Landscape Design can create a story of a place. It can retell an old story and also it can reimagine that story for the new design…
How can we interpret landscape design through art of story telling?
When I started creative writing for fun as a hobby my mind went to stories. I started thinking about stories in the landscape and as I read more about landscape design, and read what designer thought I saw that they talked about stories.
Since the dawn of the existence of humans in relationships and communities, we have told stories. We have recorded things that happened, and we have entertained one another and recorded history. What resonated with me about stories? I had been asking myself the question, what makes landscape design successful? Why have some landscapes lasted overtime?
The history of space should influence the design and it is often more about people who are connected to the place than ancient history, because people care about people. That sense of people being connected is palpable in a garden that has some depth to the design.
For me there were two answers, one was that there is a brief and then a response from the designer, a CONCEPT. That concept can retell an old story and also it can reimagine that story, in light of renewal and the light of the people. Then further enhancing that sense in the drawings and all the details and the creating and embodying those drawings in reality as a landscape. Understanding the history of a place, taking the time to find out about a place by asking the client questions or doing some basic searches, can give me as a designer, a different sense of the place. I still rely on my intuitive sense as I have discussed, but it would be wrong I think to ignore the history of a place without consciously being aware of it, because the history of a place creates meaning. This can be recent history too, in this garden design example (below), The Quad Garden, the house was left to a dear friend who was my client. The people who previously owned the house loved edible gardens and vegetable growing. The awareness of the previous owners had an imprint on the space and we let it influence the design. People are connected to people. It worked well for the client to have a space to grow vegetables and she also wanted her garden to be productive. We created this quad and in the centre of each quad there was a fruit tree, there was also vegetable beds and fruit nets and various other productive trees designed into the space such as quince.
How imagining the landscape as a journey -much the same a story- can shape a design?
Secondly, there is a sense about meaning. Is there meaning here? Do I want to be here? Do I want to go there? Does this space make me curious? Are their places to discover? Do I feel like I have arrived somewhere? When I ask these questions the word stories becomes more relevant, because there is The Arrival (the start) – seeing from a far, or turning up, Being (creating a world)– in a place, are their places where we LAND? The Journey (something happens)- we moving through a space, do we want to explore? Going Somewhere (we feel something and there is resolution) – Internally or externally, do we go somewhere, do we return back? This complex interplay of meaning is created (I believe) in a felt sense, that is not easily described, but when I design I am feeling if I feel curious and home and does the design feel in balance? If the design is full of gimmicks, or if the materials or plants feel out of place or inauthentic, there can be a loss of meaning. If we strike the right balance where the elements and lines are understated with significant and gentle points of interest. Then I feel the design is in balance.
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You can find more about our process on our process page.
