PRICIPLES OF LANDSCAPE

DESIGN
Elements & Principles of Landscape Design
Elements of landscape Design –Natural & Manmade elements-tangible &
intangible
elements
Understanding the visual (colour, form, texture) characteristics and also the
nonvisual
characteristics (smell, touch, sound)
their usage to achieve the functional, aesthetic
and environmental goals-
Principles of landscape design (harmony, balance, contrast, etc.)
 PRICIPLES OF LANDSCAPE DESIGN
• Landscaping combines elements of art and science to create a functional,
aesthetically pleasing extension of indoor living to the outdoors.
• To work toward a desirable landscape design, the landscape designer
must have a working knowledge of art elements and design principles

• The principles of design serve as guidelines that govern the organization of

the design elements and materials in accordance with the laws of nature.
• Landscape designers use these principles of design to create landscape
designs that are both functional and aesthetically pleasing.
 PRICIPLES OF LANDSCAPE DESIGN
• Design principles include

• Unity
• Balance
• Transition
• Focalization
• Proportion
• Rhythm
• Repetition
• Simplicity
 PRINCIPLES - UNITY

 Unity is the Quality of Oneness.

 Unity attracts and holds attention.
 It organizes view into orderly groups with emphasis.
 Unity is obtained by the effective use of components
in a design to express a main idea through consistent
style.

 A natural feeling evolves when each activity area

belongs to and blends with the entire landscape.
 Everything selected for a landscape must complement
the central scheme and must, above all, serve some
functional purpose.
 PRINCIPLES - UNITY

• Unity is emphasized by consistency of character between units in the landscape.

• Use of elements to express a specific theme within units creates harmony.

 Unity can be achieved by using mass planting

and repetition.
 Unity means that all parts of the composition
or landscape go together; they fit.
 PRINCIPLES - BALANCE

• Balance is Equilibrium on Left and Right Sides.

• Balance in design refers to the equilibrium or equality
of visual attraction.
• Balance is a design principle defined in terms of
weight.
• It is the equalization of visual weight from one area of
a landscape composition to another.

• Formal repeats the same left and right, giving stability,

stateliness, and dignity.
• Informal balance differs from left to right giving
curiosity, movement, and feels alive.
 PRINCIPLES - BALANCE

• Symmetrical balance is a formal balance, sometimes

referred to as bi-lateral symmetry
• Symmetrical balance is achieved when one side of the
design is a mirror image of the other side.
• There is a distinct dividing line between the two sides.
• Visual or actual weight is equally distributed on both
sides.
• Equal lines, forms, textures or colors are on each side of a
symmetrical design.
 PRINCIPLES - BALANCE

• Asymmetrical balance uses different

forms, colors and textures to obtain
balance of visual attraction.
• These opposing compositions on either
side of the central axis create equal
attraction.
• For example, mass may be opposed by
color or linear dimension by height.
• The landscape designer must skillfully
manipulate the design elements to create
asymmetrical balance.
 PRINCIPLES - BALANCE

opposing compositions on either side of the central axis create equal attraction.
PRINCIPLES - BALANCE

Empty areas that make

your eye uneasy
Bottom left side feels
heavy
Top right feels light
Floating, not grounded

Eye feels a sense of

unity
No uneasiness
Calmness
Feel grounded and
enclosed
PRINCIPLES - BALANCE
 PRINCIPLES - TRANSITION

• Transition is a term that is quite self-explanatory in that it

essentially means gradual change.
• This design principle should be applied to avoid abrupt
changes that may occur in your garden design.
• When using plant height or even plant color, one can achieve
natural transition.
• However one would not limit applying this principle to these
two aspects alone. It should also be carried through to all
other elements in the garden.

An example of gradual, natural transition being applied

in a garden would be the stair step effect from large
trees to medium trees to shrubs to plants to lawn.
 PRINCIPLES - TRANSITION

It is possible to use transition to extend visual dimensions

An unlimited number of
beyond actual dimensions.
schemes exist by
For example, radical lines in the private area of the
combining elements of
landscape can be used to enframe and/or focalize a lake
various size, form, texture
scene.
and color to create
Transition of plant materials along these lines can make
transition
the scene become a part of the landscape
 PRINCIPLES - FOCALIZATION

Use of height transition and texture to focalize

• Focalization involves the leading of visual observation toward a

feature by placement of this feature at the vanishing point
between radial or approaching lines.
• The viewer’s eye is quickly forced along straight lines to a focal
point. Generally, weaker or flowing lines of focalization are
desirable in the residential landscape.
• Transition of plants or other objects along these lines can
strengthen or weaken the focalization.
 PRINCIPLES - FOCALIZATION

 Focalization is created as a visual

break in the sequence and flow of
the landscape.
 The focal point is the point or
area of the landscape that
attracts the viewer’s eyes.
 The visual break captures the
attention of the viewer and
draws it to the focal point.
 Without a point or area on which
to focus, the viewer’s eyes
become lost and confused
throughout the landscape.
 PRINCIPLES - FOCALIZATION

Asymmetrical focalization is indirect while symmetrical focalization is

more direct, creating stronger focalization.
 PRINCIPLES – PROPORTION

 Proportion is the relationship that exists among the components of a

landscape.
 Proportion involves the size relationships between and among the
components making up the landscape.
 Proportion describes the mathematical relationships among the dimensions of
space and site components making up an area. These mathematical
relationships are totally separate from human perception dimensions.

One large towering oak may compliment an office building but would probably dwarf a single story
residence
 PRINCIPLES – SCALE

 Scale is the human perception of the size of

space and form related to the human
dimension.
 Scale is the relative size of one part of a
landscape to another in the perception of
the viewer.
 PRINCIPLES – EMPHASIS

 Drawing attention to important features of landscape

 Emphasis can be achieved through different sizes, bold shapes, groupings,
and the unusual or unexpected.
Emphasis is achieved
with the tree being
dominant and the
shrub grouping being
subordinate.

Ornamental In this private garden, emphasis is added

grass often adds with the blooming Astelbe.
emphasis to a
garden spot
 PRINCIPLES – HARMONY & CONTRAST

• Flowing lines are always pleasing to the eye,

however the bold contrast of a curve
combined with a straight line can provide
interest in the garden.
• Contrast can be found in many areas of your
garden. One such example can be where one
side of the garden is mainly planted up with
large trees to provide shade and the other
side of the garden can be predominantly a
flower garden or a vegetable garden.
 PRINCIPLES – HARMONY & CONTRAST

• Plants with fine foliage

versus plants with coarse
foliage, round leaves versus
spiked, needle-like leaves,
even making use of
complimentary and
contrasting colors.
• However lines, forms and
shapes should flow
together harmoniously to
enhance the style of your
garden.
 PRINCIPLES – RHYTHM

• Rhythm gives a landscape design a feeling of

natural movement through the use of natural
elements and careful repetition.
• Groups of plants, as well as individual
materials, can create rhythm within the
environment by patterns of color, form, and
other elements.
Repetitious use of sculpture in
• Rhythm is expressed through the placement landscape reduces monotony and
of plants, park furniture, etc., either results in the establishment of
individually or as group. rhythm.
• For example, several benches could be placed
at regular indentations along a shrub border.
• If every other bench was replaced with an
attractive piece of sculpture, rhythm would
be created that would relieve any monotony
from the overuse of one landscape
component.
 PRINCIPLES – REPITITION

• Repetition involves repeating or using an element more

than once throughout a design.
• Repetition refers to the repeated use of features like
plants with identical shape, line, form, texture and/or
color.
• Too much repetition creates monotony but when used
effectively can lead to rhythm, focalization or emphasis.
• Unity can be achieved better by no other means than
repetition. Think of repetition as not having too much
variety in the design which creates a cluttered or busy
appearance.
• Repetition provides a common feature throughout the
design that pulls the design together.
PRINCIPLES – REPITITION
 PRINCIPLES - SIMPLICITY

• Simplicity goes hand-in-hand with repetition and can be achieved by

elimination of unnecessary detail. Too much variety or detail creates
confusion of perception.
• Simplicity is the reduction of a design to its simplest, functional form,
which avoids unnecessary cost and maintenance.
• Simplicity means understanding what is, and is not important in a
landscape design. Details that will not have a major impact on the
landscape are omitted to keep it uncluttered.
 PRINCIPLES – SEQUENCE

• The effective use of sequence is often employed to create visual

movement in the landscape, a gradual transition from one area
to another within a landscape
• A landscape with sequence has one element changing at a time
rather than several changing at once
• It is an important consideration to take into account in the
development of the overall planting pattern
• A landscape with a coarse-textured plant next to a fine-textured An orderly, sequential
plant is an example of poor sequence arrangement of heights.
• Any plant that breaks gradual progression becomes a point of
emphasis
 PRINCIPLES – SEQUENCE

Sequence through gradual progression of form, texture or color

FORM

TEXTURE

COLOUR
PRINCIPLES – SEQUENCE