Design principles: the compositional elements of garden and landscape design

Education, Books, Styles, Computer Aided Design, UK Designers, EA

The six grand compositional elements of garden and landscape design are

1. water
2. landform
3. vertical structures (eg buildings)
4. horizontal structures (eg paving)
5. vegetation
6. climate

For most people this requires:

• education
• a shelf of books
• a knowledge of design styles
• skill in drawing and Computer Aided Design

Knowledge of materials is important and an appreciation of Feng Shui is valuable. As with a kitchen receipe, one needs a method to combine materials. There is a discussion of design methods in the Landscape Architecture Guide section of this website.

Once the six elements have been composed, one can think about the extras:

• lighting
• ornament
• furniture
• even a hot tub!