landscape design drawing symbols

PLAN DRAWINGS

A plan drawing shows your landscape design from above. It is the best way to show the design in its entirety; how spaces flow into one another and how visitors can transition through the space.

The best way to give your client a sense of the design, its materials, plants, colours, textures etc is to use symbols in your plan drawing. While there is no one single way to make these symbols, generally certain things will look a particular way.

EXAMPLE

Let's have a look at this plan drawing below. What elements and/or objects in this design can you identify?

PLANT SYMBOLS

On the left are some examples of symbols you could use for plants. In general a single plant is shown as a circular shape.

By changing the edges or creating simple radial 'branches' inside the circle you can show several different plant species within your plan drawing.

You can then use a key to one side of the drawing to label each symbol.

(Drawings courtesy of Lisa Orgler of www.papergardenworkshop.com)

Here are a couple of ways that you can show groupings of plants together.

Task 1

Take a plant symbols practice sheet (copies are in the classroom). Use the sheet to make some plant symbols- try both deciduous and evergreen symbols, and make up at least two of your own design.

Task 2

Using the symbols you have made, on a blank piece of paper draw an example of a grouping of multiples of the SAME plant together, and a grouping of 2-3 DIFFERENT plants together. In the second drawing make sure you use overlapping to show different sized plants- eg. a shade tree and a smaller shrub or bush.

Task 3

Find some other examples of plant symbols online. You may notice some similarities between certain types of plants.

Include around 6-8 further examples of landscape designers' plant symbols in your portfolio with your practice sheet.

Plant+Symbols+Practice+Sheet.pdf

GROUND TEXTURES

Ground textures are useful to show certain materials and ground covers within your design.

This can include things such as lawns and other plant-based ground covers (softscapes), bricks, rocks, pavers, concrete etc (hardscapes).

Below are some examples. Again, there is no one set way of drawing textures but it should resemble the material you intend to use. What do you think these textures below could represent?

(Drawings courtesy of Lisa Orgler of www.papergardenworkshop.com)

Task 4

Using a sheet of A4 paper, practice some of the hardscape and softscape textures from the examples above. You should also aim to design your own- think about the ground material you want your texture to represent, and how you could use marks to describe the material. Your texture should be recognisable using only a pen/fineliner or lead pencil.

Extension Task: Plan drawing of your backyard

Use an A4 sheet of paper for this task. This can be completed using graphite pencil or fineliner.

Use what you have learned about symbols and ground textures and create a plan drawing of your backyard or courtyard. If you don't live in a dwelling with a backyard you can use the internal courtyard here at Dickson College.

Page updated

Report abuse