Guide to Design Theory and Methods

The quicklinks below are for students of garden design and landscape architecture who require:

• an understanding of design history and theory
• skill in the composition of landform, water, plants, structures, paving and climate to make good outdoor space. Garden design is concerned with private space and landscape architecture with public space. With the design of public gardens, the two arts overlap.
• familiarity with the types of outdoor space which have been found to satisfy human needs
• a knowledge of landscape and garden plants, products and materials
• a range of art, craft and drawing skills, discussed below
• [see also: How to design a garden ]

Design studio craft

There is much for students to learn from working with other people, because the knowledge comes from watching designers and talking to them. Most things can be written down but many things tend to be left out.

• The craft skills of design studio work
• How to be a DIY critic
• The drawing types which serve the needs of garden and landscape projects
• How to make garden and landscape designs respond to their context
• The range of approaches to project implementation
• The role of metaphor in garden and landscape design projects
• The use of existing site, appraisal and concept drawings
• The use of image sheets in generating and explaining a project
• The use of photomontage , collage and models in landscape and garden design
• Water as the starting point in garden and landscape design
• Why designers use planting strategy drawings
• How to learn about construction design
• What is a master plan?
• How to explain a project to clients
• Seven design principles
• Twelve things to try if you get stuck with a design project
• Thirteen ways to ruin a design project

Design Theory

A design theory is a procedure for how to set about a design project. The links below take you to an outline of a design approach for the twenty-first century and to applications of this approach to garden design and then to landscape architecture (landscape design and landscape planning):

• Garden and Landscape Design for the 21st Century: a Simple Approach

• The SAD Design Method and Pattern Analysis

• The Flowers of Garden Design Theory - and the flight of the honey bee

• PAKILDA: a Pattern-Assisted-Knowledge-Intensive-Landscape-Design-Approach

• HyperLandscapes: an approach linking landscape design to the wide world of information

Design Ideas

Physically, gardens must have boundaries. Mentally, they can reach to the limits of the universe. The ideas which bestow such vast extent on gardens derive from sun, earth, art, water, history, civilization, family, everything. This essay considers the inspiration that can come from sun, wind, materials, sculpture and the conservation movement. They were chosen as examples because, in the arts, it is often necessary to look backwards before moving forwards.

• Sun
• Weather
• Water
• Materials
• Garden sculpture
• Sculpture parks
• Conservation

See Also