When you bring a landscape designer or a landscape architect on board as part of your project, you do it for many reasons. Mostly, you want to take advantage of our expertise. We know about plant species and growth patterns. We know about the design and construction of pavement and decking. We know the local regulations and the policies that impact land use. We know how to submit plans to the local authority, and when it is or is not necessary to do so. However, perhaps the most important thing a landscape design professional can do for you is to help you visualise the project before it’s built. Visualisation brings an incredible amount of value to a design.
What is Visualisation?
When you look over your property and think about what you’d like to do with it, you visualise things as you want to see them in the future: perhaps a pool here, a vegetable garden there and an outdoor kitchen on a patio near the house. Maybe you take a few measurements to see if a feature of a given size will fit. Maybe you make a sketch. If you’re technically minded, you may even make a drawing on graph paper, with each square representing an area, for example, a square foot. That’s a fantastic thing to do, and if you plan to DIY your landscape design, we highly recommend it.
Make the Pool Part of Your Garden
Landscaping can ease the transition between the swimming pool and the garden. It can draw part of the pool into the softscape, or it can create an intermediate area that’s a little more disciplined through the use of potted plants and well-delineated garden beds. Landscaping can be used to shade the pool area, make it more private and improve the appearance of the pool fence. Plants and trees can even cool the air in your yard and around your pool.
How Does Design Visualisation Work?
We begin with a technical survey of your property, one that includes lines for ground elevations, so that we can see (if applicable) what parts are flat and what parts are sloped. Then, you can give us your list of priorities. We can visit your property early on in the process, and you can walk us through your ideas, pointing to places where you’d like to put various features. You can give us any sketches or drawings you’ve done yourself. Based on that, we will work with your space and your needs and present you with several different spatial solutions, communicated through perfectly scaled drawings and/or computer models. Usually, we start with a simple plan. It will show the proposed layout of your property as if viewed from above, with everything perfectly in proportion and colour added for realism and clarity. Then, we might show you a 3-D perspective drawing or even a virtual model that you can walk through on the computer.
The Importance of Visualisation
When you commission a professionally visualised landscape design, it means you will get to see how the garden, the pool, the deck, the cabana, the shed, the patio and/or any other elements will work together – before the construction takes place. You’ll see how the spaces relate to each other and you’ll be able to imagine using them socially or as part of your family life. There will be no surprises during or after construction and landscaping. You’ll know just what to expect, and your outdoor space will be polished and well thought out.
Put the design into our hands, or let us help you to visualise your own ideas, working out all the details and spotting any conflicts or difficulties. Either way, you’ll look forward to seeing the new drawings and models each time we meet, and you’ll be amazed at the insight that they’ll give you.
For more details on the use of a Landscape Architect or Designer, read Using a designer or architect.
