Comfort. Beauty. Ecology. The core tenets.
Our design process is based on three principles: Comfort, Beauty, and Ecology. Below are the philosophical underpinnings of these ideas. Subsequent posts will explore facets of each principle, pose thought experiments, and discuss design strategies.
Comfort
Beyond the function of a space, comfort tends be the first thing we think about when approaching residential landscape design. At a glance it is how an area feels in terms of temperature throughout the seasons, how much time we can spend outdoors. Thermal comfort is easily achieved through thoughtful micro-climate design. The notion of comfort reaches deeper into our instinct, our need for shelter. We possess a natural desire to observe our environment from a place of safety. In the context of the home, comfort creates space for reflection and reverie. In his whimsical book, “The Poetics of Space,” Gaston Bachelard discusses how architectural elements inform daydreaming, “As soon as we become motionless, we are elsewhere; we are dreaming in a world that is immense.” Successful outdoor space facilitates intimacy among the immense. Comfort is the means by which we access the beautiful.
Beauty
Beauty draws us in, attracts, evokes desire. It is the Earth’s invitation to satisfy our curiosity. It calls us away from the peacefulness of the home to explore the unknown. Beauty is the distant, smoky ridge and the tree-line across the field. Moreover, it is an ecological ruse to perpetuate life. Beauty occurs in all forms throughout all seasons. It is the seed-head left upon the stem through winter to feed the birds. It is the dandelion growing through the crack in the sidewalk. These are processes that occur as a landscape expresses itself over time. They are not to be plucked in order to maintain a particular aesthetic, but celebrated as brief iterations of an ongoing cycle.
Ecology
We exist upon a web of relationships that promote health and well-being through no other means than a process of trial and error. Understanding these connections, from the soil up through the canopy, is central to accommodating human needs: clean air, clean water, clean food. The sacrifice in this approach is relaxing our grip on preconceptions and acknowledging that the land has its own intentions. It is not bound by a property line. By analyzing ecosystems at a variety of scales and operating within the parameters observed, we can create spaces that contribute to the health of the greater community; landscapes that produce resources rather than consume them. From this perspective, design is an exploration of interdependencies instead of an act of will.
The primary strategy to realizing a vision with the above criteria in mind is diversity. Diversity of spaces, diversity of material, and diversity of species. Each decision is the result of careful observation. Each element of the landscape interlocks with its neighbor, complements it based on the circumstances of its surroundings. The result is gentle spaces that please the observer, opening the mind to new perceptions. We then recognize the inherent complexity of natural systems and engage more deeply with our surroundings, feeding back into the intimacy needed to create comfort, closing the loop.
