimea Tatar Khans.
The eastern gardens became the reflection of the perception of peace through religion and
philosophy, here gardens were symbols of paradise. They were created for leisure with the royal
residences and they required high financial expenditures.

India

The bloom of landscape design in India falls on the period between II and IV c. A.D. Precisely at
this timedecorative and medicinal plants become the object of study, treatises are devoted to them,
they become an irreplaceable attribute of female accessories, the best state minds are occupied with
their growing. Gardens with medicinal plants have been maintained since olden times in the
mountain regions of India,Iran and Tibet. Medicinal plants were grown by monks - the same
monks that formed the powerful system of Tibetan medicine.
From 1526-1858 the bloom of horticulture is observed in the territory of India, where the empire
of Great Mughals was located. Symbolic value was given to trees and to landscaping
ensembles with the generously decorated ponds (which contained blue tiles) were created
at mausoleums. The life of Indian aristocrats was mainly spent in the garden, instead of the
house; therefore the requirements for garden structures and accessories increased. Specifically at
this time the gardens began to be presentedaesthetical requirements, which were not only
utilitarian. Gardens designed for the royalty, the priests and the courtiers not only had to be
equipped with all of the necessary features for recreation - such aspools, swings and benches - but
also had to delight the eye with whimsical combinations of differentvegetation. The cells with

15
the birds were hung up on the branches of trees, in the ponds the swansswam, and
proud peacocks walked about along the paths.
The inhabitants of Kashmir were especially famous for their excellent skill in the construction of
gardens. Each luxurious palace was surrounded by an ingenious system of terraces and pools made
from coloured marble, and the complex geometry of numerous paths and alleys still strikes the
imagination. Descriptions of gardens on the terraces - which resemble the famous Gardens of
Semiramis - can be found, this indicates that the Kashmir gardeners widely used container
floriculture and achieved huge success with them.
Furthermore, Kashmir was famous for floating gardens. They were created by cutting off the base
of the grass growing on the bottom of a lake and connecting it into the thick mats which then were
fastened to thin posts driven into the bottom of a lake. Mats were covered with a layer of soil with a
thickness of more than half a meter. On such floating garden beds cucumbers and melons were
grown as well asflowers.
In the same style is built the Shalimar Garden in Lahore (40 acres(16.2 ha)) in 1642, modern day
Pakistan by the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan; Pinjor Garden or Yadavindra Garden in North
India is built by Patiala Dynasty Rulers; Nishat Garden of Kashmir, India (44acres (17.8 ha)) was
built in 1633 and offers a splendid view of the Dal Lake as well as the snow capped Pir Panjal
mountain range. The garden has terraces with a beautiful water channel flowing right in the middle
of the garden, blooming flowerbeds, trees and fountains.
Very often a luxurious house after death of owner became his mausoleum. The most known
palace converted into the mausoleum is Taj Mahal (1630-1652) located in Agra and recognized
“the jewel of Muslim art in India”. The tomb is set on a great white platform with the size of 42
acres (17 ha) and completes the vast, symmetrical ground plan. It was built by Mughal emperor
Shah Jahan in memory of his third wife, Mumtaz Mahal. The long narrow canal in marble, lined by
pencil-thin cypresses on either side and terraces decorated by numerous remarkably
beautiful flower gardens is located in the front of the white Marble mausoleum. When
the fountains play the building appears to shimmer in their droplets, the mausoleum inspires awe.
The Taj garden is enclosed to east and west by massive battlemented walls with
ornamental arches and crenellations inlaid with marble. Within is a classical chahar bagh, divided
into quarters by broad, shallow channels with a red sandstone pavilion at the end of both cross axes,
and a raised marble tank at the center. The tomb's floral designs in marble and inlays of
semiprecious stones are well known. Taj Mahal is one of the greatest Indian gardens of the peace.
Interesting to note that it two years after the completion of the Taj Mahal house and
big reflection pond, in 1654, famous André Le Nôtre for the first time used in the center of his
parks the reservoir, designed so as to reflect entire facade of castle.
Indian civilization gave birth to Buddhism, with which began the creation of monastery gardens.
Worshiping trees was an ancient custom of the Hindus. In the sacred Hindu
books the Lumbinetsky garden is mentioned, which was the property of the Hindu kings. In
the first period of the spread of Buddhism in India the construction of gardens and parks, intended
for contemplative leisure, began. In the parks there were ponds of amazing beauty that had
open gazebos which were light on the eyes and flower gardens that were organized using the
principles of Zen. This was complete failure of the utilitarian purpose of a garden. This park
embodied the idea of the unity of man and nature.

Feudalism in the countries of Asia

Landscaping developed independently in the Far East. Its principles most appeared
in China and Japan. They were assertion of the importance of the beauty of nature and the
16
absolutism of its aesthetical qualities, and subordination of all that is created by man to this beauty.
This style was called irregular style. In the Ryoanji gardens of the Daiju-in temple in Kyoto in
1499, for example, the image of life is personified in the combination
of sand and stone. Kateura park was created in the outskirts of Kyoto in 1602 with a nature-like
composition, in which various features such as small islands, artificial hills and vegetation are a
common characteristic.

China
The earliest information about the gardens of this country, which we know from the written
sources, drawing and other sources, which date back to XII c. B.C. One of the first
parks of ancient China was created by the Chinese ruler Zhou. My Wang, who came to power
immediately after, created luxurious gardens with different structures. Emperor Jing Chi-Hoang,
in the time of his dominion, created immense parks with an area of more than 1000 ha.
Unfortunately, the there is not much known information about the planning of the ancient Chinese
parks.
The development of gardens in China had two main styles. One of them was characterized by the
presence of miniature gardens in small sections of land. Suzhou and Shanghai contained many of
these gardens. In these gardens the trees are given dwarfish forms. A characteristic property of
the second style was that gardens and parks were located on expansive pieces of land which
contained ponds and were united into a single, united composition. One of the best examples of
parks of this style, which was preserved up to this day, is the park of Tuisiyuan. This summer
palace park of the emperor was located in the picturesque area to the West of the capital of Peking.
The park has area of 330 ha (about 290 acres) and fourth fifths of its territory were covered
with water. Water was a an essential element of Chinese gardens. In the park of important
courtiers water covered large areas. These were usually ponds, little rivers and waterfalls.
Frequently artificial islands and peninsulas, which had beautiful gazebosarranged on them, were
located inside these water features. The park of Tuisiyuan is considered as the meeting place
of miniature copies of the most beautiful areas of China.
The special features of the landscape design of these two styles consist of the following:
• the natural views of the country serve as the basis of the creation of gardens and parks;
• ideas taken from paintings are used for the design of park views;
• relief is created with such carefulness that it seems as though it was created by nature;
• water is the most important element of a garden;
• gardens are filled with all possible structures such as urns, lamps and sculptural images of
birds and animals made of china and bronze;
• the assortment of trees in the gardens is very diverse.
The landscape design of China in XVII-XVIII c. was developed especially rapidly. The gardens
of China were both monumental and miniature. In the parks many different structures: pavilions,
gazebos, galleries, walls, fences, bridges the rest park alleys took shape by the large number of
decorative elements. For paving lime stones, marble plates and mosaics were used, they also
decorated the path with figures of birds and animals. In the parks artificial relief was frequently
created. Trees and bushestransplanted in groups and even in entire groves, of which most popular
17
is the bamboo, the plum and the pine tree. Considerable attention was paid to the flower
decoration. Ponds and cliffs were widely used. The parks of Tuisiyuan (330 ha), Beihai park (104
ha) in Peking and Liu Yuan in Suzhou are the most widely known parks.

Japan

The earliest information about the parks of Japan, which we know from different information
sources from of our era. Parks in Japan were intended for solitude, meditation and the quiet
contemplation of the beauty of nature, these elements were embodied in the garden composition.
The basic elements of composition included relief which was not only natural but frequently
artificial , water devices like ponds, creeks, waterfalls, cliffs of many varied forms and sizes, the
most diverse assortment of species of trees and shrubs (deciduous, coniferous and evergreen and
flowering).
Before the spread and the wide acceptance of Buddhism the gardens of the ancient rulers were not
intended for the concentrated observation, but they were often used for courtier ceremonies.
Therefore they were designed without special features like wide alleys where the grandee could
pass easily with their escorts, bright flower gardens which were arranged so that the blooming of
some plants would be replaced by the blooming of others, and the large richly decorated pavilions
for relaxation. But the influence of Buddhism, especially the study of Zen, leads to the fact that
the high ranks of state begin to carry out many hours of meditation, trying to understand the
essence of things. Therefore monks became the first landscape designers. They not only developed
the ideological principles of the creation of compositions but also wrote many books which are
practical guidelines on the landscape design.
As early as XII c. treatises about landscape design appeared in Japan; in them the basic theoretical
conditions and principles of landscaping are presented, the rules of the use of territory and its
articulation are indicated. These are the recommendations for the balance of the territory of a
palace - park ensemble: 40% structures, 30% the free spaces of the garden or park and 30% green
plants. At the initial stage of development, in the period from VI c. until VIII c. landscape
design in the Country of the Rising Sun bore on themselves the explicit imprint of Chinese
culture. By the overall structure these gardens consisted of two basic elements: "mountains" and
"water". A different symbolism was widely used for each element of a garden, all plants contained
a certain meaning, and they were important for the general purpose of the garden.
The appearance of Japanese gardens relates to the time of the administration
of Emperor Cheu (592-628 A.D.), that arrived into Japan from India through Korea and China.
With the creation of gardens the Japanese recreated the subjects of the pictures, made with Indian
ink on silk and the rice paper. The main subjects were mountains, hills, stones and water.
Sometimes in the gardens there is no concrete image of hills, springs or rivers, and there is only a
hint to their form - symbol. Then the so-called "dry scenery" appears, which attempts to transmit
the beauty of valleys and gorges, mountain rivers without the application of water. In such gardens
the stone plays a basic but fundamental role. In Japan there are gardens, which consist of only
stones and sand. The gardens were executed according to the laws of painting and
their miniaturization, which gives the sensation of three-dimensional depth, serves primarily as a
place of admiration and contemplation.
The most known example of the rock garden is the beautiful Reandzi monastery, created at the
end of XV c.- beginning of XVI c., in the ancient Japanese capital of Kyoto. The garden is
a rectangular area of 23x9 m, located in front of the house with a veranda. The veranda is a place
for its contemplation, since in the background the low wall located, after which a groups of trees are
located in the form of a background. On the area covered with white sand, the stones are located in
18
groups of 15. They are located, so that the structure of the stone and the nuances of colour are
visible under different angles, furthermore, the stones cast shadows and because of the game of
light and shadow the composition appears dynamic. White sand is combed by bamboo rakes in
such a way that the grooves move in parallel with the long side of garden and form concentric
circles around each group of 2-3 or 5 stones. Most important is the fact that you were located on
whatever point of veranda, of 15 stones it is possible to simultaneously observe only 14. As a
whole garden create for creating the illusion of sea waves, which washes the group of islands, it is
or vice versa seemed that you are located highly above the earth and you observe on top the shroud
of the clouds, through which come out high summits. Here there is no vegetation, but because of
the proportions and the ingenious arrangement of stones this garden is the remarkable
example of the garden design of Japan.
As a rule, the rock garden was arranged on a green lawn or a flower bed made from
sand or gravel and was covered with complex patterns. For getting around these gardens paths
were used which were made from flat tiles and their size was calculated to be the length of a step.
Besides the gardens with groups of fifteen stones the garden of groups of nine stones was also
traditional. From any point only eight stones were visible with this design. For contrast the rock
garden was located near the plentiful verdure of the evergreen bushes and thickets of maple,
which become ardent-red in the autumn. After that the garden was divided by a water obstacle
such as a stream or a pond with a small fountain. This could also be "dry" river with a bright red
decorative bridge. After it a peach garden or a Japanese cherry blossom was located, which
were widely used because the Japanese liked plants that bloomed in the Spring.
Shortly after, as in the rest of the world, temple and courtier gardens appeared in Japan. But in
1473 the first tea house was built and at the peak of its popularity special gardens for
tea drinking were created, in which the tea ceremonies could be conducted. These tea ceremonies
quickly became a daily tradition of all Japanese people instead of being solely conducted
in monasteries. The tea ceremony was a unique form of meditation, which consisted of the
precise completion of all specified actions. As a rule, it occurred in the special tea
pavilion with convenient low furniture. The tea pavilion was illuminated with traditional
lamps and often decorated with special compositions of irises called tokonoma - or ikebana if it is
located in a special niche. The pavilion was located in a secluded corner of garden, preferably not
far from the pond, and had a narrow looping trail which led to it. This was done so that the person,
contemplating the beauties of garden, could compose themselves for the ceremony.
At the beginning the XX century the national gardens of Japan began to undergo the significant
influence from the Western civilizations. But even with these conditions, they continue to preserve
their bright individuality and philosophy. The worship of nature allowed the Japanese to approach
the questions of the forming of the landscape with great care, making it possible to reveal the
authentic beauty of plants, stones, water sources and ponds. The apparent simplicity of Japanese
gardens is in reality always filled with a delicate and sensual meaning, which fills seemingly
ordinary objects with a feeling of beauty.
The Japanese style garden is becoming increasingly popular today. The gardens have small
area, but each element of the garden, even a small bridge or hardly noticeable lantern contains
complex internal meaning. This landscape is organized according to the principle of the maximum
sensation of calmness, possibility to rest and controlling nature. Japanese gardens are
frequently compared with theatrical productions, since it has little in common with real nature.
The development of miniature gardens in a small space helped develop the art of dwarfish
trees like the bonsai. Dwarfish trees grow slowly, but the Japanese also do not like hurry. For the
recreation of temple gardens on a plate they use dwarfish trees and miniature models of
temples and waterfalls.

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Europe in the Middle Ages

Compared to other periods in landscape design history, little is known about the medieval period
of landscape design. The barbarian invasions of the 4th and 5th centuries destroyed the Roman
civilization and with it the gardens of Western Europe. The Eastern Empire, centered
on Constantinople, retained its hold on Greece and much of Asia Minor for another millennium,
and Byzantine gardens persisted in the Hellenistic tradition. Medieval Monastery and Feudal
Gardens were heavily influenced by the ancient Greeks and Romans.
The early gardens in Spain reflected the Muslim tradition of science, geometry and order. The
role played by nature was secondary although the gardens were clearly adapted to
the climate and terrain in which they were located. Water was distributed by irrigation
channels and by gravity. There were many cascades, fountains, and ponds. Glazed ceramic
tile was used to decorate the parterres, to break the green color of the plants, to decorate a bench or
stairs, and to reflect the light of the water. Running water was commonly used because the sound
of running water was very soothing.
The Moorish Gardens were characterized by the presence of a variety of colours, plenty
of perfume, and flowing water. The Moors liked large gardens, with one patio flowing into
another patio. Each patio was separated by wrought iron gates. For the Moors, a beautiful garden
was paradise on earth. The garden of paradise was a place of peace and a place of pleasure,
where the trees give shade and fruit, and water is the primary element of the garden.
One of the primary characteristics of the Gardens of the Middle Ages was that, large or small, it
was always enclosed. Two opposite schools of thought existed: some preferred having the garden
near the house so the scents of the garden could waft in and other away from the house to provide
privacy. Some types of medieval gardens were: Monastery Gardens, Feudal Gardens, Peasant
gardens, Infirmary/Hospital Gardens, Ladies Gardens.
Peasant Gardens usually only contained a vegetable garden with some medicinal herbs,
surrounded by awattle fence to keep the livestock out.
Infirmary/Hospital Gardens had gardens that not only had a practical function but also
contributed in less immediately obvious ways to the health of the patients.
Ladies Gardens - Castles and manors often had gardens of pleasure for walking in, with seats,
private nooks screened from the wind for sitting, flowery meads for sitting and playing games.

Moorish Gardens

In Spain in VIII - XIV c. A.D., after its conquest by the Arabs (the Moors), appears the special
form of garden called the patio. This is a closed type of garden, in which the ancient
traditions and Persian gardens merged during its development. The oldest of the still existing,
preserved Moorish gardens is the patio of the palace ensemble in Grenada. The garden is isolated
on the terraces, it is limited by the colonnades of towers, palaces and walls. The patio's purpose is
to provide a place for relaxation, meditation and contemplation; therefore the presence of ponds,
fountains, tile mosaics and concisegardening is characteristic of it.
The nature of the Moorish garden - is the simplicity of planning and the uniqueness of the solution.
Water is the primary motif of the garden. In the regular planning style a courtyard - patio is
always present. Specific points are arranged and arcades take shape. The plants are exotic and
20
correspond to the climatic conditions: mandarins, cypresses, oranges and oleanders. They are
planted freely and trimming, for the most part, did not adapt. Lawns were not used because of the
hot climate and the territory took shape through decorative paving - this is one of the key
elements of Moorish garden. Cultural bloom at this time was observed, many cities
from India to Spain were proud of their gardens. In order to give the gardens a certain
charm irrigation systems built by Romans were used. But, in spite of all of the aqueous splendor
vertical fountains were nevertheless built in the style of delicate modesty, as in the court of
channels in the mixed gardens of Granada, for example.
It is not so complicated to understand why the nomads valued water so highly. This cultural basis
brings together the creations of the Arab masters of landscape with the Chinese and Japanese,
where the garden was created as place for the meditation and "personal luxury", but not as public
property, which was characteristic of the Greeks and Romans.
In the Moorish gardens and fountains it is possible to isolate two main features. First of all
the fountainsnever contained the imprint of the human essence, the artists ideas were never
combined with man or his humanly form since the Koran forbids the depiction of the exposed body.
Furthermore, designers were more restrained in the estimation of a quantity of utilized water (if we
do not consider some Turkish gardens), although this restraint was always found in balance with a
feeling of aesthetical "completeness", self-sufficiency of a garden.
They connected channels (originally used for irrigation), pools and fountains which created
freshness mixed with the finest aromas. The small drinking fountains, where the water jet hardly
rises above the surface, represents the best example of this fantastic use of subtlety. The pools of
fountains were designed to always be full to the brim with water. This allowed them to develop a
complex system of channels for the water to flow into. Ponds were usually decorated with patterns
in the form of a lotus, which visually enlarged their volume. Fountains in the Islamic gardens were
almost always located low on the ground, sometimes even hardly rising above the level of the
surrounding view. They had to cool the atmosphere around themselves with the aid of the
evaporated moisture, and this sufficiently ordinary feature combined wonderfully with its religious
purpose.
The adepts of Moorish style also actively used water in other elements of the garden, for example,
accurately directing invigorating moisture along the channels purely for irrigating purposes, when
its decoration potential was exhausted. This characteristic and stylistic feature was unfortunately
absent in Italy's epoch of Revival and somewhat later, where the water which flows to the feet of
hills was used wastefully.

Monastery and Feudal Gardens

In the V-IX c. A.D. feudalism brought with itself many internal wars, which slowed down the
development of landscaping. It existed only in the protected territories of monasteries and castles.
Europeans forgot most of the traditions of ancient times and the purpose of garden became
exceptionally utilitarian, to supply its owner with food. Gardens were arranged small, only in
the monastery and in a small quantity for the feudal aristocracy - the noble, in the territory
of castles.
MONASTERY GARDENS had multiple types: vegetable gardens, infirmary gardens of
medicinal herbs, cloisters, and orchards. Monasteries Gardens were created to produce food for
the monks and contained vegetables and medicinal plants. Roses, mallows, carnations, peonies,
violets and lilies grew in the gardens as well. Apple and pear trees were widely cultivated for
21
preparing cider, mulberry and cherry trees were only planted in the gardens of
the aristocracy. In the monastery gardens it was usually possible to encounter
different medicinal and decorative plants. The planning of such gardens was sufficiently simple,
they always contained one or several fountains and pond. Monasteries sometimes had separate
plots for each person to work.
The garden was usually divided into four parts by paths. Bushes of roses were planted or
a sculpture of Jesus Christ was positioned where all four paths intersected. The distinguishing
feature of these gardens was their privacy, silence and contemplativeness. A unique feature of
the monastery gardens was the use of the first hedge mazes in which the paths, surrounded by
a hedge fence, brought the visitors to the center of the park. This feature was also used in
the planning of XIX c. parks.
FEUDAL GARDENS were arranged inside the territory of castles. In the gardens the flowers were
grown in flower beds, the alleys which were wound by grapes were developed, apple trees were
grown and rosaries were arranged. For the large castles the creation of the large gardens was
characteristic. In such gardens the first decorative elements, such as arbours, flower beds, trellises,
pools and fountains began to appear.
Hedge mazes and botanical gardens appeared. Hedge mazes first appeared in monastery gardens
and then won acceptance into Regular and Irregular parks. Botanical gardens began to appear
with the appearance of the first universities.

European Countries from ХV c. - to the Beginning of the XVIII c. Regular Style

The Middle Ages were the Golden Age of landscape design. The difficult and chaotic Middle
Ages was the cause of the bloom of culture which began in the XV c. and continued until the XVIII
c. In some regions of Europe the knowledge which was accumulated before was lost over time, but
in other regions landscape design progressed and flourished. Political instability, religious
persecutions, and crusades, which engulfed a politically insecure Europe, were the power which
combined the remains of classicism, the philosophy of Christianity, and some new ideas which
were slowly brought from the Moorish countries, India and China.
For the beginning and the development of a certain style of landscape design certain varied
conditions must exist. Such conditions include a specific climate or certain topographical
features. Landscape designsplit into two distinct directions around this time. The two directions
were Regular Style and Irregular Style:
-the Regular Style was based on the principles of symmetry
-the Irregular Style was based on the imitation of nature and its characteristics.
Regular Style always includes the use of expansive parterre space, where the focus is placed on
thehouse. It is also typical for designs in the regular style to contain a strict symmetry and straight
lines,and use the main composition axis. Gardens in the regular style were located primarily
in Italy, France, England, Germany and Austria, and in Portugal, but in each country they
consisted of different landscape elements.

Italy

Since 1530 the landscape design of Italy formed into two main styles. One of them, closely
related to the ideology of the Catholic Church, soon led to the Baroque style. The other,
called Renaissance. From the East, numerous crusades brought new cultural movements to the
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Europeans. This circumstance brought about the epoch of Revival (Renaissance) in Europe which
most vividly appeared in Italy in XIV-XVI c. landscape design became integral artistic works.
Some of the best works of this time included the garden casino of Cardinal Farnese Villa
in Caprarola (1547-1550, architect Giacomo Barozzi de Vignola), the garden of the Villa
Lanta in Bagnaia (1560, architect Giacomo Barozzi de Vignola), the garden of theVilla d' Este in
Tivoli (1549, architect Pirro Ligorio), and others. The mountainous nature of the locality assumed
the stepped arrangement of gardens on steep and high terraces. The total number of terracescould
be different, for example, in the gardens of Farnese Villa there was three, in the Villa Lanta - five,
and in the gardens of the Villa d' Este in Tivoli - eight.
Italy - the successor of ancient culture - began to accentuate buildings like palaces or villas as the
center of the landscape composition for the first time in the XIV- XV c. Specifically, entire
landscape was formed around the architectural "heart". The terraces of the gardens were connected
to the house and each other by means of stairs, water cascades and ramps. The Italian gardens of
the epoch of Revival were separated from the environment by walls, being the final and self-
contained work of skill. The epoch of Revival signified by the return of interest in landscape design.
The descendants of the emperors of ancient Romans again turned to the tradition of the design of
gardens on terraces and the adornment of them with sculptures. Christianity of the early middle ages
demanded allegiance, but in the XV c. even the Vatican acquired an appealing outward
appearance. The second epoch of Luxury began, Caesar's Rome was revived and became even
more luxurious under the leadership of the Pope. Because of the abundance of paints and gold
they characterized design preferences of this period.
The economic meaning of villas declined, and traditional orchard was transformed into a small
amphitheatre, which was used for domestic plays. Courtyard Belvedere at the Vatican
Palace in Romeserved as scene for performances, and the surrounding parts of the garden were
decorations. This method became characteristic for Italy in the XVI c. and it was repeated in the
amphitheatre of the Boboli Gardens and Villa of Pope Pius. In the Madama Villa in Rome (1517)
the separation of the garden into rooms by walls made of trimmed verdure was used for the first
time and part of the garden was an enfilade of green rooms. The Madama Villa consists of three
parts: the first - in the form square, that resembles the gardens of the early middle ages because of
its simple and clear planning. The second - in the form circle with porticos on the perimeter, in
which antique sculptures were placed. The third - a stadium with platforms for spectators.
The strictly planned garden also harmonized with nature and the special features of the area. The
green walls made of hedges surrounded it. The system of waterfalls and ponds was pulled through
the entire garden, in the secluded corners of the garden pavilions and gazebos with small
fountains were arranged. White and pink marble was the favourite material for making stairs and
ponds. Geometric planning became more intricate than in the early feudal period. This was, in
part, the winding of the alleys, which lead to the secluded green rooms or to a small pond with a
fountain. In the garden there was a set of elements of antique
architecture: steles, herms, amphoraes. Frequently the villa was built at the apex of a hill,
and gardens descended through the use of large terraces to its foot. The monumental stairs,
surrounded by two cascades of water, pointed to the entrance into the house and marble
benches as well as antique sculptures were situated at the front of the house. Floral preferences
were the same as in the ancient Roman times: laurel, cypresses, neatly figured trimming of
the hedges from boxwood and magnificent rosaries.
The landscaping of the epoch of Revival is characterized by the planning and composition unity of
thearchitectural ensembles. The Italian landscape design - this is a complete artistic work where

23
nature and skill harmoniously merge. The common features utilized in the landscape design are
inherent in the gardens of the Italian renaissance:
1. Gardens are located on terraces and connected together with stairs. Retaining
walls and grottos are covered by stone. The terraces, crowned by balustrades and sculptures,
compose the basis of the Italian garden.
2. Water is the basis of the gardens of the epoch of Revival. It is plentiful, is positioned to produce
a shine and is accompanied by music at fountains, cascades, and ponds. Water became
the composition center of the Italian gardens.
3. Wide crown trees are used: sycamores and oaks , for creating neatly figured hedges boxwood,
laurels, olive trees and cypresses were used. Deciduous and fruit trees were also used in gardens.
A new trimming method appeared here called the bosquet. It is enclosed by regular paths and has a
geometric outline. Inside of the bosquet there are trees, which are framed by rows of trees or
hedges. The flower assortment has a lot of variety.
4. Regular Italian gardens are closed. Their regularity is not hard. Gardens are magnificent and
rich, but subtle.
5. There are many colors in the garden.
The transition from the Renaissance to the Baroque style in landscaping cannot be precisely
determined. Many typical features of the Renaissance style, for example, the water features which
took on the quality of theatrical spectacles, the spacious terraces integrated into the landscape, or the
art of symmetrical plant bed ornamentation, were taken over in the Baroque style.
The Baroque style in landscaping was affirmed in XVI c. and it became the privilege of the rich.
A new element appeared in the composition of gardens - radial alleys, whereas in the villas the
epochs of Renaissance adapted only square and diamond-shaped division of
territory. Flowers and bushes were planting in round and semicircular shapes with the retention of
the abundance of water elements, stairsand sculptures became popular at this time. The abundance
of carved stone was characteristic, reliefsand alto-relieves decorated walls, intricate frieze went on
the rails of stairs. The Baroque style assumed that the garden must be the logical continuation of
the palace, i.e., to have rooms, corridors and corresponding luxurious decoration. Monetary
expenditures for the development of gardens became equal to that of the construction of the palace
itself.
Until the end of XVI c. Italian gardens were small in size (from 1 to 3.5 ha). The alleys of that time
were designed to be narrow and short, the palace was usually arranged along the central axis of
symmetry of the site and occupied the dominant position. Trees and bushes were planted in thick
groups around the garden. These groups formed a visual closure, the views for surrounding
landscapes were limited to fixed points and directions of observation. At the beginning XVII
c. Italian baroque gardens increased in size, they became spectacles. This is also reflected in the
changes in their design. Alleys acquired important significance, they no longer simply
connected green rooms amongst themselves, but rather unite into the rooms into a luxurious
enfilade and directly control the movement of the people in the garden towards the most interesting
objects.
In XVI-XVII c. in the times of the late Renaissance and Baroque, the gardens acquired special
splendour. Their creators attempted to surround visitors with astonishing recreations of natural
scenery, which astonished by their size and uniqueness. The latter emphasized unexpected scene -
the arrangement of natural elements and the sense of dynamics which is given off by the inanimate
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objects which are built in the garden or park. Elaborate decor, aqueous theatres and elaborate
compositions with powerful fountains completed the effect. This artificiality characterizes many
examples of the landscape design of that time.
The Baroque style used alternation of perspectives, contrasts of light and shadow, trimmed
verdure, cypresses were planted in thick rows for the creation of green theatres, arrangement
of sculptures, adornment of parterre with complex patterns and arabesques. The designers of
this period perfectly decorated the sculptures of the gardens with immense
fountains and cascades. This was the quintessence of luxury, which luckily was preserved to the
present, so that during a trip through Italy it is possible to visit the villas of the popes and princes,
who preserved a large part of their beauty and grandeur. The Isola Bella Garden on Lake
Maggiore is considered the most successful garden on a terrace in the history of the baroque period
of landscape design. Its composition slightly resembles theHanging Gardens of Babylon. It is
located on ten terraces. Five lower terraces are formed by nature, while five upper were artificial. In
the garden there is an abundance of small architectural forms:balustrades, columns and statues are
common. The baroque style contributed to the appearance of the complex and intricate architectural
solutions, such as, for example, the theatrical effect of the Borromini's Corridor (1599-1667) in
the Palazzo Spada in Rome. The corridor leads to an illuminated statue, its arch and columns
decrease in the sizes, visually increasing the depth of space. The most famous fountains are
designed and created in the period when the baroque style was popular. Some of these fountains are
still admired to this day, for example, the Trevi Fountain in the Palazzo Poli (architect N. Salvi). It
is decorated with ornamental rocks, groups of sculptures, which are located around the large central
figure of Neptune.
The emphasized architecture of the classical gardens of the Italian Baroque was manifested in the
use of a contrasting relief, paths and areas paved by plates and many rock structures: high
bulkheads, sculptures, pavilions, grottos, balustrades, stairs. The presence of a large number of
decorative ponds and all possible water devices - cascades, channels, fountains and other, it was
also a key component. The bloom of Baroque was also the bloom of topiary style
where vegetation acquired fantastic forms.

LANDSCAPE DESIGN STYLES

Style in landscape design - these are the specific treatment of fundamental rules and methods of
planning, the coloring of the garden, the use of specific combinations of plants, the type of
decoration. The selection of the style of garden depends on the special landscape features of the site
- its configuration, environment, sizes and is determined by the architectural style of the house itself
and its basic construction. The contemporary styles of landscape design come into contact with the
stylistic aspects of the gardens of the past. The boundaries of great styles are washed away: trees
grow slower than buildings, and the monuments of the landscaping design of the past that exist now
include elements of different styles, and regular style is essentially absorbed by the surrounding
landscape.
The history of landscape design spans more than eight millenniums. The styles of gardens, which
were formed over a very long a time, similar to others skills like architecture, painting and literature
- these skills had almost mirror images of the epochs seen in landscape design. Until the 19th
century the large gardens were usually created for the aristocracy and they were named after those

25
of the ruling elite. For this very reason national and religious features, world outlook and connection
to nature of the person appeared in the gardens with such force and expression.
Besides aesthetical enjoyment, landscape design exerts a positive influence on the health of man. A
long life among the beauty of nature can strongly change the life and views of a person. Indeed the
peace surrounding us influences the state of man as a whole; emotional and physical.
Today landscape design is a priority in the development of architecture. This branch of architecture
has already existed for many years and it flourishes to this day. Today the amount of those desiring
to design their property with the aid of the landscape design is always increases.
Which style of landscape design is currently popular, which one to chose? It depends on your taste
and what purpose you want your site to fulfill. Even in a small area it is possible to combine
different styles of landscape design, if they belong to different functional zones. For example, a
lawn in front of the house can be designed using the classical regular style, and gazebos for
relaxation near a pond in the Japanese style. A path from the gates to your home can be made with
precisely cut hedges. All gardens can be harmonious and unique if it will have a style - artistic
image.
But how can you orient yourself in the abundance of styles and directions? How to determine the
style which will most harmoniously emphasize the individuality and uniqueness of the entire
garden? There are two ways: the first, to create your own garden, trying styles until you find one
that you like. The second, to turn to the professionals, and then the selection of style will be based
on knowledge, professionalism and experience! Specialists of landscape design from Landscape
Design and Site Planning Inc. help you to create the garden of your dream with pleasure; together
we can get through the tough process of creating your garden.

Classic styles
 REGULAR
 IRREGULAR
 MEDITERRANEAN
 MOORISH
 CHINESE
 JAPANESE

REGULAR
Regular style assumes a strict symmetry in the planning of garden. In regular style straight lines and
strict and axial compositions are inherent. Regular style is now used where they want to emphasize
the feeling of order, strictness and solemnity. Emotional special features of this style include
elevation, solemnity, the abundance of sculptures, theatricality. Regular style is luxurious. Wide
straight alleys go off into the distance, the trees are trimmed, ornamental flower gardens are planted
on the lawn and charm with their abundance of colours and nuances. Trees and bushes are plant
according to a square, rectangular or checker pattern.
All elements are symmetrical and clearly ordered in the space. This design style will appeal to
people who love order, predictability and symmetry in everything. Regular gardens will be an
excellent addition to luxurious houses designed in the classical style, they will create the
atmosphere of solidity and style in your site. Your garden will be ideal place for the reception of
guests with its long, slow walks and conversations. Guests will be amazed by the beauty of the

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corridors made of hedges, lawns, sculptures, fountains, which give the possibility to be enjoyed and
at the same time provide rest from the busyness of life.

KEY DESIGN ELEMENTS:

Water - is an important element of the regular garden: strictly symmetrical, usually rectangular
forms of ponds with fountains, cascades and wall fountains. Paths and alleys must straight, flat and
clear - parallel, perpendicular or in a circle. It is possible to achieve the effect of theatricality if we
make an uncommon bench, which after being sat on, will start to spray mist and streams of water, it
is possible to use the same method on paths, but then the water will appear after one of the tiles has
been stepped on instead.
Parterres - one of the main elements of a classical landscape - composition in the horizontal plane,
as a rule, on large open spaces. The name “parterres” comes from two French words “par” and
“terre”, which means “on the soil”. Parterres can be made of grass, flowers or lace, in the form of
multi-coloured patterns, made from different materials.
Bosquet - trees and shrubs precisely cut into the shape of walls. Skilful palace gardeners used them
for the creation of an entire system of small " rooms" in the garden, placing them along the paths.
This method can be used today, creating space for privacy and quiet relaxation. A semicircular
niche, with a diameter of several meters and a bench can become a small, comfortable corner,
isolated from the house or the street by hedge by trellis (a support for vines) which are impossible to
see through. Care of garden in the regular style is complex. Constant trimming of the plants and
mowing of the lawn is required to keep it looking beautiful.
Тerraces - are used in the design of a landscape during the arrangement of the site which is on a
slope. They can be multileveled and connected with stairs and bridges among themselves. During
their decoration sculptures, shaped enclosures and flower pots are used.
Flower gardens take shape with the aid of figure trimmed evergreen bushes. For one bush a few
square meters are sufficient. Two or four bushes, symmetrically located, can determine the nature of
the entire garden. A bush in the center of a flower bed looks excellent, especially when cut in the
form of sphere, cone or another uncommon shape. A group of evergreens can be highlighted with
white or coloured gravel or showcased by blooming plants. The flower decoration of a site, as a
rule, consists of one or two-coloured borders of low annual plants, that bloom for prolonged time
(african marigolds, petunias, viol), or a border of the ground cover plants with a thorough control of
their spread and the required space at the edge of the lawn. Plant pots-containers are frequently
used. Containers must be ceramic, have a correct shape and be placed with a specific rhythm and
according to the symmetrically balanced plans.
Two accentuated points - are a required element of the regular style: they are the upper and lower.
From the upper point it is intended to examine the panorama of the lower garden. When desired it is
possible to use retaining walls or terraces in your garden, connected by stairs or bridges. Greeks
sculptures will fit in very well. Symmetry and order rule everything. For some this style of garden
will seem very boring and old-fashioned, but in reality regular landscape design creates a
celebratory and happy atmosphere. Nature in this style of garden is completely subordinated to man
and mathematics. The position of each pebble and branch is thoroughly adjusted and is completely
controlled.

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IRREGULAR

This style of landscape design does not separate the artificially planted plants from the surrounding
nature, it does not make them isolated or obviously separating from the environment. In this garden
there are no straight lines and outlines, there are no figure-trimmed trees and no straight paths. Its
task it is to preserve the naturalness of the plants, to make them seem part of wild nature. For
example, when looking at a pond with such free borders, designed with the irregular style, you even
will not believe that this miracle is created by the hands of man. The pond has a beach and
overgrowth of bright green grass, the benches are similar to large boulders and trees maybe be
collapsed, trees grow on their own in which ever direction they want and have picturesquely
stretched branches. The asymmetrical arrangement of objects is harmoniously entered into the
natural landscape. Its naturalness wakes up romantic feelings and sentimentality. Freedom and
harmony reign everywhere.
Free picturesque planning leads man to closer harmony with nature and usually requires less
earthwork, retaining walls, screens and structures. Consequently, it is better united with entire
surrounding landscape and usually costs less. Specifically, from this style we can borrow the
methods of visual enlargement of the space and the strengthening of its depth, which is
extraordinarily important for the contemporary garden which usually has a small area. Each site can
be designed with a more complete evaluation of its natural landscape features. Motion becomes
freer. With this design style a person can feel harmony with nature.
Plants which grow in this climatic zone are used in this style. Recently in the gardens of irregular
style it is very popular to plant decorative grasses and cereals plants.
However, in order to obtain a landscape design of this style, which possesses natural harmony and
beauty, hard work is necessary. This work is more delicate and requires a deep feeling of taste and
measure in landscape designer. It is necessary to evaluate and plan everything - the relationship of
the closed and free space, functionality, color accents and decorativeness. A landscape design of
this style can easily convert negative aspects of your site into positive ones. An asymmetrical site
with uneven relief can become the corner of a fairytale garden in the hands of a good designer. This
landscape style is most frequently used by landscape architects with the planning of contemporary
estates. However, the desire to place largest possible quantity of fashionable decorative elements
(Chinese houses and lanterns in combination with Alpine hills and sculptures) as well as native and
exotic plants on a small territory leads the repetition of the errors of the beginning of the 18th
Century, when inexperienced landscape designers attempted to use all of the nuances of landscape
design.

KEY DESIGN ELEMENTS:

The paths, located in the site must have a winding design, but turns must not be sharp. The material
of paths is usually of a natural origin or is imitative, gravel sifting or natural stone easily adapts
unlike the sidewalk tile. Compositions are created in such a way that during motion objects appear
in your field of view that were not there only moments ago and motion always produces new
impressions and unexpected solutions. Harmony in the combination of elements is the main
standard for the completeness of the view. Plants planted in a linear fashion are replace with groups
of plants and the smooth, bent line appear and trees are freely planted. Paths and streams are made
with a wavy design, ponds have natural outlines. Pavilions, gazebos and small fountains are also
widely used. The nature in the garden harmonizes with the environment, and the unevenness of
relief is an advantage of an irregular type of garden. The application of combinations of open and
closed spaces is possible, in nature this is the combination of wide, open meadows and tight, dense
forests. An old pond will greatly benefit your garden.

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Parterre lawn - is most of all characteristic of the irregular style. It is built in front of the facade of
the house or in a special, beautiful corner of a garden. Parterre lawn requires frequent irrigation,
feeding and mowing. This lawn serves only as decorative element, it is not designed for walks and
occupies a small area. The lawn can serve as the path, but it must always be cut short and be
resistant to trampling.
Flower gardens are arranged near the house or the pond. All flowers are different and are planted in
groups. The nature of the flowers has a great significance, the combination of their form and colour,
even their colour in the fall. Sculptures made of stone or wood.
The house is the continuation of the garden, it must not be striking to the eye, but instead be hidden
among the verdure of trees. Mixed border (a flower garden of irregular shape with a large collection
of plants) is characteristic of an irregular style garden. It plays the function of a border and adjoins
the wall or paths. Besides the decorative colourful plants with the original structure of leaves,
planting several medicinal plants as well as deciduous and coniferous trees with an uncommon
crown and colour is also popular.
Rockery - another benefit of an irregular garden - in contrast to an alpine garden, which has picky
Alpine vegetation, it has low growing plants. Good illumination is the most important part of
rockery. It is better to place at the entrance, near the house or near the pond. Milfoil, violet, forget-
me-not, wild marjoram, iris, yellow wood sorrel, bell are perfect for the decoration of rockery.
Trees are also suitable for its decoration - thuja, pine tree mountain, spirea and Japanese quince.
Thus through the combination of plants and stones it is possible to create an unusual, colourful
corner in the garden. Since in a garden designed with irregular style the green color almost always
prevails the silvery foliage of poplars, white willows, maples, birches, nut-trees, larches, oaks,
chestnuts, fir trees, yew-trees, lindens and elms is a good addition. Bright, juicy grasses look better
near the house and field and forest perennials look better in the garden.

MEDITERRANEAN

Two garden types are associated with the Mediterranean region: irregular and regular.

IRREGULAR GARDEN tend to feature gravel, with plants arranged in structural groups or masses.
Сitrus fruits, vines, lavender, and rosemary thrive in these conditions, as do succulents and grasses,
while colors tend to be muted, incorporating soft sage-gray greens and purple-blues.
In the Mediterranean gravel gardens, pathways are not defined by formal paving. Instead, gravel is
used between areas of planting and to create pathways, across the entire space, serving as both hard
landscaping and a mulch for planted areas. This unifies the garden, allowing plants to be grouped
informally and leaving smaller areas of paving to provide more stable surfaces for seating.
Pergolas or arbors are used for shade, and when planted with vines and other climbers they enhance
the Mediterranean atmosphere, providing the perfect location for sharing al fresco meals.
Alternatively, trees are planted for patterned shade, either in groves or as individual specimens in
key locations. Drifts of plants appear to emerge spontaneously in the gravel, perhaps punctuated by
arrangements of rocks and boulders. Sometimes a dry stream bed is recreated with clusters of
informally arranged, drought-resistant plants.
KEY DESIGN ELEMENTS:

Water is used to create sound or as a focal point in the design, but, as it is considered a precious
resource in these landscapes, it would not normally be seen in the form of large pools.
Colorful tiles and mosaics provide vibrant patterns while planted terra-cotta pots add splashes of
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vivid red or pink for more intimate and often urban spaces.
Terra-cotta instantly evokes the style, supplemented by mosaic tiles or features to add splashes of
color. Walls are often clear backdrops for shadows, but where paint is used, hues are often bold.
Rustic containers introduce colorful planting at key points, and may be used as focal features or
arranged in informal groups of different sizes.
REGULAR GARDENS of the Mediterranean tend to utilize water and stone, often with clipped
hedges and specimen trees such as tall, slender cypresses. Decorative parterre planting is also
indicative of the formal style, with plants selected for foliage rather than flower color, and densely
planted trees such as Holm oak providing cool shade.
KEY DESIGN ELEMENTS:
Shady seating areas - in these sun-drenched gardens, shade is key, and can be provided by trees
planted individually or in groups. Timber pergolas and arbors with climbers also provide a shady
setting for outdoor dining.
Gravel floor - limestone forms the typical gravel of the Mediterranean, creating a light, textured
surface through which plants can grow. Larger boulders can be used as focal points. Landscape
fabric below suppresses weeds.
Rills and pools - water is often confined to rills in more formal gardens, and is used to refresh the
air or to mark spatial divisions. In gravel gardens, overflowing containers or water bowls are used
for reflections and gentle sound.
Succulents and silver foliage - many species have adapted to drought with fine, silver, or fleshy
foliage. Rosemary and lavender are typically used, with Euphorbia, Agave, Yucca, Bergenia, and
Genista providing suitable associations.
Terra-cotta pots and tiles - the Mediterranean is famous for the terra-cotta pots used in gardens, as
focal points or as planted containers. Old olive oil pots make sculptural features. Aim for larger-
sized pots where possible.
Mosaic features - floor surfaces in courtyards (or on roof terraces) are created from tiny, colored
cobbles laid out in intricate patterns. Glazed and brightly colored tiles are also often used to
decorate walls and grottoes.

MOORISH

The presence of an internal cavity, surrounded on all sides, is the characteristic property of Moorish
garden. Other characteristic features of Moorish gardens include ceramics (the predominant colours
of which are terracotta and red), forged iron - patterns “knobbles" and “curls” are characteristic,
forged iron benches, lattices, arbors, round garden tables and table tops which are frequently lined
with pieces of ceramics.

KEY DESIGN ELEMENTS:

• Everything is blissful - sweet smelling flowers, exotic birds in gold cages, sparkling water jets
which flow on the marble beds
• Centrepieces are common - fountains or ponds, with channels dispersing into different directions
• The geometric correctness of the landscape, which must be combined with a large amount of
vegetation
• Plants do not undergo trimming. A variety of grasses, flowers and aromas are present
• The courtyard of houses or palaces, as a rule, are small in size.
• Luxury, splendour and incredible combinations of water, air, aromas of flowers, sounds and
colours.
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CHINESE

Chinese gardens are very natural and flat lawns, trimmed, cone-shaped bushes and trees are never
used. Nature is the chief teacher of the source of beauty and calmness for them. The gardens of
China are developed in the irregular style, which tries to connect man with wild and primitive
nature as much as possible. The most important principle is the harmonious connection of garden
scenery and architecture - these are habitable buildings and terrace, pavilions and gazebos, towers,
houses for the tea ceremonies - tea houses, the courtyards and the galleries covered with tile, which
make it possible to admire park with any weather and houses for playing music. The lines of the
garden's buildings repeat the natural lines of the surrounding environment: bridges are smoothly
bent above the water, the slopes of the roofs of bright gazebos are rounded, the silhouettes of
pavilions are softly outlined.
Chinese style is based on the study of Feng-Shui - one of the earliest methods of creating gardens in
the world which spans several millennia. It means “wind and water” when translated into English.
These two elements are two of the key aspects of Feng-Shui because they are considered the source
of Chi energy. The free motion of energy is considered a symbol of prosperity and health; therefore
all things must provide the right movement of this energy. When planning the site the main feature
should be the naturalness of the landscape. The equilibrium of forms and sizes is the most important
component. According to Feng-Shui several beautiful, delicate flowers, surrounded by natural
verdure, contribute much more to the flow of Chi energy than bright and vivid flower beds, which
have a lost sense of delicacy.

KEY DESIGN ELEMENTS:

Water is a required part of the garden, it is present in a calm state and in the flowing form and
always indicates the positive motion of Chi energy. Calm water symbolizes peace and silence while
flowing water personifies life, motion and change. Ponds with planted flowers on them are shallow
and a have natural liner. Spectacular smoothness is considered to allow you to look inside yourself,
it is thought to show the reflection of soul and consciousness, this is a very symbolic image, which
symbolize the perfect spirit. There are many ponds and they are usually accompanied by houses.
Stone has great significance. Very frequently it is used in the form of a mound without abundant
vegetation, it is used in the construction of structures and in the form statues or separate accentuated
features. Stones are used also as sculptures in the design of gardens, on the edges of ponds and in
small rock gardens.
Structures - park gazebos, platforms, bridges, verandas, galleries - are vividly painted and
accentuate the verdure of the parks.
Plants - are very diverse and many different types are used: coniferous trees (pine tree, juniper,
etc.), deciduous trees (maples, chinese oaks, cedars, etc.), and fruit trees (plums, pears, cherries,
etc.). There are many colourful plants and flowers. The plants of Chinese gardens have specific
symbolism. The most popular tree is bamboo, which grows in abundance in China and symbolizes
strength. Pine trees are a symbol of wisdom, the blooming plum symbolizes revival and is
extremely valuable to the Chinese because of its beautiful pink and white flowers which bloom
during the winter. The chrysanthemums, which personify brilliancy and magnificence are also
extremely valued because of their autumnal flowering, when the majority of plants wither. Peonies

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symbolize wealth and authority and the lotus symbolize cleanliness. These plants are complimented
by rose vines, camellias, ginkgo, magnolias, peaches, jasmine, willows, sweet osmanthus and
maples.
Chinese gardens are a spiritual refuge for the people, a place in which they could perceive
themselves differently from their real social lives and close to an ancient way of life their true
connection with nature.
JAPANESE

Japanese garden is the favourite style of the small garden. This not by chance. The garden is small
in size, but its image is not limited by the theatrical miniature garden with lanterns, bridges and
umbrellas. The basic sense of its creation consists of the fact that each component is arranged by its
internal meaning. Paved paths in the form of waves over a layer of sand and symbolic compositions
made from natural stone. But this must not disrupt the basic principle of the design of Japanese
gardens is the sensation of calmness and appeasement, enjoyment by nature and its miniaturization.
The image of nature in a reduced form, the tendency to create the impression of three-dimensional
depth lead to a shift in the proportions of natural scale as well as to the use of dwarfish trees and
cliffs, i.e. to a certain romanticism. The view, created in this garden, is distant from real nature, but
is based on it.
Japanese gardens create a three-dimensional solution, closest to the contemporary concept of a
small garden as a part of a home. Even its sizes, close to the area of a living room, produce the
impression of an interior space. Japanese gardens are not designed for walks, instead they are
designed for passive contemplation from a fixed point from which it is not possible to detach the
eye, usually from the window or the veranda of the home.
The area of the Japanese garden can fill an corner or niche inside or outside of the house or be
located in a space only a few of steps from the wall. Japanese garden can consist of a few plants.
Relief in the Japanese style is both artificial and natural. This garden is relatively low maintenance.
But at the same time it is one of the most complex to design, because a feeling of measure and taste
is very important because Japanese gardens are always a work of art.

KEY DESIGN ELEMENTS:

Stones - are an important element and symbolize steep mountains. They can be large or small and
can be positioned vertically or horizontally, depending on concept, they are used as substitutes for
sculptural decor. Stones can be arranged alone, in groups or can be used for creating hills or grottos
and for emphasizing the turns of a path or coastline. The virtuoso use of stones of different colours
and form creates extraordinary variety in the gardens. Even several stones and handful of sand can
symbolize sea shore.
Bamboo - is a characteristic accessory from which mats and enclosures are made.
Components such as curtains with knots, moss under pine trees, group of stones and rock lights, still
ponds with bridges or passages from individual stones, tsukubai with water for lustration, small
pagodas and carved stone steps are also used.
Plants for the design of the garden are selected very thoroughly. The most commonly used
coniferous tree was usually the pine tree. Other forms of pines, cedars, firs, cypresses, yews and
junipers are also used. The same can be said about the deciduous trees, the colourful plants and the
fruit plants - sakuras, plums and apricots. Magnolias, rhododendrons, forsythias, daphnes and
weigelas were some of the popular plants. The relict trees such as ginkgos, camphors and others
were frequently seen. Collection of plants was such so that the flowering of fruit replaces the
colouration of the maples, and the locks of branches produce a unique figure in winter. Flowers like
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the hosta, astilba and chrysanthemum are rarely used in the designs of this style, except when they
are necessary, in which case they are used in the form spots or splashes of the deep tones and as
colour accents. Irises, lotuses and lilies are almost always grown in the ponds. Containers and pots
for the plants are made from ceramics and other natural materials that have bright tones or in the
form of wooden saucers with a picture made with relief.
Bonsai - is the art of growing miniature trees to give the garden romanticism.
Water in the site must always be present, at least in the form of a small waterfall, pool or lakelet. If
there is no real pond, then a “dry view” is used. The paths, which mimic the form and turns of the
water and flow around islands or continents, valleys and gorges are drawn with rakes on the white
sand.

Contemporary styles
 MODERN
 FUSION
 URBAN
 CONCEPT
 MINIMALIST

MODERN
One of the most elegant and most mysterious styles, in general, it originated in interior design. The
style of modern prevailing at the beginning of the 20th century had a strong effect on culture as a
whole, that it would be impossible for it not to affect the landscape design world. The line is the
chief characteristic of all types of modern style. The lines of the modern style are smooth, fluid,
enchanting and arched. It seems as though they overflow into themselves. Therefore, the most
important thing when designing this style of garden is to isolate and emphasize them in every way
possible. This is done in all parts of the landscape; paths, groups of plants as well as the
arrangement of channels, fountains and ponds. Style is difficult to design since it is essential that the
connection of the zones among themselves and the connection of garden with the house is perfect.
A properly executed garden in this style can be described in a way similar to music.
The modern style was always characterized by simplicity of lines. A garden arranged in this style is
like an open room, which adjoins house. It is deprived of adornments and has strict outlines. A pond
is usually located in the centre of the garden. White walls can be decorated with dark lattices.
Simplicity is a principle of design of a garden in the modern style. The colours of plants must be
simple, without many different mixtures and nuances and must contrast with each other. Lattices of
dark tones are used as the enclosures. Containers for the plants are made from concrete or in the
form simple terra-cotta pots. Surfaces are usually paved by tiles in the form of geometric figures
and usually only use plates of two colours - black and white. Pebbles may be added to the paving.
Furniture has strict form, is deprived of adornments of every kind and is made from contemporary
materials like plastic and aluminum. Gardens in the style of modern, as a rule, have formal outlines,
but in this case adhere to a strict symmetry.
The modern style, was only slightly similar to the design of the beginning of century, it was
characterized by simplicity of lines and sculptural volumes. Gardens were treated as an open room
which adjoins the house and was strictly deprived of any architectural adornments. The purpose of
the garden corresponded to understanding the architecture of the house as a "place for living";
therefore places for sport like swimming pools and tennis courts are located in plain sight. Simple
enclosures, strict lines and black grids of trellises on the white walls are common. Accessories are
allowed, but are not plentiful; the motto of modern garden is "the less, the better".

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Strict lines of the house are combined with the architectural forms of the plants: a characteristic
example of which is the large-leaved host, the pointed peaks of the gladioli and decorative grasses.
Colours are clear and fresh and the components are strictly contrasting.

FUSION
Sites designed in a strictly defined style are currently very rare. As a rule, the different zones of the
site are designed in different styles. This means that the entrance and ceremonial zones more
frequently correspond to a strict, regular style, with the required parquets, although many other
zones are designed in the irregular style. Zones for relaxation, on the other hand, for the most part
correspond to the styles which are the closest to nature, i.e., to informal, forest style, Feng-Shui
style or Japanese. The mixing of formal and informal styles creates a very unique design. A similar
garden, by the name Le Paradou, is described in Emil Zola's novel “Abbe Mouret's Transgression”.
In the essence a garden designed in this style is arranged using the regular style, but because of the
absence of care after many decades the force of nature will convert it into a neglected park with an
uncontrolled growth of plants, which were originally planted. There is also a presence of many
architectural and sculptural forms which are inherent in regular style. A garden of such type can be
created artificially, but that is a fairly complicated task which requires a large volume of knowledge
of different skills, many of which are often not connected with landscape design and the skill of
planting greenery in different areas.

KEY DESIGN ELEMENTS:

- The mixed style greatly pleases its creator

- Very frequently encountered
- It is obtained from the mixing of the different styles of landscape design
- It can be created from regular style, if it is not cared after.

URBAN

CONCEPT
It is not entirely necessary to follow traditional landscape design styles during the design and
decoration of a garden. It is very interesting to independently, or with the aid of the designer, devise
the style of a garden, to make it “the one and only”. But how is this done? It is simple to take the
basis of any style you like and then try to express its nature through landscape design. There are
many different types of gardens that can be created: these are the rock gardens, the garden of
mosses, Alpine gardens, eco-gardens, fantasy gardens, aroma gardens, roof gardens, pink gardens,
etc.

MINIMALIST
What is a minimalist garden? A garden in this style is similar to an interior designed in this style - it
is laconic and expressive in its simplicity. It is "the large in the small". This is possibly one of the
most complex styles, mainly because it uses the minimum number of components possible to
convey an very much. It is necessary to design it in such a way that that composition speaks to the
people viewing it. This style can be applied to any site, because what is done is not as important as
how. This style is suitable for the lovers of the laconic, restraint and contemporary style. The
minimalist style contributes to the development of creative abilities. This is the style in which
innovation is born!
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Link: http://www.landscapedesign-online.com/blog/history-landscape-design

History of Landscape Architecture Contd…

The origin of today's profession of landscape architecture can be traced to the early treatments of
outdoor space by successive ancient cultures, from Persia and Egypt through Greece and Rome.
During the Renaissance, this interest in outdoor space, which had waned during the Middle Ages,
was revived with splendid results in Italy and gave rise to ornate villas, and great outdoor piazzas.
These precedents greatly influenced the chateaux and urban gardens of 17th-century France, where
landscape architecture and design reached new heights of sophistication and formality. For the first
time, the garden designers became well known. Andre le Notre, who designed the gardens at
Versailles and Vaux-le-Vicomte, was among the most famous of the early forerunners of today's
landscape architects. In the 18th-century, most English "landscape gardeners," such as Lancelot
"Capability" Brown, who remodeled the grounds of Blenheim Palace, rejected the geometric
emphasis of the French in favor of imitating the forms of nature.
One important exception was Sir Humphrey Repton. He reintroduced formal structure into
landscape design with the creation of the first great public park - Victoria Park in London (1845)
and Birkenhead Park in Liverpool (1847). In turn, these two parks would greatly influence the
development of landscape architecture in the United States and Canada.

Frederick Law Olmsted, "Father of American Landscape Architecture"

The history of the profession in North America is often considered to truly begin with Frederick
Law Olmsted, who rejected the name "landscape gardener" in favor of the title of "landscape
architect," which he felt better reflected the scope of the profession. In 1863, official use of the
designation "landscape architect" by New York's park commissioners marked the symbolic genesis
of landscape architecture as a modern design profession.
Olmsted was a pioneer and visionary for the profession. His projects, which illustrate the highest of
professional standards, include the design of Central Park in New York with Calvert Vaux in the
late 1850's and the U.S. Capitol Grounds in the 1870's. Olmsted and his firm advanced the concept
of parks as well-designed, functional, public green spaces amid the grayness of the urban areas.

Early Developments: Late 1800's

In the ensuing years, the profession of landscape architecture broadened. It played a major role in
fulfilling the growing national need for well-planned and well-designed urban environments. Urban
parks, metropolitan park systems, planned suburban residential enclaves and college campuses were
35
planned and developed in large numbers, climaxing with the City Beautiful movement at the turn of
the century.
Although the profession itself grew slowly, its early practitioners such as Olmsted, Vaux and
Horace Cleveland were among the first to take part in the town planning movement and to awaken
interest in civic design. Olmsted also joined other early landscape architects in working on projects
in other urban settings, such as Yosemite Valley and Niagara Falls.
In 1899, the American Society of Landscape Architects was founded by 11 people in New York -
most of them associated with Olmsted. The Society continued to represent landscape architects
throughout the United States. In 1900, Olmsted's son, Frederick Law Olmsted Jr., organized and
taught Harvard University's first course in landscape architecture.

Broadening and Diversifying: The 20th Century

Landscape architecture continued to influence the city beautification and planning movement well
into the 20th century, as growing cities used the services of professionally-trained landscape
architects. The L'Enfant Plan for the nation's capitol was revived and expanded by the McMillan
commission of 1901. Chicago, Cleveland and other cities also used landscape architects to lay out
comprehensive development plans.
By the 1920's, urban planning separated from architecture / landscape architecture into a separate
profession, with its own degree programs and organizations. Yet, landscape architecture continued
to remain a major force in urban planning and urban design.
During and after the Depression, opportunities to design national and state parks, towns, parkways
and new urban park systems broadened the profession. The focus of American landscape
architecture returned to its roots in public projects - a trend which has continued through today.

The importance of landscape architecture

Landscape architecture is one of the world's most important professions.

Neglecting the architectures of the world's fast-changing landscapes will result in endless highways
lined with endless blocks of endless tedium - dreary expanses of housing, industry, forestry and
agriculture - our natural landscapes buried under repetitive building and planting. Instead, we
should design the architecture of 'new landscapes for our new lives' (Fairbrother, N. 1970). The
engineering of anti-landscapes should make way for an enlightened landscape architecture. With the
death of engineer's modernism, it is time for a twenty-first century approach.
See: 20 Essays on Landscape Architecture & Urban Design + 750 illustrations.

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What is landscape architecture?
Landscape architecture is the professional skill of composing man-made structures, including
buildings and paving, with the natural landscape and with designs for landform, water and planting.
See also: Definitions of landscape, landscape design, landscape architecture, landscape planning
and EID.

Landscape architecture theory

Landscape architecture and garden design are separate arts with a shared and ancient heritage. The
distinction is that gardens are usually enclosed and private. Landscape architecture is concerned
with public goods and public spaces. Societies require landscape architectural policies for each land
use category - to conserve what has value and to create new public goods.

See the policies for: urbanisation, greenways, cycling, forestry, mineral

extraction, transport, water storage, river reclamation, new towns and green towns.

The origin of landscape architecture

The name "landscape architecture" was invented by a Scotsman in 1828. It uses the ancient skill of
garden designers (to compose landform with water, vegetation, structures and paving) and applies
this skill to the man-made landscape. As Sir Geoffrey Jellicoe wrote in The landscape of
man (1975): It is only in the present century that the collective landscape has emerged as a social
necessity. We are promoting a landscape art on a scale never conceived of in history'. Landscape
architecture is set fair to become the mother of the arts.

Landscape Architecture and Garden Design

Landscape architects share with garden designers a concern for the planning and design of outdoor
space. Like vets and doctors they have similar knowledge and similar skills. The key difference is
that landscape architects normally work for public clients (business and governmental) while garden
designers tend to work for homeowners. The range of work undertaken by landscape architects
extends from detailed design to the broad scale landscape planning.

It includes:
 Urban design and urbanisation
 Landscape architecture for public parks, greenways and cycling
 Landscape planning for mineral extraction
 Landscape planning for forestry
 Landscape planning for transport
 Landscape planning for water storage
 Landscape planning for river reclamation
 Landscape planning for new towns and green towns

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Landscape architecture careers
Though they require similar skills, the garden design and landscape architecture professions offer
different career and jobs. Landscape architecture jobs often involve working with other
professionals (engineers, planners, environmental consultants etc) and have typical career paths
from assistant to associate to partner or director. Garden designers are more likely to be self-
employed and to work with builders and craftsmen.

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15 Great Examples of Historical Landscape Architecture

1. Patio de los Naranjos

Located within the Mosque of Córdoba (or Mezquita de Córdoba, as it is known in Spanish),
southern Spain, the Patio de los Naranjos is thought to be one of the oldest gardens in Europe. It
was established at the time of the Great Mosque’s initial construction in 784. Originally containing
plants such as pomegranate, cypress, and palm trees, the garden today is comprised of a simple grid
of orange trees — 98 to be exact — planted in rows dating back at least to the end of the 18th
century. The Patio de los Naranjos stands out due to the designers’ sapient response to the limits
imposed by the garden’s environment, transforming the necessity of irrigation into artwork, and
coalescing nature and religion.

Patio de los Naranjos

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2. The Piazza del Campo Siena
Italy’s 700-year-old plaza is one of Europe’s great public spaces. Originally the site of a Roman
forum, the square has acted as the cultural heart of the city since the construction of the town hall in
the 12th century. “Il Campo”, as the Sienese call it, functions superbly as a civic and social space
because of its active edges and affordability toward social gatherings and interaction. Renowned
Danish architect and urban designer Jan Gehl lauds The Piazza del Campo as a champion of the
human scale, describing it as a “one hundred percent place”.

Piazza del Campo, Siena, Italy. Credit: Ricardo André Frantz, CC 3.0

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3. Ryōan-ji Garden

The rock garden at Ryōan-ji Temple in Kyoto, Japan, is considered one of the finest surviving
examples of kare-sansui, or dry landscape garden. It is not known exactly who designed the Ryōan-
ji Garden, nor exactly when. Speculations regarding this date range between the late 15th and 17th
centuries. The garden itself is gracefully simple: An encircling wall of earth and clay frames 15
rocks arranged in a rectangle of raked white gravel. Constructed as a visual form for users to attain
meditative states of consciousness, this garden also acts as a familiar reference symbol for Eastern
mysticism.

Ryoan Ji, Kyoto zen garden.

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4. Villa d’Este

Akin to many of the world’s other superlative gardens, Villa d’Este in Tivoli, Italy, is the product of
an eager owner with a willingness to spend gargantuan sums of money. The garden was designed
between 1550 and 1572 by Pirro Ligorio and is famed for apotheosizing the use of water through
the inventiveness of 16th-century hydraulic engineers, who utilized gravity and hydraulics to
choreograph water through the garden. Together, the palace and gardens at Villa d’Este are
considered to symbolize Renaissance culture at its most refined.

The One Hundred Fountain (Le Centro Fontane) at the Villa d’Este, Tivoli, Italy (near Rome).

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5. Vaux le Vicomte
The design for Vaux le Vicomte is today considered the most admired of the French
Baroque landscapes and is the first great work of André Le Nôtre. The garden spans more
than 1,000 acres and encapsulates the essence of a Baroque-era landscape in the French
formal style. French garden design in the 17th century asserted the idea of man controlling
and manipulating nature, and together with the enormous price tags that ensued, they
imparted an important message of monarchical power and taste.

Kasteel van Vaux-le-Vicomte. Credit: Esther Westerveld , CC 3.0

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6. Stowe
The gardens of Stowe House in Buckinghamshire, England, are some of the most celebrated in the
country — worthy of such because within its lifetime, the garden has witnessed all three periods of
the English style of landscape gardening: the formal phase by Charles Bridgeman; the phase of
classical allusion characterized by William Kent and James Gibbs; and the final naturalistic phase
established by Lancelot “Capability” Brown. The grandiose layout of Stowe directly reflects the
shifting currents of garden design in the 18th century. Kent’s work at Stowe and his invention of the
ha-ha, or sunken fence/ditch, put an end to the bisection between formal garden and surrounding
landscape, resulting in him becoming one of the most influential figures of the Romantic generation
and adopting the notion that all nature was a garden.

The Palladian Bridge, Stowe Gardens

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7. Stourhead
Another exquisite example of the English landscape style, Stourhead gardens in Wiltshire, England,
possess a picturesque itinerary rich in allusion and meaning. The circumambulatory nature of the
garden can be interpreted through a series of stations, whose unifying theme is that of the voyage of
Aeneas from Troy leading to the founding of Rome. It is thought that the whole ensemble was to a
degree a monument to the dead, as Henry Hoare II, Stourhead’s owner, witnessed the death of many
family members over the years. It was in 1743, however, when Hoare became a widower, that he and
architect Henry Flitcroft (a protégé of William Kent) embarked upon the major garden enterprise that is
today one of the consummate works of art achieved by Western culture.

Stourhead garden.

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8. Het Loo

The Baroque palace and gardens of Het Loo are located in the Veluwe region of the Netherlands.
Much like the Palace of Versailles, Het Loo had its origin as a hunting lodge, dating back to the late
17th century, and is often referred to as the Versailles of Holland. The designers, Jacob Roman and
Daniel Marot, completed Het Loo in 1716, appropriating much of the 17th century French
landscape style, but lessening both grandiosity and scale to suit the site’s topography, as well as
social expectations in the country at the time. Sadly, the gardens were subjected to 300 years of
decline. Thankfully, due to the palace being deemed of great national significance, the site was fully
restored, opening as a national museum in 1984.

Palace Park at Het Loo in Apeldoorn, the Netherlands

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9. Central Park

The United States’ first landscaped public park — Central Park — was designed by the pre-eminent
landscape architects Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux. Together, their simple social and
artistic vision was to provide the exploding number of urban dwellers in New York City with a
place of rural respite. Given that this landscape was to not only be the first landscaped public park
in America, but to also establish New York internationally as an urban center and to rival Paris’
Bois de Boulogne or London’s Hyde Park, Central Park was one of the great political and cultural
achievements of the American people.

Central Park, designed by one of the earliest known landscape architects Fredrick Law Olmstead

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10. Prospect Park

Prospect Park. Credit: Elisa Rolle, CC 3.0

As any landscape enthusiast would attest, the names Olmstead and Vaux are synonymous with New
York City’s most famous park, Central Park. However, Brooklyn’s Prospect Park, designed
between 1864 and 1866, is often considered the most perfectly realized landscape of the two
stalwart designers. Much like Central Park, the 585-acre green emerald is comprised of three
typologies: undulating meadow, placid lakes, and bucolic woodlands. It is claimed the duo
themselves considered Prospect Park to be their masterpiece. What do you think?

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11. Park des Buttes-Chaumont

Parc des Buttes Chaumont

Engineer Jean-Charles Adolphe Alphund designed Parc des Buttes-Chaumont under Napoléon III’s
urban design program that wrought panoplies of change in the appearance of Paris during the
Second Empire. Opened in 1867 in alignment with the Exposition Universelle, the former refuse
dump and quarry site showcases advancements in landscape technologies and industrial materials
available at the time. This included steam-powered machines performing earthwork duties, and the
functional application of concrete — a material integral to the construction of the park.

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12. Park Güell

Parc Güell (Barcelona)

Antonio Gaudi designed Barcelona’s Parc Güell between 1900 and 1914 for Catalan industrialist
Eusebi Güell, who envisaged a stylish park and housing development for Barcelona’s aristocracy
based on the English garden city model. Only two of a planned 60 housing units were ever
completed, but Gaudi’s artistry still imbued the landscape with evocations of the fantastic and
supernatural. The failed venture was acquired by the city of Barcelona and turned into a public park
in 1922. Today, it is extolled as an artistic masterpiece.

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13. The Woodland Cemetery

Cemetery in Stockholm.

Designed between 1915 and 1940 by architects Gunnar Asplund and Sigurd Lewerentz (who also
trained as a landscape architect), Stockholm’s Woodland Cemetery occupies just less than 250
acres, most of which is heavily planted pine forest. The beauty of the former quarry site lies in its
natural forest setting and its design in conscience with annual cycles and the passage of seasons. In
1994, the Woodland Cemetery became one of the few works of 20th century architecture to be
placed on UNESCO’s World Heritage List. It was somewhat of a bitter irony that in 1940, when
Asplund passed away, he became the first person to be buried in the cemetery.

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14. Amsterdam Bos Park

Meadows at Amsterdamse bos

This 2,000-acre forest-park was built in Amsterdam between 1929 and the 1950s. The designers
responsible were architect Cornelius Van Eesteren and landscape architect Jacopa Mulder.
Together, they took a stand against pictorialism in developing the plan and synthesised athletic
facilities and native forest — two landscape typologies that had never been paired before. Foreign
in appearance to that of its predecessors, for some time critics failed to align the park with any
established stylistic categories. Bos Park represented a bold move away from an aestheticized
composition to that of process and production as catalyst. This conceptual shift broke with the
traditional public park ideology at the time and connected the landscape to the industrialized city
surrounding it.

15. Miller Garden

The Miller Garden is located in Columbus, Indiana, and was designed by American modernist
landscape architect Dan Urban Kiley between 1953 and 1957. The parts that form the whole of
Kiley’s Miller Garden are considered classical — bosques, hedges, allées, orchards, and lawn —
but the garden’s spatial configuration is in fact modern in every sense. Kiley’s plan for the gridded
52
layout of the garden expands out as an extension of the geometric and orthogonal residence,
dividing the garden into four sections that Kiley envisioned as “pin wheeling spaces” with each
corresponding section possessing its own distinctiveness. The 13-acre property is considered one of
the United States’ finest mid-century modernist residences and, in the year 2000, was named as a
National Historic Landmark, one of six in Columbus.
Naturally, 15 examples barely scratch the surface of the wonderful history of landscape design, but
in my eyes the aforementioned exemplars do our profession a great justice. What landscapes would
you as a reader have included?

Recommended Reading:
 Park Guell: Gaudi’s Utopia by Pete Vivas Ortiz
 Prospect Park: Olmsted and Vaux’s Brooklyn Masterpiece by David P. Colley
 Central Park, An American Masterpiece: A Comprehensive History of the Nation’s First Urban
Park by Sara Cedar Miller

Link: http://inasla.org/content.php?page=History_of_Landscape_Architecture
© 2015 Indiana Chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects All rights reserved.

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 LANDSCAPE DESIGN continued …

Landscape design - this name came into use during the 20th century - this is the skill of the
improvement of a site, re-planting as well as the organization of landscaping vegetation, lawns,
alpine garden and the use of small architectural structures. The primary task of landscape design is
the creation of harmony and beauty combined with conveniences of the use of the infrastructure of
the site, the combination of urban and natural features which suffer from urbanization. Landscape
design can convert a gloomy place into a picturesque corner of nature, which brings happiness
through its beauty, comfort and perfection.
The term landscape design means the design of an area with relief, climate, the wants and needs of
the customer, architectural style of the structure which stands in this area taken into account.
Landscape design is a practice which uses re-planting and improvement of different areas. In
contrast to horticulture and gardening, the landscape design of a site is deprived of practical,
utilitarian components; its purpose is the creation of a harmonious and comfortable living
environment for people.
Contemporary landscape design - these is the organization of the surrounding space to create a
specific mood, based on the traditions of design and art which connect nature and culture.
Contemporary landscape design is diverse in its styles. It is based on the combination of the ideas of
the designer and the needs of a contemporary person, with his aesthetical conception. It combines in
itself - like a mosaic - a huge amount of designer and technological inventions, the surprising
findings of different styles, this makes it possible to create many different effects. Today landscape
design is accessible to almost every person. The perfect design differs for each person - it is an
example of an ideal space, connected with the expression of their dream and their material
prosperity and place in the world.

Design Scope
Landscape design focuses on both the planning of a property and the specific garden design of
certain landscape elements and plants within it. The practical, aesthetic, horticultural and
environmental sustainability components are all considered in landscape design. Landscape
designers often collaborate with related disciplines such as architecture, civil engineering, land
surveying, landscape contracting, edaphology, botany and artisan specialties. Design project
can tend to focus towards artistic composition and artisanship, horticultural finesse and expertise,
and a detailed site involvement to emphasise concepts through-out the construction in landscape
design. Whereas in landscape architecture the focus shifts slightly to projects like urban planning,
design of parks, civic and corporate landscapes, large scale interdisciplinary projects and delegation
to contractors after completing designs. The contemporary sphere of landscape design is so great
that it includes not only landscaping design, but also complete improvement and re-planting of
streets, roads, urban centers, historical landscapes, industrial regions, etc. There can be
significant overlap of talents and skills, depending on the education and experience of the
professional.

Landscape design is also the art and process of designing and creating plans of the layout and
planting of gardens. Landscape design may be done by the garden owner themselves, or by
professionals of varying levels of experience and expertise. Most professional landscape designers
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are trained in principles of design and in horticulture and have an expert knowledge and experience
of using plants effectively. Garden owners have shown an increasing interest in garden design
during the late twentieth century, both as enthusiasts of gardening as a hobby, as well as an
expansion in the use of professional landscape designers.

Landscape design is an independent profession as well as a design and art tradition practiced by
landscape designers by combining nature and culture. In contemporary practice landscape design
creates a bridge between the skills of landscape architecture and garden design.

Elements of Landscape Design

Whether a garden is designed by a professional or an novice, certain principles form the basis of
effective garden design, resulting in the creation of gardens to meet the needs, goals and desires of
the users or owners of the gardens.
The elements of landscape design include the layout of the hard landscape, such as paths,
decking, walls, sitting areas and water features. They also include the plants themselves, their
horticultural requirements, their season-to-season appearance, lifespan, size, growth habit, speed of
growth, and combinations with other plants and landscape features. Consideration is also given to
the maintenance needs of the garden, including the time or funds necessary for regular maintenance,
which can affect the choices of plants regarding speed of growth, spreading or self-seeding of the
plants, whether annual or perennial, and bloom-time, and many other characteristics.
The most important consideration in landscape design is how the garden will be used,
followed closely by the desired stylistic genres, and the way the garden space will connect to
the home or other structures in the surrounding areas. All of these considerations are subject to
the limitations of the budget for the particular project. Budget limitations can be addressed by a
simpler more basic garden style with fewer plants and less costly hardscape materials, seeds rather
than sod for lawns, and plants that grow quickly; alternately, garden owners may choose to create
their garden over time, area by area, putting more into each site than could be handled all at once.
Elements of Landscape Design:
Main Entrance
Relaxation Area
Front Garden,
Decorative Area
Barbecue Area
Kids Area
Sport Area
Utility Area

The Main Entrance

The main entrance is the face of the property and the first impression of the owner that many
guests get. The composition of this zone does not have many limitations. It is in no way
compulsory to have it located strictly in front of the facade of the house. The main entrance can be
located elsewhere in the site depending on how the house is position on the property, the special
architectural features of the house and the needs of the owner and designer. The design of the main
entrance can be realized in any style of landscape design. More frequently it is carried out in
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the regular style unlike most of the other zones which are usually designed in an irregular style, for
which naturalness is characteristic.

Besides these two styles of the design of the site, others can be used as well. For example, a forest
style, especially if your site is located in an adult, well grown forest tract. It is completely possible
that for the improvement of the exterior view of the entrance zone in this site only a small cosmetic
harvesting of forest will be required as well as small accents to the overall design in the form of
additional groups of plants and bushes.

Relaxation Area

When planning the design of the relaxation area it is important to consider not only the natural
and climatic conditions of the area but also the special features of nature, the interests and the
need of the person and the people close to them. The selection of plants and different elements of
landscape design, is dependent on the climate, decorative qualities and purpose of the relaxation
area. A comfortable bench in a secluded part of the garden, for example, can be used for reflection
and rest. Bright flowers with a strong aroma will be hardly appropriate for this zone. Flower beds
with bright and happy colors will create happy mood if they will be arranged in the immediate
proximity of a barbecue area or next to a gazebo (areas intended for noisy events).

There is a very large amount of different styles of the design of the relaxation area. Each site is
unique because of each owner's tastes and preferences, but the most important question when
considering a design for a relaxation area will always be: is it possible to rest here? You will know
the design is finished when you can answer this question with confidence.

Front Garden
The space located between the front of the house and the fence from the side of street is called
the front garden. Its width can be different, but as a rule, it is somewhere from 4 to 8 meters. The
front garden is separated from the street by a dense hedge which stops sound, but is not very high to
avoid creating too much shade and a visual compression of the space in the front garden itself. The
front wall of house can be covered with either lianas or vines to help create a comfortable green
“room”. The interior of this “room” will depend on the selected style of design. This can be with
a simple lawn, with any solitary plant, coniferous tree or bush with a compact crown or a large
decorative grassy plant. If the front garden is located on the northern side of the house, then shade
enduring plants should be planted there. In the case that there are hanging branches of large trees
which cover sky then a shade enduring lawn is preferred. If the irregular style is selected, then it is
possible plant the plants in a free order, but in this case one ought not to forget about the final
composition. Front gardens are frequently designed in theregular style where paths with a mixed
border, flower border or flowers beds which follow along them are common. Front gardens can also
be designed using the country style.
Whichever style of design for the front garden you choose, it is still necessary to try to obtain a
mental image of what you want your front garden to look like. In essence, this task consists of
the creation of a calm, comfortable and orderly main entrance zone in which there is no superfluous
enthusiasm or stridency and a feeling of rest and harmony with the nature surrounding you exists.

56
Principals of Design (according to Francis D. K. Ching)
 Axis
 Symmetry
 Hierarchy
 Rhythm
 Datum
 Transformation

The basic principles of design are the guidelines for using the elements of design to create
aesthetically beautiful spaces. The basic principles of design can also further be considered as:
 balance
 variety
 emphasis
 unity
 opposition
 proportion
 rhythm
 subordination
 transition
 repetition

Balance
Balance is the achievement of equilibrium in design. Buildings are formally balanced if they are
symmetrical. They are informally balanced if there is variety, yet a harmonious relationship in the
distribution of space, form, line, colour, light and shade. A good design should be either formally
(symmetrically) balanced or informally (asymmetrically).

Rhythm
When lines and planes and surfaces treatment are repeated in a regular sequence (order or
arrangement), a sense of rhythm is archived. Rhythm is used to create a motion and carry the
viewer’s eye to various parts of the space. This can be accomplished by the repetition of lines,
colours and patterns.

Emphasis
The principle of emphasis (domination) is used by the designer to draw attention to an area or
subject (point of interest). Emphasis is achieved through the use of form, colour, texture or line. In
architectural design some emphasis or focal point should be into each elevation and interior space.
Directing attention to the point of emphasis (focal point) is accomplished by the arrangement of
features, the use of contrast colours, line direction, light and shade variations, space relationship or
combination of appropriate materials.

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Subordination
When emphasis is achieved through some design features, other features naturally become
subordinate (lesser in emphasis or importance). Subordination can be related in design to lines,
shape, or colour.

Proportion
The proportional dimensions (scale) of a building are important. The early Greeks found the
rectangular proportions in the ratio of 2 to 3, 3 to 5, 5 to 8 were more pleasing than others. The scale
between interior space, furniture and accessories should be harmonious. Bulky components in large
rooms should be avoided and likewise small component in large rooms should not be used. Areas
may look completely different depending on the division of space within the same area.

Variety
Without variety, any area can become dull and tiresome to the eye of the observer. Too much
rhythm, too much repetition, too much unity can actually ruin a sense of variety or contract.
Likewise, too little of any of the elements of design will also result in a lack of variety. Colour, light
and shadow are used extensively to achieve variety.

Repetition
Unity is usually achieved through repetition. Vertical lines, spaces, and texture are repeated
throughout the design to the design to tie the structure together aesthetically and to achieve unity.

Opposition
Opposites in design add interest. Opposition involves contrasting elements such as short and long,
thin and thick, straight and curved and black and white. Opposite forms, colours and lines in design,
when used effectively with the other principals of design achieve balance, emphasis and variety.

Transition
The change from one colour to another, or from curved to straight, if done while maintaining the
unity of the design, is known as transition. Transition may involve the intersection of molding from
one wall to another in the same room or may apply to a change from one floor surface to another in
adjoining rooms. The designer’s task in achieving successful transition in all aspects of the design
contributes to the harmony of different elements of design without sacrificing unity.

Elements of Design
The elements of designs are the tools of the designer. They are the ingredients (important items) of
every successful design. The basic elements are:
a) line
b) form
c) colour
d) space

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e) light
f) material.

59
 Introduction

1. What is Landscape Architecture

2. When did it have its beginning as profession and
3. How is it defined

Henry Hill Elliot, one of the New York City, street commissioners, to the city council, appointed
the designers of Central Park, Fredrick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux, as “landscape architects
and designers”. This letter, written some time in 1860 is the first instance found having use of the
term ‘landscape architects’. Prior to that time, landscape gardening was the most widely accepted
term used for the creative activity. Three years later, on May 12, 1863, Olmsted and Vaux used the
term landscape architect for the first time in a letter of resignation to the New York Park
Commission due to the intolerable political interference they were made to endure in the course of
developing their grand “greensward” plan for Central Park.
A century later in 1971, Norman T. Newton, wrote in Design on the land that landscape architecture
is “the art or the science of arranging land, together with the spaces and objects upon it, for safe,
efficient, healthful, pleasant human use”.
The American society of landscape architects ASLA defined landscape architecture as: A science
and an art which embraces those professional activities relating to the systematic planning of land
areas, the design of outdoor places and spaces, the conservation of our natural resources and the
creation of more useful, safe and pleasant living environment.
In 1970 Harvard became the first university to offer a professional training program in landscape
architecture.
Landscape architecture is the profession, which applies artistic and scientific principles to the
planning, design and management of both natural and built environment. Include: investigation,
selection, feasibility studies, formulation of graphic and written criteria to govern the planning and
design of land construction, programs, preparation, review, and analysis of master plans for land use
and development, production of overall site plans landscape grading and landscape drainage.
The International Federation of Landscape Architecture (IFLA) defines the landscape architect as
one who: plans and designs the aesthetic layout of land areas for such projects as parks and other
recreational facilities, roads, commercial, industrial and residential sites and public buildings:
studies site conditions such as nature of soil, vegetation, rock features, drainage and location of
buildings; designs landscape, harmonizing improvements with existing land features and buildings
and proposed structures.

Landscape Architect
A person skilled in the science and art of designing within the landscape. The right to use this title is
restricted by law to licensees in most states.

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Role of Landscape Architect
“Landscape Architects design and plan land areas for public and private use. Projects may vary
from small single family homes to regional transportation systems and national parks; but whatever
the projects scale, landscape architecture is ultimately concerned with the quality of the relationship
among people and their environments”.

Landscape as a Profession
Most countries now have professional associations concerned with landscape architecture. In
addition to garden design work, landscape architects also work on roads, reservoirs, river
reclamation, quarries, forests, housing development, industrial estates, and many other types of
project.

Landscape Architecture
The art of space utilization in the landscape. Landscape architecture is concerned with the use to
which landscape space is put the creation of controlled environments within the landscape space,
the adaptation of organisms to both the natural and the controlled environment, and the conservation
of the aesthetic values and resources of the landscape. The definition of ht field was stated in 1917
by Henry V. Hubbard and his wife, Theodora Kimball, in their book an Introduction to the Study of
Landscape Design. They wrote: “Landscape Architecture’s most important function is to create and
preserve beauty in the surrounding of human habitations and in the broader natural scenery of the
country; but is also concerned with promoting the comfort, convenience and health of urban
populations, which have scanty access to rural scenery, and urgently need to have their hurrying
workaday lives refreshed and calmed by the beautiful and reposeful sights and sounds which nature,
aided by the landscape art, can abundantly provide”. Garrett Eckbo wrote about the profession in his
landscape for living (1950): “It is the establishment of relations between building, surfacing, and
other outdoor construction, earth, rock forms, bodies of water, plants and open space, and the
general from and character of the landscape; but with primary emphasis on the human content, the
relationship between people and landscape, between human being and three-dimensional outdoor
space quantitatively and qualitatively”.

Different means perceived by people:

 In simplest meaning Landscape means ornamental planting around a house.
 Shape of Land in Natural setting.
 Modified ground form for permanent human occupation for dwelling, agriculture,
manufacturing and worship on pleasure.
 Originally the word Landscape cam form German word Landshaft. Landshaft is a collection of
dwelling and other structure clustered together within a circle of Pasture Meadow, Planting
fields and surrounded by forests.
 Well deliberated and modified design conception of land.
 Antithesis of wilderness is a Landscape.
 The land shaped by human being for predetermined specific use is Landscape.
 Romantic painters conceived it as array of theatrical scenes-picturesque.
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What is Landscape Architecture?

Landscape

1. The noun landscape evolved from the Dutch landschap and the German landschaft, meaning a
place that is both human-altered or inhabited and surrounded by forest or WILDERNESS. It
means a natural parcel of land with its distinguishing characteristics and features as modified or
shaped by processes and agents of human beings.
2. A view or PROSPECT of natural inland scenery such as can be taken in at a glance from one
point of view; a piece of country scenery. The use of the work natural in the previous definition
is, unfortunately misleading since it implies that such a view must be natural, when in fact,
“natural looking” or “Naturalesque,”; an imitation of nature, might be more Accurate.
3. Landscape also means the type of picture or painting that depicts a rural or countryside view as
distinguished from a seascape or portrait. When, in eighteenth-century England, it became
fashionable to collect and display seventeenth-century romantic paintings of Italian rural
scenery, the English called these landscapes or the older work land skips, just as a portrayal of
person is called a portrait. The meaning the words landscapes and GARDEN into a
characterization of ht design style used to treat the grounds around a country house came about
during the mid-eighteenth century. It is assumed to have been the invention of the poet and
garden critic William Shenstone. It was meant that the appearance of the residential site, both at
a distance and near the house, had the pictorial qualities of the paintings. Thus it looked like a
landscape picture. Since all grounds around English houses are called gardens, whether or not
they consist of plan BEDS, the expression meant a site treated in the manner of the romantic
paintings, predominantly NATURALISTIC in character.
4. The use of landscape as a very, meaning “to embellish the grounds around a structure by making
it part of a continuous and harmonies landscape,” is primarily and Americanism, barely used by
other English-speaking societies.

LANDSHAFT

The antithesis of wilderness is landscape, the land shaped by men. Originally the work was
German-landshaft. A landshaft was not a town exactly, or a manor or a village but a collection of
dwelling and other structures crowded together within a circle of pasture, meadow, and planting
fields and surrounded by unimproved forest or marsh.

Landscape Architecture is a planning process, which introduces forms and features of natural and
manmade elements.

Landscape Architecture is a planning process from selection of site to completed project.

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Landscape Architecture also deals with:
i. Planning of well-related use areas
ii. Creation of meaningful spaces in terms of use, from, materials, colours
iii. Planning of optimum site structures and intra relationship
iv. Design of structures and spaces in relation to pedestrian and auto traffic using lessons of history
and contemporary thoughts

Landscape Design
 The site itself expresses some opportunities and constraints.
 The owner of developer has specific needs and limitations.
 The potential user demand ease and beauty.
 Landscape architecture embodies a skillful integration of these forces so that the changes on the
land respond to human needs yet remain sensitive to the environment.
 Landscape Design should capture Natural Attributes.
 Landscape design is basically design of outdoor space using three basic elements.
- Landform
- Water
- Vegetation

Design Process
 The tradition approach to landscape architecture design usually begins with research, which
investigates the goals of the client, the parameters of the site, and the needs of the potential users
(site inventory/site analysis).
 Next in the design process is the landscape concept, which embodies a series of ideas about how
to improve a specific site.

Landscaping
Landscape design is the process of creating attractive outdoor environments. It is conscious process
of managing, planning and physically changing the landscape. Landscape is not an areas but our
vision of that area. It involves the physical management of the landscape and the design of the
places. Places are the mental constructs that occur in the viewer’s mind, through the synergism of
specify setting, previous experience, and the individual’s mental state.

Landscape Type
Generally the landscape can be categorized into three fundamental ways. They are:
 Landscape derived more or less directly from the natural habitat of the region-forest, desert and
so on.
 Landscape produced by man’s alteration of the natural habitat for this own uses. The obvious
example is farming, with very different scenery of fields and crops.
 Landscape, which has been deliberately designed generally for pleasure. Likes parks and
gardens along with the various new types of amenity landscape.

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Difference between Gardening and Landscape
 Garden is an ancient art.
 Landscape Architecture is a modern profession.
 Both garden and landscape architecture are mainly concerned with the design of outdoor space.

Landforms and Grading

Landforms

Land is the solid part of ht earth’s surface where it forms the base for living human beings. The
perception of land in three dimensions gives the idea of landform. The three dimensional relief of
land is known as landform. Landform is generally denoted and expressed by use of contours.
Landforms develops as ecological, cultural and technological forces operate overtime on earth’s
surface.

Landform may be in different forms. It can be said that no. 2 landforms can be identical or perfectly
same since no two sites are also same. So different landforms act differently and must be treated
differently in Landscape Design.

Landforms can be categorized according to:

1. Shape and Size

2. Slope and Gradients
3. Scale and Proportions

1. Shape and Size

According to shape and size of the land forms they may or may not be suitable for certain use
for example a moderately terrain land may be used interestingly for residential purpose but may
not fit for sports like football, basket ball, volleyball etc.

2. Slope and Size

A firm slope may be good for easy drainage rather than flat land without slope. Slopes upto5%is
taken as better for natural gradient.

Roles of Landform in Landscape Design

i. Aesthetic
ii. Ecological
iii. Functional

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i) Aesthetic

The landform could define the landscape aesthetically. The sloping of the land could be
interesting as the mountains viewed from the aeroplanes. The landform could gain the interest of
people by its variety heights. Basically aesthetic doesn’t move any definition unless it is
perceived by a person. Landform as the 3-0 lf land is the presentation of nature to mankind in
which we can ornament beautifully. Basically, landform increases the aesthetic of the any site.

ii) Ecology

It helps on improving ecology. The landform provides the natural drainage and the run angle
plane. By the land design in landform, it gives more area for the greenery and hence helps on
the ecology. Ecological finance could be gained form landform in the way of natural and
manmade landscape design.

iii) Functional

The landform serves by the function. It could be the place of functions, which help to direct the
circulation. The function of the landform could be the barrier, the secondary paths etc. The
landform helps on functioning as landscape garden sitting area etc.

Various Landforms Examples

1. Landform gives variation in the visual quality of landscape with land rising and going down.
2. It gives direction to the movement in the landscaping with the flow upward downward as a
fluid movement through path.
3. Aesthetic role of the landform in the form of enclosure.
4. The landform variation gives visual character to landscaping. The ridges gives district view
while the valley gives the view of the elevated landforms and forms the concentric point of
the view.

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Landforms as Design

The ability to understand and manipulate landform as a part of design process in an essential skill of
the Landscape Architect.

 Landform as Line
 Landform as Enclosure
 Site and Design Slopes
 Landform, Drainage and Infrastructure
 Landform and Comfort

Form follows function

 LOUIS SULLIVAN

Grading

The act of moving and reforming portions of the earth; the arrangement of the surface of the earth to
suit human purposes.

Grading is the intervention on landform for changes as per design concept. In other way when
natural landforms are changed according to the necessity of design concepts, keeping in mind the
drainage, wind direction etc. such practice is called ‘Grading’. It is the only tool for making use of
existing landform economically and functionally.

In other way Grading means re-contouring of the contour line according to the plan.

Grading

 General term used to refer to modification to the existing landform.

- To achieve drainage
- To cause water to flow away from buildings or site.
- To create certain visual effects.
 It is economically advantageous to balance Cut and Fill.

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 Landscape Process
Geologic Process

Geologic processes are predictable sequences of events, powered by geologic forces. They are
according to Press and Siever in Earth (1974), the activities through which “rock materials pass
from a sedimentary form, through diastrophism and deformation of sedimentary rock, through
metamorphism and eventual melting and magma formation, through volcanism and plutonism to
igneous rock formation, and through erosion to form more sediment.
In less technical terms, and greatly simplified, geologic processes are those by which rocks are
formed, differentiated, eroded, and deposited to be reformed again into rocks.

Biologic Processes

They capture low grade energy, solar radiation, and through the process of photosynthesis,
concentrate it in chemical bonds to form more highly organized complex forms called plant protein.
Other life forms eat these plant proteins, and through the process of respiration, convert their low-
grade chemical bonds into higher-grade animal proteins. In each case, this energy is processed
through complex movements of minerals such as oxygen, nitrogen, carbon, trace elements, and
water.

Soil Forming Process

The thin layer of soil that covers the terrestrial portions of the earth controls the existence and
distribution of life on its surface. Without this thin layer of soil, land plans and animals as we know
them would not exist.
The process by which soil is formed consists of mechanical and chemical weathering, and of a
biotic (nonliving) and biotic (living) activities. In the initial phases of soil formation, differential
expansion and contraction (because of temperature changes) cause fissures to develop in rocks.
Then, water enters these fissures and, on freezing, causes breakage. Chemical constituents in the
water contribute to chemical decay. Within the bits of crumbled rock, lichen (a symbiotic
relationship of algae and fungus) begins to grow. The powdered rock accelerates chemical decay
and through plant growth and death, begins to accumulate the organic matter essential for the soil to
sustain life. As the organic content of the soil rises, pioneering plants (such as Junipers), capable of
sustaining themselves in the hostile environment, invade. These pioneering plants increase the rate
of mechanical, weathering (through root action) and chemical decay.

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 Open Space
Open Space includes

1. Dry Land:
- Paved areas
- Roads and Highways
- Squares Chows
- Bahals
- Bahil etc. in context of Kathmandu
2. Wet Land:
- River
- Sea
- Ocean
- Lake
- Pond
- Wet lands
- Dhungedhara
- Grass covered grounds
- Forests etc.

Role of Open Space

1. Recreational Need – Human beings need open space as:

a) Active recreational areas like:
i. Jugging track
ii. Cycling track etc.
b) Passive recreational area
i. Sitting in open space- It may be park, riverside, sea shore, beach etc.
ii. Walking track etc.

2. Biological Need
Human beings take oxygen, expel carbon dioxide while breathing. The plan and plant
materials take carbon dioxide and expel oxygen. Thus open space balance in biological need
of human beings.

3. As Essential Element in Urban Planning and Design

Open Space also are the essential of urban planning and design. Urban planning cannot be
successful without provision of open spaces. The pronounced landscape elements of Kathmandu
valley Bahal, Bahi, Ghat etc. are the examples of the open spaces in urban planning of
Kathmandu.

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4. Cultural Link
Open spaces like Bahal, Bahi, Ghats, Khya (like Lagankhel, Jyawalakhel, Bhuikhel etc.)
have cultural links with people:
- The ritual functions of communities are performed in Bahals, Bahi.
- The carriage ceremonies of God and Goddess in Khya like Rato Machhendra Nath
carriage ceremony in Jyawalakhel, Samaik Puja ceremony in Bhuikhel etc.
- The morning exercise bathing, bhajan-kirtan and worship of god and goddess are
performed in open space like Ghats. Ghat is also a place for keeping people at the last
moment of their life and cremation of dead body.

5. Calamity Refuge
During earthquake serves as natural drainage. While raining the water falling on open
grounds gets of drained itself, no need of separate drainage on the other hand when there is
rainfall on streets, there is a big problem of drainage unless a proper drainage system has
been already there. Designing a proper drainage is a again expensive part in urban planning
context.

6. Visual Asset
It is very pleasant to look at the open grounds. The green colour of grass and other plant
material positively act at retina of or eyes and makes our visions sharp and strong and open
grounds add beauty to the city.
Open spaces should not be encroaded, destroyed or occupied. But in context of our country,
open space is reducing day by day.

The following data shows open spaces of Kathmandu and Lalitpur.

Year 1997 1981

Kathmandu 4.83 hector 4.65 hector
Lalitpur 1.66 hector 1.57 hector

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 PLANTS

1. Plants

 Plants through the process of photosynthesis capture large amount of solar energy and
concentrate a portion of this energy into chemical bonds.
 Plants are the crucial first step in the food chain, cycling nutrients through ecosystems and
using solar energy to achieve work.
 In addition to capturing large amount of energy and making it available it available as food
stuff, green plants provides other ecological benefits.

2. Vegetation-Plant Materials

 Trees
 Shrubs
 Annuals
 Ground Covers
 Hedges
 Climbers
 Fern
 Foliage
 Color
 Flowers
 Plant Character
 Planting Conditions
 Climate
 Soil
 Fertilizers and Manure etc.

3. Process

 Plant materials are the result of biological processes operating within the specifics of place
and time.
 They are dependent on the materials of the environment.
 There are numerous environmental conditions necessary for growth.
 There must be sunlight, water nutrients and appropriate temperatures.

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4. Plant Strata and Size

 Strata refers to the various horizontal layers that comprise a plant community, including
canopy tree, under story tree, shrub and ground cover.
 Size usually refers to the height to the top of the plant.
 Large trees (> 40 feet)
 Intermediate tree (30-40 feet)
 Small and Flowering (under storey) trees (15-20 feet)
 Tall shrubs (to 15 feet)
 Intermediate shrub (3-6 feet)
 Low shrubs (1-3 feet)
 Ground Covers < 1 feet)

5. Seasonal Character

Based upon their form and seasonal foliage condition, plants are differentiated into:

 Deciduous Plants
 Evergreen Conifers
 Broadleaf Evergreens
 Mixed Planting

6. Selecting an appropriate Species

 Size
 Shape
 Growth
 Climate
 Soil
 Propagation
 Uses
 Faults
 Botanical name
 Common name
 Local name
 Training

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7. Spatial Issues

 Spatial Enclosure: Plant Material that block vision provides enclosure.

 Spatial Depth: Fore ground, Middle ground and Back ground
 Enframement: Enhance the form of the subject matter or focal point of the composition.
 Plan Material and Landform.

8. Others

 Plant as Environmental Indicates.

 Plant and Maintenance.
 Plant Materials and Design Processes.

9. Plant and Ecology

 They remove carbon dioxide from the air and as a by-product of photosynthesis, give off
oxygen.
 Their roots force rocks apart, forming the beginnings of soil
 Root action also aerates existing soils.
 Dead leaves, twigs, and roots contribute organic material to the soil, increasing both
structure and fertility.
 They create matting of roots and organic matter that function to retain soil moisture.

10. Early and Late Successional Plants

 Early successional plants are pioneers, they colonize harsh environment where there is an
energy abundance or lack of completion. They can tolerate wide range of environmental
conditions.
 Late successional plants depend upon efficiency as an ecological survival strategy. As
community, they have high degree of diversity (many different species), order (in relation to
environmental variables), and stability over time. They are good indicators of site
conditions.

11. Use of plants in Landscape Design

 Gives enclosure and defines and articulates space.

 Screen, en-frame or serve as backdrop for the elements in the environments.
 Contribute color to the landscape.
 Provide shelter form fierce winds.
 It can influence microclimate and human comfort.

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 Plant Material Uses in the Designed Landscape

Architectural Uses of Plants

 Defining spaces with “walls”, “floors”, and “ceilings” created by plants.

 Controlling vies, enframing vistas.
 Creating screening for privacy or to eliminate an undesirable view.
 Marking the location of an entry or pathway.
 Groupings to create linkages or connections between other elements.

Environmental Engineering Uses of Plants

 Reducing glare and screening unwanted light.

 Controlling and/or directing traffic.
 Reducing soil erosion and protecting the soil surface
 Intercepting rainfall, slowing runoff and directing drainage.
 Reducing wind flow.
 Absorbing and reducing noise.
 Absorbing and reducing air pollution.

Climatological Modification Uses of Plants

 Temperature modification by the cooling action of plants.

 Modification of the relative humidity through evapo-transpiration.
 Retaining daytime heat from nighttime loss within tree canopy.
 Channeling air movement for ventilation.
 Trapping static air around building with plants for insulation.

Aesthetic Uses of Plants

 Visual interest through color, form, texture, movement of plants.

 Attractive and pleasant fragrances.
 Creating special interest or attention with highly visible plantings.
 Influencing the “mood” of the landscape through color and texture.

Other Uses of Plants

 Wildlife habitat.
 Food values (for humans and wildlife).
 Educational values.
 Recreational values.
 Historical and social values.
 Economic goods such as building materials, fuel.

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 SITE PLANNING
Site
A PLOT of land intended or suitable for development; also the ground or area which a building or
town has been built is known as site.

Site Planning it followed by 3 steps

1. Site Analysis
2. Design Concept
3. Design Developments

1. Site Analysis
Site analysis is necessary to understand the given site properly and the forces that determines the
site condition. A study of natural determinants including topography, geology, hydrology, soils,
vegetation and climate provides the basis for an intelligent approach to land development.
Whenever a site is to be developed for a particular building programme, two sets of factors have to
be considered.

SITE FACTORS – factors relating to the characteristics of the site.

USE FACTORS – factors relating to the proposed use of the site, i.e. the building programme

 Topography: The physical features, both natural and human-made, on the earth’s surface;
RELIEF, drainage, surface materials, vegetation, special physical phenomena, and human-made
(cultural) features.
 Vegetation: The plant life that covers land areas of the earth is known as vegetation. In other
words vegetation means the sum of all plant populations occupying a certain region at a certain
time.
 Hydrology: The branch of physical geography that studies water distribution, movement, and
quality.
 Microclimate: Succession of atmospheric conditions measure within a given locality (e.g.
meteorology at different place within a city or other specific environment)

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 Terrain: Relative to the usefulness of a specific portion of the earth’s surface for specified
functions or uses.
 Artifacts: (An object made by Human Craftsmanship)
 Soil and Geology: Apart from the engineering classification of the soil with regard to its
bearing capacity, in landscape work it is necessary to classify soil according to biological
qualities. If the site is very large, soil conditions mavary; and detailed analysis would help in
making an effective planting programme related to particular solid condition in various parts of
he site. Also, the nature of the soil (sandy etc.) determines to some extent, whether it is
susceptible to erosion can be taken, as part of he landscape development plan.
 Visual Quality: Land may have different visual qualities like:
 Plain Land
 Desert Land
 Mountains Land
 Hilly Land
 Hill Tops
 River Side
 Lake Side
 Sea Shore
 Ocean Bay

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 WATER
Water

“Water is the most interesting object sin landscape and the happiest circumstance in retired recess;
captivates the eye at a distance, invites approach and is delightful when near; it refreshes an open
exposure and enriches the most crowded views in form., in style and in extent, may be made equal
to the greatest composition.” Water is the medium within which life process occur. Without water,
life as we know it could not exist.
Water is one of the best friends outdoor recreation professional have. It has strong visual attraction.
It provides the major attraction at may parks in the form of boating, fishing, swimming, skiing and
other activities. However, water can be one of our worst enemies as well, if we fail to cope with it
properly.
No water scheme should be designed without prior knowledge of an assured water supply; a
guaranteed method of retention, artificial or natural; means to keep the water fresh; and a system of
overflow and drainage.
 Water is essential to human well-being and to life itself.
 It has a unique power to stimulate the mind and to captivate attention.
 Water is an essential element to Landscape Architect
 Water is a limited resource
 It exists in various reservoirs on, above, and below the surface of the earth
 Plant materials are totally dependent on water.
 The type of vegetation and its distribution correlates with water availability and quality
 To a large degree our perception of water is visual one

Water in Landscape
 Water as Process
 Water as Resource
 Water as Design
- Visual Characteristics (line, form, color and texture)
- Sensual Aspects (stimulate the mind through sight and sound)
- Movement, Allusion, and Symbol

Water as Design
“Water by itself has no distinct design properties other than that ii is a liquid … all the visible
characteristics of water are directly dependent on exterior factors (plasticity, motion, sound,
reflectivity, slope, container size, shape and roughness, temperature, wind and light) that bear on
and reflect it. Water must depend on its environmental context for its particular qualities. Change
the forces in the environmental setting and you also alter the characteristics of water in that setting”.
– Norman Booth (1983)

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Water as a System or Process
 Water forms a process called the water cycle
 In this cycle
- Water in the ocean evaporates and brought landwards by wind, then eventually falls as rain,
hail, or snow.
- A portion of the water is stored in a frozen form in glaciers.
- Another major portion enters the soil and becomes available to plants.
- Some of this water moves deeper into the geological strata, eventually becoming groundwater
stored in the aquifer.

Water as Resource
 Surface Water
 Drainage Pattern
 Ground Water
 Wetlands
 Recreation
 Comfort
 Sensual Value
 Land Values and Land Use

Elements of Visual Design

The particular character of
 Line
 Form
 Color and
 Texture
Displayed by water contribute to the mental images it evokes.

Line
 The edge of the water, that is, the character of its outline, has a major impact upon the images it
evokes in the mind of the Beholder
 A soft textured line can evoke unbridled (not controlled) nature
 A highly controlled sinuous (curve or twist) line can allude (refer) to a controlled or symbolic
nature
 Water can also express its surface as line
Examples include the rhythmic line of waves that move across the surface under the influence of
wind and the lines that pulse outward when something impacts the surface.

Color
 Good quality water has little color

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 Color is imparted by the reflections carried upon its surface, by its diffusing character, and by
the color of its container
 White colored and mirrored containers express the transparent nature of water. They also create
the illusion of shallowness
 Light blue containers impart a clarity, cleanliness, and purity to the water
 Dark blue and black containers maximize the reflections and give the illusion of shadowy
depths

Sensual Aspects of Water

 Processes by which one addresses sensual quality in the design of effective water elements have
three points in common.
 They begin by deciding design intent, including functional aspects desired mood, and aesthetic
and sensual character
 They proceed to identify appropriate water effects to achieve the desired character, mood and
function
 Finally, they shape the container and the environmental context to achieve these effects

Form
 Water features can be linear, a accentuating water movement and flow characteristics
 They can be compact in form and convey a sense of centrality
 Their form can be a complex combination of different characters, thereby pulling together
disparate elements (i.e. using water as complex form) or
 Conversely they can be consistent and convey a more unified sense (water as simple form)

Texture
 When water is moving, its surface texture is determined by that of its container and by its dept
and flow characteristics
 Protrusions (projections) into the flow cause turbulence, which increases surface texture
 Constrictions to flow also increase turbulence an texture
 As the layer of the water becomes thin, even minor differences in container alignment can cause
surface textures
 When a thin sheet of water moves down a nearly vertical surface, minor ripples in the surface
can impart interesting texture and aeration to the water

Water as Movement
 Still water is reflective, both visually and psychologically. It is serene but fragile
 Moving water can be subtle or dynamic
 It can move also most imperceptibly or can rush like a torrent
 It can make scarcely audible surging sounds, or loud splattering ones
 It can convey brute force and can mask the loudest of the urban noises

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Water as Allusion and Symbol
 Water can also serve as allusion and symbol
 Moving water alludes to instability
 Still water conveys stability, resolutions, and peacefulness
 The architectonic interpretation of mountain stream, river, flood plain, and braided stream can
make reference to serve as symbol to concentrate the meaning of the natural condition and to
transpose these to the urban context

Channels
 Channels are conduits that contain flowing water
 They are linear in form and function to convey movement and decentralize meanings
 The sensual effect of a channel depends upon the volume of water, its rate of flow, and the
channel size, shape, and steepness
 Slick channels produce smooth flows, rough ones create turbulence
 Constrictions increases velocity and turbulence

Water Jets
 Relatively large volumes of water forced through small apertures result in high velocities of
flow
 The result is a vertical stream of water, flowing thin and fast, then slowing and falling back on
itself
 Water jets serve to draw attentions to specific points
 The punctuate the landscape
 They can be very effective in reinforcing points that have special meaning for other reasons

Water Features – Pools and Ponds

 Pools and Ponds are still water bodies
 Pools are architectonic
 Ponds are naturalistic

Cascades and Waterfalls

 Cascade and Waterfalls involve falling water
 The effect of falling water has almost unlimited possibilities
 Which varies with: The volume of water and rate of flow, condition of the edge over which
the water falls, the height and the nature of the fall, and the surface terminating the fall

Water Lilies

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 Space & Place

Space is absolute and it remains permanent. There is a present of masses and the space is the voids
between these masses. A space has no importance or any significance. It lies between prominent
structures without being noticed. It is the responsibility of the architects and planners to convert this
meaningless void (space) into a place.

Place is a defined space which is used for various purposes in our daily life. A space (void) can be
converted into a place by putting physical, social and cultural values into it; particularly during local
social, cultural and religious activities and festivals.

Linkage and Place

 Linkage theory operates upon linkages between elements of an urban space, and manipulates
those.
 The linkage theory is derived from "lines" connecting one element to another. These lines are
formed by street, pedestrian ways, linear open spaces or other linking elements that physically
connect the parts of the city.
 Place theory operates upon structured systems of human needs and usage
 seeks to explain the number, size and location of human settlements in an urban system

Theories of Figure and Ground

 Theory is founded on the study of the relative land coverage of buildings as solid mass (figure)
to open voids (ground)
 Each urban environment has an existing pattern of solid and voids, and figure and ground
approach to spatial design is an attempt to manipulate these relationships by adding to,
subtracting from, or changing the physical geometry of the pattern.
 The objective of these manipulations is to clarify the structure of urban space in a city or district
by establishing a hierarchy of spaces of different sizes that are individually enclosed but ordered
directionally in relation to each other. (Roger Trancik,1986:97 in Finding the Lost Space)
 The figure ground plan organizes the primary urban landscape components - plots, streets,
constructed spaces, and open spaces – into a diagram of solid and void; the proportions, of
which, can be manipulated to create different urban morphologies.
 If building mass (solid poche) is greater than open space (void), spatial continuity is achieved
through street walls and articulated public spaces, creating a mixed-use urban environment that
fosters pedestrian activity.
 If open space is greater than building mass, buildings become disconnected, and voids lack
spatial definition, often becoming surface parking

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 A figure ground diagram comprises of pochés:

These are, in simple terms, groups of structures — or in even simpler terms the black figures
on the diagram

Approaching Urban Design

 Contemporary perception of public space has now branched and grown into a multitude of non-
traditional sites with a variety of programs in mind. It is for this reason that the way in which
design deals with public space as a discipline, has become such a diverse and indefinable field.

 Iris Aravot puts forward an interesting approach to the urban design process, with the idea of
the ‘narrative-myth’. Aravot argues that “conventional analysis and problem solving methods
result in fragmentation…of the authentic experience of a city…[and] something of the
liveliness of the city as a singular entity is lost.” The process of developing a narrative-myth in
urban design involves analyzing and understanding the unique aspects of the local culture
based on Cassirer’s five distinctive “symbolic forms”. They are myth and religion, art,
language, history and science; aspects often disregarded by professional practice. Aravot
suggests that the narrative-myth “imposes meaning specifically on what is still inexplicable”,
i.e. the essence of a city.

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82
 City Beautiful Movement
The World's Columbian Exposition (1893) widely displayed and inspired the City Beautiful
Movement with such structures and settings.

The success of the "City Beautiful" philosophy in Washington, D.C., is credited with influencing
subsequent plans for beautification of many other cities, including Chicago, Cleveland, Columbus,
Des Moines, Denver, Madison (with the axis from the capitol building through State Street and to
the University of Wisconsin campus), Montreal, New York City (notably the Manhattan
Municipal Building), Philadelphia (the Benjamin Franklin Parkway museum district between
Philadelphia City Hall and the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Pittsburgh (the Schenley Farms
district in the Oakland neighborhood of parks, museums, and universities), San Antonio, Texas
(San Antonio River development), San Francisco (manifested by its Civic Center), and the
Washington State Capitol Campus in Olympia and the University of Washington's Rainier Vista in
Seattle. In Wilmington, Delaware, it inspired the creation of Rodney Square and the surrounding
civic buildings. In New Haven, John Russell Pope developed a plan for Yale University that
eliminated substandard housing and relocated the urban poor to the peripheries. Coral Gables,
Florida would be an excellent example of a planned example of a city consistent with the City
Beautiful philosophy.

Role in the City Beautiful Movement

The White City is largely accredited for ushering in the City Beautiful movement and planting the
seeds of modern city planning. The highly integrated design of the landscapes, promenades, and
structures provided a vision of what is possible when planners, landscape architects, and architects
work together on a comprehensive design scheme. The White City inspired cities to focus on the
beautification of the components of the city in which municipal government had control; streets,
municipal art, public buildings and public spaces. The designs of the City Beautiful Movement
(closely tied with the municipal art movement) are identifiable by their classical architecture, plan
symmetry, picturesque views, axial plans, as well as their magnificent scale. Where the municipal
art movement focused on beautifying one feature in a City, the City Beautiful movement began to
make improvements on the scale of the district. The White City of the World's Colombian
Exposition inspired the Merchant's Club of Chicago to commission Daniel Burnham to create the
Plan of Chicago in 1909, which became the first modern comprehensive city plan in America.

The City Beautiful Movement was a reform philosophy concerning North American architecture
and urban planning that flourished during the 1890s and 1900s with the intent of using
beautification and monumental grandeur in cities. The movement, which was originally associated
mainly with Chicago, Detroit, and Washington, D.C. promoted beauty not only for its own sake, but
also to create moral and civic virtue among urban populations. Advocates of the philosophy
believed that such beautification could thus promote a harmonious social order that would increase
the quality of life.
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 Landscape Elements
Hard Landscape
Hardscape refers to hard landscape materials in the built environment structures that are
incorporated into a landscape. This can include paved areas, driveways, retaining walls, or any other
landscaping made up of hard wearing materials such as stone, bricks, sand, boulders, pebbles,
concrete , etc. as opposed to softscape, the horticultural elements of a landscape.

From an urban planning perspective, hardscapes can include very large features, such as paved
roads. Most water features are hardscapes because they require a barrier to retain the water, instead
of letting it drain into the surrounding soil.

Hardscaping allows the erection of landscaping features that would otherwise be impossible due
to soil erosion, or that compensate for large amounts of human traffic that would cause wear on bare
earth or grass. For example, sheer vertical features are possible.

Without nearby bare soil, a hardscape with an impervious surface requires artificial methods
of drainage or surface runoff to carry off the water that would normally be absorbed into the ground
as groundwater. Lack of capacity can cause problems after severe storms.

Softscape
The term soft landscape is used by practitioners of landscape design, landscape architecture,
and garden design; and gardeners to describe the vegetative materials which are used to improve a
landscape by design. The corresponding term hard landscape is used to describe construction
materials. The range of soft landscape materials includes each layer of the ecological sequence:
aquatic plants, semi-aquatic plants, field layer plants (including grasses and herbaceous plants)
shrubs and trees.
 Garden design
 Hedge (gardening)
 Herbaceous border
 Shrub
 Tree
 Planting design
 Potting mix

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 Hard & Soft Landscaping
Hard Landscaping

From paving to pergolas, fountains to fencing, hard landscape features are what gives the landscape
form and structure on which the softer elements can perform.

Typical projects include:

 Paved Areas
 Bound Aggregate Paths
 Timber, Concrete or Brick Edging
 Rock & Stone Features and Sculpture
 Pergolas & Shelters
 Ponds & Water Features
 Sand Pits & Jump Pits
 Play Equipment
 Bollards, Barriers & Entry Control
 Car Parks & Playgrounds

Soft Landscaping

Softening the landscape is the job of plants, from turf to towering trees from minimal planting
schemes consisting of a single specimen to massed planting in vast swathes of colour, the options
are boundless.
Providing quality, integrated green space in schools, the workplace or community areas is proven to
enhance quality of life, staff & pupil performance and general well being as well as combating
climate change and rising urban temperatures. Every little helps so see what you can do to make the
first step.

Typical projects include:

 Tree Planting
 Turf Establishment
 Native Planting Screens
 Shrub planting
 Annual bedding displays
 Green walls
 Wildflower Meadows

Hardscape refers to hard landscape materials in the built environment structures that are
incorporated into a landscape. This can include paved areas, driveways, retaining walls, or any other
landscaping made up of hard wearing materials such as stone, concrete etc. as opposed to softscape,
the horticultural elements of a landscape.

85
From an urban planning perspective, hardscapes can include very large features, such as paved
roads. Most water features are hardscapes because they require a barrier to retain the water, instead
of letting it drain into the surrounding soil.

Hardscaping allows the erection of landscaping features that would otherwise be impossible due
to soil erosion, or that compensate for large amounts of human traffic that would cause wear on bare
earth or grass. For example, sheer vertical features are possible.

Without nearby bare soil, a hardscape with an impervious surface requires artificial methods
of drainage or surface runoff to carry off the water that would normally be absorbed into the ground
as groundwater. Lack of capacity can cause problems after severe storms.

Softscape

The term soft landscape is used by practitioners of landscape design, landscape architecture,
and garden design; and gardeners to describe the vegetative materials which are used to improve a
landscape by design. The corresponding term hard landscape is used to describe construction
materials. The range of soft landscape materials includes each layer of the ecological sequence:
aquatic plants, semi-aquatic plants, field layer plants (including grasses and herbaceous plants)
shrubs and trees.
 Garden design
 Hedge (gardening)
 Herbaceous border
 Shrub
 Tree
 Planting design
 Potting mix

Garden design is the art and process of designing and creating plans for layout and planting
of gardens and landscapes. Garden design may be done by the garden owner themselves, or by
professionals of varying levels of experience and expertise. Most professional garden
designers have some training in horticulture and the principles of design, and some are
also landscape architects, a more formal level of training that usually requires an advanced degree
and often a state license. Amateur gardeners may also attain a high level of experience from
extensive hours working in their own gardens, through casual study, serious study in Master
Gardener Programs, or by joining gardening clubs.

1 Elements of garden design

1.1 Location
1.2 Soil

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 1.3 Boundaries
1.4 Surfaces
1.5 Planting design
1.6 Garden furniture
1.7 Sunlight
1.8 Lighting

2 Types of gardens
2.1 Islamic gardens
2.2 Mediterranean gardens
2.3 Renaissance and Formal gardens
2.4 English Landscape and Naturalistic gardens
2.5 Cottage gardens
2.6 Kitchen garden or potager
2.7 Shakespeare garden
2.8 Rock garden
2.9 East Asian gardens
2.10 Contemporary garden
2.11 Residential gardens

Elements of Landscape design

Whether a garden is designed by a professional or an amateur, certain principles form the basis of
effective garden design, resulting in the creation of gardens to meet the needs, goals and desires of
the users or owners of the gardens.
Elements of garden design include the layout of hard landscape, such as paths, walls, water features,
sitting areas and decking; as well as the plants themselves, with consideration for
their horticultural requirements, their season-to-season appearance, lifespan, growth habit, size,
speed of growth, and combinations with other plants and landscape features. Consideration is also
given to the maintenance needs of the garden, including the time or funds available for regular
maintenance, which can affect the choice of plants in terms of speed of growth, spreading or self-
seeding of the plants, whether annual or perennial, and bloom-time, and many other characteristics.
Important considerations in garden design include how the garden will be used, the desired stylistic
genre (formal or informal, modern or traditional etc.), and the way the garden space will connect to
the home or other structures in the surrounding areas. All of these considerations are subject to the
limitations of the prescribed budget.

Location
A garden's location can have a substantial influence on its design. Topographical landscape features
such as steep slopes, vistas, hills and outcrops etc. may suggest or determine aspects of design such
as layout, and can be used and augmented in order to create a particular impression.[1] The soils of
the site will affect what types of plant may be grown, as will the garden's climate zone and

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various microclimates. The locational context of the garden can also influence its design; for
example an urban setting may require a different design style to a rural one. Similarly, a windy
coastal location may necessitate a different treatment compared to a sheltered inland site.

Soil
The quality of a garden's soil can have a significant influence on a garden's design and its
subsequent success. Soil influences the availability of water and nutrients, the activity of soil micro-
organisms, and temperature within the root zone, and thus may have a determining effect on the
types of plants which will grow successfully in the garden. However soils may be replaced or
improved in order to make them more suitable.
Traditionally, garden soil is improved by amendment, the process of adding beneficial materials to
the native subsoil and particularly the topsoil. The added materials, which may consist of
compost, peat, sand, mineral dust, or manure, among others, are mixed with the soil to the preferred
depth. The amount and type of amendment may depend on many factors, including the amount of
existing soil humus, the soil structure (clay, silt, sand, loam etc.), the soil acidity/alkalinity, and the
choice of plants to be grown. One source states that, "conditioning the soil thoroughly before
planting enables the plants to establish themselves quickly and so play their part in the
design."[2] However, not all gardens are, or should be, amended in this manner, since many plants
prefer an impoverished soil. In this case, poor soil is better than a rich soil that has been artificially
enriched.[3][4]

Boundaries
The design of a garden can be affected by the nature of its boundaries, both external and internal,
and in turn the design can influence the boundaries, including via creation of new ones. Planting can
be used to modify an existing boundary line by softening or widening it. Introducing internal
boundaries can help divide or break up a garden into smaller areas.
The main types of boundary within a garden are hedges, walls and fences. A hedge may be
evergreen or deciduous, formal or informal, short or tall, depending on the style of the garden and
purpose of the boundary. A wall has a strong foundation beneath it at all points,[5] and is usually -
but not always - built from brick, stone or concrete blocks. A fence differs from a wall in that it is
anchored only at intervals, and is usually constructed using wood or metal (such as iron or wire
mesh).
Boundaries may be constructed for several reasons: to keep out livestock or intruders, to provide
privacy, to create shelter from strong winds and provide microclimates, to screen unattractive
structures or views, and to create an element of surprise.

Surfaces
Naturalistic planting design
In temperate western gardens, a smooth expanse of lawn is often considered essential to a garden.
However garden designers may use other surfaces, for example those "made up of loose gravel,
small pebbles, or wood chips" in order to create a different appearance and feel.[6] Designers may
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also utilise the contrast in texture and color between different surfaces in order to create an overall
pattern in the design.
Surfaces for paths and access points are chosen for practical as well as aesthetic reasons. Issues such
as safety, maintenance and durability may need to be considered by the designer. Gardens designed
for public access need to cope with heavier foot traffic and hence may utilise surfaces - such as
resin-bonded gravel - that are rarely used in private gardens.

Planting design
Planting design requires design talent and aesthetic judgement combined with a good level of
horticultural, ecological and cultural knowledge. It includes two major traditions: formal rectilinear
planting design (Persia and Europe); and formal asymmetrical (Asia) and naturalistic planting
design.
Persian gardens are credited with originating aesthetic and diverse planting design. A correct
Persian garden will be divided into four sectors with water being very important for both irrigation
and aesthetics. The four sectors symbolize the Zoroastrian elements of sky, earth, water and
plants.[7] Planting in ancient and Medieval European gardens was often a mix of herbs for medicinal
use, vegetables for consumption, and flowers for decoration. Purely aesthetic planting layouts
developed after the Medieval period inRenaissance gardens, as are shown in late-renaissance
paintings and plans. The designs of the Italian Renaissance garden were geometrical and plants
were used to form spaces and patterns. The gardens of the French Renaissance and Baroque Garden
à la française era continued the 'formal garden' planting aesthetic.
In Asia the asymmetrical traditions of planting design in Chinese gardens and Japanese
gardens originated in the Jin Dynasty (265–420) of China. The gardens' plantings have a controlled
but naturalistic aesthetic. In Europe the arrangement of plants in informal groups developed as part
of the English Landscape Garden style, and subsequently the French landscape garden, and was
strongly influenced by the picturesque art movement.
A planting plan gives specific instructions, often for a contractor about how the soil is to be
prepared, what species are to be planted, what size and spacing is to be used and what maintenance
operations are to be carried out under the contract. Owners of private gardens may also use planting
plans, not for contractual purposes, as an aid to thinking about a design and as a record of what has
been planted. Aplanting strategy is a long term strategy for the design, establishment and
management of different types of vegetation in a landscape or garden.
Planting can be established by directly employed gardeners and horticulturalists or it can be
established by a landscape contractor (also known as a landscape gardener). Landscape contractors
work to drawings and specifications prepared by garden designers or landscape architects.

Garden furniture
Garden furniture may range from a patio set consisting of a table, four or six chairs and a parasol,
through benches, swings, various lighting, to stunning artifacts in brutal concrete or weathered
oak.[8] Patio heaters, that run on bottled butane or propane, are often used to enable people to sit

89
outside at night or in cold weather. A picnic table, is used for the purpose of eating a meal outdoors
such as in a garden.
The materials used to manufacture modern patio furniture
include stones, metals, vinyl, plastics, resins, glass, and treated woods.

Sunlight
While sunlight is not always easily controlled by the gardener, it is an important element of garden
design. The amount of available light is a critical factor in determining what plants may be grown.
Sunlight will, therefore, have a substantial influence on the character of the garden. For example, a
rose garden is generally not successful in full shade, while a garden of hostas may not thrive in hot
sun. As another example, a vegetable garden may need to be placed in a sunny location, and if that
location is not ideal for the overall garden design goals, the designer may need to change other
aspects of the garden.
In some cases, the amount of available sunlight can be influenced by the gardener. The location of
trees, other shade plants, garden structures, or, when designing an entire property, even buildings,
might be selected or changed based on their influence in increasing or reducing the amount of
sunlight provided to various areas of the property.
In other cases, the amount of sunlight is not under the gardener's control. Nearby buildings, plants
on other properties, or simply the climate of the local area, may limit the available sunlight. Or,
substantial changes in the light conditions of the garden may not be within the gardener's means. In
this case, it is important to plan a garden that is compatible with the existing light conditions.

Lighting
Garden lighting can be an important aspect of garden design. In most cases, various types of
lighting techniques may be classified and defined by heights: safety lighting, uplighting, and
downlighting. Safety lighting is the most practical application. However, it is more important to
determine the type of lamps and fittings needed to create the desired effects. Light regulates three
major plant processes: photosynthesis, phototropism, and photoperiodism.
Photosynthesis provides the energy required to produce the energy source of plants.
Phototropism is the effect of light on plant growth that causes the plant to grow toward or away
from the light. Photoperiodism is a plant’s response or capacity to respond to photoperiod, a
recurring cycle of light and dark periods of constant length.

Islamic gardens
Garden design, and the Islamic garden tradition, began with creating the Paradise garden in Ancient
Persia, in Western Asia. It evolved over the centuries, and in the different cultures Islamic dynasties
came to rule in Central— South Asia, the Near East, North Africa, and the Iberian Peninsula.
Some styles and examples include:

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 Persian gardens
 Eram Garden
 Fin Garden
 Mughal gardens
 Nishat Bagh
 Shalimar Gardens (Lahore)
 Yadavindra Gardens (Pinjore)
 Charbagh
 Taj Mahal
 Tomb of Humayun gardens
 Bagh (garden)
 Bagh-e Babur
 Shalimar Bagh (Srinagar)
 Al-Andalus—Moorish architecture and gardens
 Alcázar of Seville
 Alhambra
 Generalife

Mediterranean gardens
Garden design history and precedents from the Mediterranean region include:
 Ancient Greek and Hellenistic gardens
 Ancient Roman gardens
 Peristyle gardens —evolved into Cloister gardens.
 House of the Vettii — Pompeii.
 Horti Sallustiani
 Byzantine gardens
 Spanish gardens
 Andalusian Patio

Renaissance and Formal gardens

A formal garden in the Persian garden and European garden design traditions is rectilinear and axial
in design. The equally formal garden, without axial symmetry (asymmetrical) or other geometries,
is the garden design tradition of Chinese gardens and Japanese gardens. The Zen garden of rocks,
moss and raked gravel is an example. The Western model is an ordered garden laid out in carefully
planned geometric and often symmetrical lines. Lawns and hedges in a formal garden need to be
kept neatly clipped for maximum effect. Trees, shrubs, subshrubs and other foliage are carefully
arranged, shaped and continually maintained. A French garden or Garden à la française, is a specific
kind of formal garden, laid out in the manner of André Le Nôtre; it is centered on the façade of a
building, with radiating avenues and paths of gravel, lawns, parterres and pools (bassins) of
reflective water enclosed in geometric shapes by stone coping, with fountains and sculpture.
The Garden à la française style has origins in fifteenth-century Italian Renaissance gardens, such as
the Villa d'Este, Boboli Gardens, andVilla Lante in Italy. The style was brought to France and

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expressed in the gardens of the French Renaissance. Some of the earliest formalparterres of clipped
evergreens were those laid out at Anet by Claude Mollet, the founder of a dynasty of nurserymen-
designers that lasted deep into the 18th century. TheGardens of Versailles are an ultimate example
of Garden à la française, composed of many different distinct gardens, and designed by André Le
Nôtre.
English Renaissance gardens in a rectilinear formal design were a feature of the stately homes. The
introduction of the parterre was at Wilton House in the 1630s. In the early eighteenth century, the
publication of Dezallier d'Argenville, La théorie et la pratique du jardinage (1709) was translated
into English and German, and was the central document for the later formal gardens of Continental
Europe. Traditional formal Spanish garden design evolved with Persian garden and European
Renaissance garden influences. The internationally renowned Alhambra and Generalife inGranada,
built in the Moorish Al-Andalus era, have influenced design for centuries. The Ibero-American
Exposition of 1929 World's Fair in Seville, Spain was located in the celebrated Maria Luisa
Park (Parque de Maria Luisa) designed by Jean-Claude Nicolas Forestier.
Formal gardening in the Italian and French manners was reintroduced at the turn of the twentieth
century. Beatrix Farrand's formal Italian garden areas at Dumbarton Oaks inWashington, D.C.,
and Achille Duchêne's restored French water parterre at Blenheim Palace in England are examples
of the modern formal garden. The Conservatory Garden inCentral Park of New York City features a
formal garden, as do many other parks and estates such as Filoli in California.
The simplest formal garden would be a box-trimmed hedge lining or enclosing a carefully laid
out flowerbed or garden bed of simple geometric shape, such as a knot garden. The more developed
and elaborate formal gardens contain statuary and fountains.

Formal garden laid out at the Abbaye de Valloires, Picardy, by Gilles Clément, 1987
Features in a formal garden may include:
 Terrace
 Topiary
 Statuary
 Hedge
 Bosquet
 Parterre
 Sylvan theater
 Pergola
 Pavilion
 Landscaping

English Landscape and Naturalistic gardens

Main articles: English garden and Landscape garden
See also: List of landscape gardens
The English Landscape Garden style practically swept away the geometries of earlier English and
European Renaissance formal gardens. William Kent and Lancelot "Capability" Brown were
leading proponents, among many other designers. The naturalistic English Garden style
(French: Jardin anglais, Italian: Giardino all'inglese, German: Englischer Landschaftsgarten) of

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the 1730s and on transformed private and civic garden design across Europe. The French Landscape
Garden subsequently continued the style's development on the Continent.
Cottage gardens
A cottage garden uses an informal design, traditional materials, dense plantings, and a mixture of
ornamental and edible plants. Cottage gardens go back many centuries, but their popularity grew in
1870s England in response to the more structured Victorian English estate gardens that used
restrained designs with massed beds of brilliantly colored greenhouse annuals. They are more
casual by design, depending on grace and charm rather than grandeur and formal structure.[12] The
influential British garden authors and designers, William Robinson at Gravetye Manor in Sussex,
and Gertrude Jekyll at Munstead Wood in Surrey, both wrote and gardened in England. Jekyll's
series of thematic gardening books emphasized the importance and value of natural plantings were
an influence in Europe and the United States. Also influential half a century later was Margery Fish,
whose surviving garden at East Lambrook Manor emphasizes, among other things, native plant life
and the natural patterns produced by self-spreading and self-seeding.
The earliest cottage gardens were far more practical than modern versions—with an emphasis on
vegetables and herbs, along with fruit trees, beehives, and even livestock if land allowed. Flowers
were used to fill any spaces in between. Over time, flowers became more dominant. [13] Modern day
cottage gardens include countless regional and personal variations of the more traditional English
cottage garden.[14]

Kitchen garden or potager

The traditional kitchen garden, also known as a potager, is a seasonally used space separate from
the rest of the residential garden - the ornamental plants and lawn areas. Most vegetable gardens are
still miniature versions of old family farm plots with square or rectangular beds, but the kitchen
garden is different not only in its history, but also its design.
The kitchen garden may be a landscape feature that can be the central feature of an ornamental, all-
season landscape, but can be little more than a humble vegetable plot. It is a source
of herbs, vegetables, fruits, and flowers, but it is also a structured garden space, a design based on
repetitive geometric patterns.
The kitchen garden has year-round visual appeal and can incorporate permanent perennials or
woody plantings around (or among) theannual plants.

Shakespeare garden
A Shakespeare garden is a themed garden that cultivates plants mentioned in the works of William
Shakespeare. In English-speaking countries, particularly the United States, these are often public
gardens associated with parks, universities, and Shakespeare festivals. Shakespeare gardens are sites
of cultural, educational, and romantic interest and can be locations for outdoor weddings.
Signs near the plants usually provide relevant quotations. A Shakespeare garden usually includes
several dozen species, either in herbaceous profusion or in a geometric layout
with boxwood dividers. Typical amenities are walkways and benches and a weather-resistant bust
of Shakespeare. Shakespeare gardens may accompany reproductions of Elizabethan architecture.
Some Shakespeare gardens also grow species typical of the Elizabethan period but not mentioned in
Shakespeare's plays or poetry.
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Rock garden
Rock garden in Chandigarh, India
A rock garden, also known as a rockery or an alpine garden, is a type of garden that features
extensive use of rocks or stones, along with plants native to rocky or alpine environments.
Rock garden plants tend to be small, both because many of the species are naturally small, and so as
not to cover up the rocks. They may be grown in troughs (containers), or in the ground. The plants
will usually be types that prefer well-drained soil and less water.
The usual form of a rock garden is a pile of rocks, large and small, aesthetically arranged, and with
small gaps between, where the plants will be rooted. Some rock gardens incorporate bonsai.
Some rock gardens are designed and built to look like natural outcrops of bedrock. Stones are
aligned to suggest a bedding plane and plants are often used to conceal the joints between the
stones. This type of rock garden was popular in Victorian times, often designed and built by
professional landscape architects. The same approach is sometimes used in modern campus or
commercial landscaping, but can also be applied in smaller private gardens.
The Japanese rock garden, in the west often referred to as Zen garden, is a special kind of rock
garden which contains few plants. Rock gardens have become increasingly popular
as landscape features in tropical countries such as Thailand.[15] The combination of wet weather and
heavy shade trees, along with the use of heavy plastic liners to stop unwanted plant growth, [16] has
made this type of arrangement ideal for both residential and commercial gardens due to its easier
maintenance and drainage.
East Asian gardens
Main articles: Chinese garden, Japanese garden, Japanese rock garden and Korean garden
Japanese and Korean gardens, originally influenced by Chinese gardens, can be found
at Buddhist temples and historic sites, private homes, in neighborhood or city parks, and at
historical landmarks such as Buddhist temples. Some of the Japanese gardens most famous in
the Western world and Japan are gardens in the karesansui (rock garden)tradition. The Ryōan-
ji temple garden is a well-known example. There are Japanese gardens of various styles, with
plantings and often evoking wabi sabi simplicity. In Japanese culture, garden-making is a high art,
intimately linked to the arts of calligraphy and ink painting.[18]

Contemporary garden
Contemporary water feature
The contemporary style garden has gained popularity in the UK in the last 10 years. This is partly
due to the increase of modern housing with small gardens as well as the cultural shift towards
contemporary design[who?]. This style of garden can be defined by the use 'clean' design lines, with
focus on hard landscaping materials like stone, hardwood, rendered walls. Planting style is bold but
simple with the use of drifts of one or two plants that repeat throughout the design. Grasses are a
very popular choice for this style of design. Lighting effects also play an integral role in the modern
garden. Subtle lighting effects can be achieved with the use of carefully placed low voltage LED
lights incorporated into paving and walls.

Residential gardens
See also: front garden and back garden
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Not to be confused with forest garden.

A residential or private domestic garden, is the most common form of garden and is in proximity to
a residence, such as the 'front garden' or 'back garden'. The front garden may be a formal and semi-
public space and so subject to the constraints of convention and local laws. While typically found in
the yard of the residence, a garden may also be established on a roof, in an atrium or courtyard, on
a balcony, in windowboxes, or on a patio. Residential gardens are typically designed at human
scale, as they are most often intended for private use. However, the garden of a great house or a
large estate may be larger than a public park.
Residential gardens may feature specialized gardens, such as those for exhibiting one particular type
of plant, or special features, such as rockery or water features. They are also used for
growing herbs and vegetables and are thus an important element of sustainability.

Geomorphology: The physical evolution of landscape

Geomorphology is the scientific study of the origin and evolution
of topographic and bathymetric features created by physical or chemical processes operating at or
near Earth's surface. Geomorphologists seek to understand why landscapes look the way they do, to
understand landform history and dynamics and to predict changes through a combination of field
observations, physical experiments and numerical modeling. Geomorphology is practiced
within physical geography, geology, geodesy, engineering geology, archaeologyand geotechnical
engineering. This broad base of interests contributes to
many research styles and interests within the field.
The surface of Earth is modified by a combination of surface processes that sculpt landscapes, and
geologic processes that cause tectonic uplift and subsidence, and shape thecoastal geography.
Surface processes comprise the action of water, wind, ice, fire, and living things on the surface of
the Earth, along with chemical reactions that form soils and alter material properties, the stability
and rate of change of topography under the force of gravity, and other factors, such as (in the very
recent past) human alteration of the landscape. Many of these factors are strongly mediated
by climate. Geologic processes include the uplift of mountain ranges, the growth
of volcanoes, isostatic changes in land surface elevation (sometimes in response to surface
processes), and the formation of deep sedimentary basins where the surface of Earth drops and is
filled with material erodedfrom other parts of the landscape. The Earth surface and its topography
therefore are an intersection of climatic, hydrologic, and biologic action with geologic processes.

Landscape ecology is the science of studying and improving relationships between ecological
processes in the environment and particular ecosystems. This is done within a variety of landscape
scales, development spatial patterns, and organizational levels of research and policy.
As a highly interdisciplinary field in systems science, landscape ecology
integrates biophysical and analytical approaches with humanisticand holistic perspectives across
the natural sciences and social sciences. Landscapes are spatially heterogeneous geographic
areas characterized by diverse interacting patches or ecosystems, ranging from relatively

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natural terrestrial and aquatic systems such as forests, grasslands, and lakes to human-dominated
environments including agricultural and urban settings. The most salient characteristics of
landscape ecology are its emphasis on the relationship among pattern, process and scale, and its
focus on broad-scale ecological and environmental issues. These necessitate the coupling between
biophysical and socioeconomic sciences. Key research topics in landscape ecology include
ecological flows in landscape mosaics, land use and land cover change, scaling, relating landscape
pattern analysis with ecological processes, and landscape conservation and sustainability.

Pedology (from Greek: πέδον, pedon, "soil"; and λόγος, logos, "study") is the study of soils in their
natural environment.[1] It is one of two main branches of soil science, the other being edaphology.
Pedology deals with pedogenesis, soil morphology, and soil classification, while edaphology studies
the way soils influence plants, fungi, and other living things.

Soil is not only a support for vegetation, but it is also the zone beneath our feet (the pedosphere) of
numerous interactions between climate (water, air, temperature), soil life(micro-organisms, plants,
animals) and its residues, the mineral material of the original and added rock, and its position in the
landscape. During its formation and genesis, the soil profile slowly deepens and develops
characteristic layers, called 'horizons', while a steady state balance is approached.
Soil users (such as agronomists) showed initially little concern in the dynamics of soil. They saw it
as medium whose chemical, physical and biological properties were useful for the services of
agronomic productivity [2] . On the other hand, pedologists and geologists did not initially focus on
the agronomic applications of the soil characteristics (edaphic properties) but upon its relation to the
nature and history of landscapes. Today, there's an integration of the two disciplinary approaches as
part of landscape and environmental sciences.
Pedologists are now also interested in the practical applications of a good understanding
of pedogenesis processes (the evolution and functioning of soils), like interpreting its environmental
history and predicting consequences of changes in land use, while agronomists understand that the
cultivated soil is a complex medium, often resulting from several thousands of years of evolution.
They understand that the current balance is fragile and that only a thorough knowledge of its history
makes it possible to ensure its sustainableuse.

Concept
 Complexity in soil genesis is more common than simplicity.
 Soils lie at the interface of Earth's atmosphere, biosphere, hydrosphere and lithosphere.
Therefore, a thorough understanding of soils requires some knowledge
ofmeteorology, climatology, ecology, biology, hydrology, geomorphology, geology and many
other earth sciences and natural sciences.
 Contemporary soils carry imprints of pedogenic processes that were active in the past, although
in many cases these imprints are difficult to observe or quantify. Thus, knowledge
of paleoecology, palaeogeography, glacial geology and paleoclimatology is important for the

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 recognition and understanding of soil genesis and constitute a basis for predicting future soil
changes.
 Five major, external factors of formation (climate, organisms, relief, parent material and time),
and several smaller, less identifiable ones, drive pedogenic processes and create soil patterns.
 Characteristics of soils and soil landscapes, e.g., the number, sizes, shapes and arrangements of
soil bodies, each of which is characterized on the basis of soil horizons, degree of internal
homogeneity, slope, aspect, landscape position, age and other properties and relationships, can
be observed and measured.
 Distinctive bioclimatic regimes or combinations of pedogenic processes produce distinctive
soils. Thus, distinctive, observable morphological features, e.g., illuvial clay accumulation in B
horizons, are produced by certain combinations of pedogenic processes operative over varying
periods of time.
 Pedogenic (soil-forming) processes act to both create and destroy order (anisotropy) within
soils; these processes can proceed simultaneously. The resulting soil profilereflects the balance
of these processes, present and past.
 The geological Principle of Uniformitarianism applies to soils, i.e., pedogenic processes active
in soils today have been operating for long periods of time, back to the time of appearance of
organisms on the land surface. These processes do, however, have varying degrees of
expression and intensity over space and time.
 A succession of different soils may have developed, eroded and/or regressed at any particular
site, as soil genetic factors and site factors, e.g., vegetation, sedimentation,geomorphology,
change.
 There are very few old soils (in a geological sense) because they can be destroyed or buried by
geological events, or modified by shifts in climate by virtue of their vulnerable position at the
surface of the earth. Little of the soil continuum dates back beyond the Tertiary period and most
soils and land surfaces are no older than the PleistoceneEpoch. However, preserved/lithified
soils (paleosols) are an almost ubiquitous feature in terrestrial (land-based) environments
throughout most of geologic time. Since they record evidence of ancient climate change, they
present immense utility in understanding climate evolution throughout geologic history.
 Knowledge and understanding of the genesis of a soil is important in
its classification and mapping.
 Soil classification systems cannot be based entirely on perceptions of genesis, however, because
genetic processes are seldom observed and because pedogenic processes change over time.
 Knowledge of soil genesis is imperative and basic to soil use and management. Human
influence on, or adjustment to, the factors and processes of soil formation can be best controlled
and planned using knowledge about soil genesis.
 Soils are natural clay factories (clay includes both clay mineral structures and particles less than
2 µm in diameter). Shales worldwide are, to a considerable extent, simply soil clays that have
been formed in the pedosphere and eroded and deposited in the ocean basins, to
become lithified at a later date.

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Soil Forming Process

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99
 Landforms

One – fourth of the earth’s surface is covered by land. The portion which forms land on earth’s
surface is not the same everywhere. At some places the land may be too high, at some places very
low, some areas would be lush green and certain areas are dry and barren. Our planet earth is a
beautiful collaboration of various physical features.
These different physical features are called the various landforms on the surface of the earth. These
are geographical features that control the ecosystem, climate, weather and the essence of life on
earth. In simple terms, we say that any shape on the earth’s surface is known as a landform.

Types of Landforms

The various landforms that we have, came into existence due to natural processes such as erosion,
wind, rain, weather conditions such as ice, frost and chemical actions. Natural events and disasters
such as earthquakes (the tectonic plates) and eruption of volcanoes created the various shapes of the
land that we see.

The different major landforms are:

mountains, hills,
valleys, plateaus,
plains deserts.

Mountains
 A mountain is the highest landform on the surface of the earth. It is usually found to be
conical in shape with steep sides and a pointed tip called a peak.
 As compared to their surroundings, mountains are high points on the surface of the earth.
 Mountain range is a series of mountains.
 Mountains could be steep and snow covered or they could be gently sloping having rounded
tops.
 The highest mountain range in the world is the Himalayas. Some mountains are found
under the sea and could be even taller than the Mount Everest.
 Mountains could be formed when molten rocks from deep within the earth rise to the
surface, pouring out in the form of lava from volcanoes.
 Sometimes the tectonic plates on the earth’s crust move towards each other, the sediments
deep below the earth’s surface are squeezed up to form mountain ranges.
 There are many mountains that remain covered with snow throughout the year.
 These mountains are very cold and hence there is not much vegetation or life found in these
hills.
 Trees like pine and conifer are found in the lower ranges or foothills.
 Even besides harsh conditions, mountains are very useful to us as they act as shields for the
country blocking the cold winds and also protect us from invading enemies.
 Trees provide us with commercial and medicinal value.
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  Melting snow from the snow capped mountains fills the rivers and they are a source of
water.
 They make beautiful sceneries and tourist destinations.

Hills
 Hills are lower than mountains but are higher than their surrounding areas.
 Hills are lower in height than mountains, but they are higher than the surrounding areas. A
number of hills together form a ‘range of hills’. Hills are usually covered with grass.
 The climate in the hills is more pleasant than the climate in high snow covered mountains.
It is usually neither too hot nor too cold. They make perfect tourist destinations.
 The vegetation is thick, beautiful fruit orchards are found in the hills and it is good for crop
cultivation like tea and coffee.

Valleys
 Valleys are the low-lying areas between two mountains or hills.
 When rivers flow down the mountainsides and hillsides, it wears off the rocks and soil.
Over a period of time, the water carves out v- shaped grooves. These grooves get deeper and
wider, finally forming low land areas called valleys.
 Valleys formed by glaciers are U- shaped valleys.
 Valleys formed due to the effect of erosion are V – shaped valleys.
 The valleys formed (that is V shaped or U shaped), depend upon the rate at which
deepening and widening takes place.
 Narrow valleys are called canyons.
 The climate in the valleys is pleasant and favorable for living, hence many civilizations in
ancient times were found in valleys where there were rivers flowing making water available
for the people.
 For example The Indus Valley Civilization that came up near the River Indus.
 Due to ample water that is provided by the rivers and fertile soil, the vegetation is thick and
valleys look green and beautiful.
 They make great tourist destinations as well.
 In young Mountain areas the valleys found are steep sided.

Plateaus
 A plateau is a flat topped highland with steep sides. Since it looks like a table, it is also
called a tableland.
 Plateaus are usually surrounded by steep rock faces called cliffs.
 Plateaus are usually good for growing certain crops.
 Plateaus are formed when magma pushes up towards the surface of the earth’s crust. This
magma does not break through but it raises a portion of the crust up creating a plateau.
 There are certain kinds of plateaus like the butte and the mesa.

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Plains
 Plains as you all are familiar with are areas of flat land.
 The plains usually meet the oceans or seas, these are called coastal plains.
 Some plains are formed by the action of rivers, these are called river plains.
 River plains are very fertile and good for growing crops.
 You will find most big cities are located in plains. This is because it is easier to build
houses, buildings, roads and other structures in the plains. Hence they are heavily populated.

Islands
 An island is a piece of land surrounded by water on all sides.
 Islands are formed due to volcanic activity or due to hot spots in the lithosphere.
 Coral islands are formed when the skeletal material of the corals piles up over a long period
of time. These look beautiful.
 A large group of islands close to each other together form an archipelago.

Deserts
 Deserts are large, dry and hot areas of land which receive little or no rainfall throughout the
year. The vegetation is scanty due to the shortage of water. Deserts are covered with sand.
 Sand dunes are formed in deserts. Sand dunes are huge hills of sand formed by the winds.
 Deserts have extreme weather conditions, days could be very hot and nights very cold. This
is because the sand absorbs heat fast during the day and gives off heat quickly at night.
 The main vegetation found in the deserts are the cacti and the baobab trees.
 The baobab tree can store nearly up to 1000 litres of water in its trunk which enables it to
survive the harsh conditions.
 There are two types of deserts – Hot Deserts and Cold Deserts.

Hot Deserts
As the name suggests, hot deserts are vast areas of land that are covered with sand and dust. These
areas receive little or no rainfall and are very dry.

Cold Deserts
The cold deserts are large areas of land covered with snow. These deserts receive little or no
rainfall. They receive snowfall during the winters.

Peninsula
A peninsula is a piece of land that is surrounded by water from three sides. Example: southern part
of India and
State of Florida.

Cape
A cape is a part of land extending in to a water body

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Isthmus
An isthmus is a narrow stretch of land which joins to large land masses.
Example: Isthmus of Panama.

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