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wellspring_gw

Painting, Novel, Home Extension

17 years ago

There seem to be some common metaphors used to help people think about their landscapes.

Painting -- This one comes in handy for the "curb appeal" queries. The landscape is primarily understood as something to be viewed, commonly from a drive-by view, sometimes shows up in "framing" or "composing" what the viewer might see from inside the house looking out to the garden. A rather two dimensional understanding?

It does matter what the home and landscape look like if viewed from across the street looking back toward the house, but this sensibility creates distance and downplays the potential for interaction with the landscape. Tends to be more static?

Story / novel -- I've also heard a well-designed landscape compared to a good read. There are repeated experiences of beginnings, middles that build to a climax, and endings that leave one ready to turn the page or go around the turn in a pathway to begin the next experience in the garden.

It's a flawed comparison, but I can't help liking it. I wouldn't mind having a garden that "reads" like a good mystery. No blood and guts, but the kind that has wit and humor, some suspenseful moments, turns in the path that leave you wondering, and so well conceived that you long to stay within the experience.

Home Extension -- This way of conceiving the landscape is the most popular, probably the most practical, and the least metaphorical of these metaphors. I'm thinking of the whole notion of "garden rooms". To the extent that that is exactly what you create, it isn't metaphorical at all. It's more like understanding that outdoor space can be functional, liveable, enjoyable in ways that are similar to indoor space.

For some reason I don't particularly like the garden room approach. I think it's because I want my experiences in the garden to be more like an escape into a good book rather than just an outdoor version of what I do inside.

So, folks, what do you think? How do these concepts frustrate or help your design work?

Wellspring

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