Most of my clients have never used a garden designer before, so unsurprisingly are not too sure about some of the terms we use. So I'm going to walk you through the anatomy of a concept plan, which is the first stage of drawings we use to start to bring a design to life. The purpose of a concept plan isn't to give an exact drawing of the finished garden, but to convey a general intention for a new design. It's about bringing lots of ideas to the table to be considered and discussed. It's a really collaborative process.
Here's an example of a typical 2D or plan drawing for a client. It's as if there's an aerial view of the garden, so some things are easier to make out, like paths, lawns and trees. Other elements, such as
structures and detailed planting ideas are not so easy to convey, so we often use thumbnail images of similar things which could be part of the design.
The plan shows the approximate position and scale of things, but there are no dimensions or details of how things are constructed. The purpose of the drawings is to discuss them with the client, and is usually presented in person while we discuss the plans, and which aspects they like and which they might like to change. For example, in earlier discussions this client was interested in resin bound gravel, but when we discussed it again, they'd decided they'd prefer a different surface, so I changed it for this version.
This next concept was drawn for a client who wanted to see more clearly how the whole garden worked, so we agreed a 3D drawing would be best for them. In addition to a 2D plan drawing, I created a 3D model and took images to bring the design to life. The plants are representative of the shapes and sizes I've added for their planting plan too, so give a more realistic idea of how the planting works alongside the hard landscaping.
In some instances drawing models is not the most time-efficient way to communicate an idea. This client had a swimming pool which had fallen out of use, and wanted ideas for how to make use of the space without spending lots of money on it. I used a picture of the space and simply drew on top of it to show how it could be transformed into a sunken garden.
All of these elements make up a successful concept plan, but of course the key ingredient is tailoring the plan to suit each client and how they prefer to work and what sort of timescales they are working to. 2D plans are the most cost-effective approach for those who have a good visual imagination, but for those who find technical drawings difficult to understand, a 3D plan is worth the extra time to make sure we get it right.
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