Design Principles and Elements

Unit 2204 Landscape Design

What elements will a well planned landscape

address? • Traffic flow• Environmental Protection• Continuity• Aesthetics• Land Value

Landscape Types

• Commercial– Balance between practicality &

function

• Residential– Public Area– Service Area– Private Area

Principles of Landscape Design

• Unity• Scale• Proportion• Balance

• Repetition• Contrast• Dominance or

Emphasis• Transition

UNITY

• All parts inter-relate to the whole

• Repeat colors/textures• Plant materials in groups of 3

– Magic of Three’s•3 Musketeers•3 Stooges•3 Amigos

SCALE

• Proportion is pleasing relationship to whole design

• Keeps parts from looking too large or small

PROPORTION

• Size in units of materials related to each other

• Use constant scale

BALANCE

• Visual relationship between elements of a landscape

• Symmetrical Balance– Items of equal weight on each

side

• Asymmetrical Balance– Items with more weight on one

side

Symmetrical Balance

Asymmetrical Balance

Repetition

• Repeated use of color or plant material to emphasize continuity

Contrast

• Use texture, scale, color and size to emphasize point of interest

Emphasis

• Feature point or theme for site

Transition

• Blending of texture, scale or color without sharp contrast

What’s missing

from this

Base Plan?

House #2

House #3

House #4

House #5