Interpreting Landscape Plans
Dr. Michael A. Arnold
Designs cannot come to life unless they are correctly interpreted.
Communication & Cooperation
Keys to successful interpretation of designs.
Among the owner, designer, installer, and subcontractors
Basic Features Of A Good Landscape Design
- Few designs include all of the necessary information
- Symbols and styles are as varied as the designers
- Some designations have become fairly standard
- The following are concepts that are critical to landscape plan interpretation
or can help to avoid costly errors
Orientation Features
- Perspective
- Aerial or 'bird's-eye' view
- Frontal, sectioned, cut-out or side views optional
- Compass orientation
- Plant selection
- Wind direction
- Lighting angles
- Street address
- Location verification
- Bench mark
- Location for survey purposes
- Elevation for drainage and grade changes
- Adjacent roads, buildings and property lines
Scale
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Without a scale the design is useless!!!
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Elucidates the relationship between design and site dimensions
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Can be indicated symbolically or in equation form
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I------------I = 10 ft.
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1 in. = 10 ft. or 2.5 cm = 3.1 m
Structures & Traffic Facilitators
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Existing structures, walks, drives to be retained
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Structures walks or drives to be installed
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Indicated by outline with or without fill patterns
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Concrete = solid or swirled fill
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Gravel or aggregate = dots or small ovals
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Bricks = small rectangular blocks, need to indicate whether
or not actual numbers are depicted
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Flagstone or stepping stones = irregular enclosed areas
corresponding to relative dimensions of stones to be used
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Existing structures or features to be removed
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Usually on a separate plan
Location Of Utility Lines
- Major safety concern!
- Elevation above or below ground
- Impacts grade changes, irrigation lines and outdoor lighting
- Call the local utilities for verification!!!
Contour Lines
- Connect points of equal elevation
- Same interval (vertical change in elevation) throughout the design
- Never fork
- Only meet at vertical cliffs
- Close together = steep slope
- Widely spaced = gentle slope
- Not drawn through landscape features
- Existing topography = Broken lines
- Proposed changes = Solid lines
All Non-Plant Material Features To Be Installed
Fences and Walls
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Stone = single or double rows of irregularly rounded blocks
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Brick = single or double rows of rectangular blocks
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Metal & Wood = thickened solid or dashed lines interrupted
at intervals by open or closed circles to indicate posts
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Gates = angled lines in the direction of swing
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Brick, Stone, and Concrete usually depicted as enclosed
outlines with similar patterns as with walks and drives
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Wood = Enclosed outlines with vertical, horizontal, or
slanted lines mimicking the decking pattern
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Should include blow-up insets of specific construction
features
Similar information should be included for raised beds and retaining walls
Amenity Items
Variable by designer
Most commonly illustrated as an outline of the feature from aerial view
Water Features
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Irregular labeled outlines
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Sometimes a wave-like fill pattern, but this is also used
to designate groundcovers
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Streams or water courses are often depicted as parallel
snake-like lines, with or without fill
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Depth information is sometimes included
Plant Materials
Specimen Plants
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Broad-leaved evergreens = Circles with scalloped
edges or rounded lobes
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Needled evergreens = circles with sharp needle-like or
toothed edges
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Deciduous shrubs = circular symbols with loose irregular
outlines
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Deciduous trees = large circles or circles with half hemispherical
indentations
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Sometimes branching structure is indicated as radiating
lines from the center of the circle
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An 'X' is usually placed a the center of the circle to
indicate the location of the crown or trunk of the plant
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Where plant canopies overlap, the taller plant is drawn
with solid lines, the shorter plant with broken lines
Massed or in Planting Beds
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Grouped symbols as with specimens but enclosed in outlines
conforming to the dimensions of the beds
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Indicated as a scaled outlined area with X's for the locations
of plant crowns
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Number of X's should correspond to the number of plants
to be used or this discrepancy must be noted in the design key
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If crown locations are not indicated symbolically spacing
and location specifications within the beds must be included in the design
key
Ground covers = often indicated as shading or wavy lines within the outlined
area
Vines = often indicated as sausage-like outlines with X's for crown
locations at the base of supporting structures
Remember contour lines are not continued over beds
Design Key
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Key to all symbols
used in the design
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Critical to accurate design interpretation!!!
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If symbols for bricks, blocks, etc. in the design do
not represent actual required materials this must be specified
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Plant materials list
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Hard-goods materials list
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Optional, but highly desirable
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Detailed information
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Materials specifications
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Dimensions
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Installation procedures
Plant Materials List
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Common names
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Scientific names
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Size specifications
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Number of each species and size class
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Over-looked information to include:
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Shipping and handling instructions
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Installation procedures
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Post-planting maintenance recommendations
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Price information is usually not included directly
on the design
Quick & Dirty Method For Determining Contours
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Need only inexpensive common tools
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Select a bench mark (preferably highest elevation at site)
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Insert stake above grass/weed level
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Mark the bench mark on a copy of your scaled design
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Measure a level distance to 4 points at the edges of the
site creating 2 perpendicular lines intersecting at the benchmark
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Place stakes at set intervals along the perpendicular
lines (10 ft. works well for small sites, 20 ft. for larger ones)
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Draw the lines on your design and construct a gridwork
corresponding to the set intervals
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Measure and record the height of your eye level on the
survey stake
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Sight with an eye level to the survey stake being held
at one of the grid points.
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Measure and record the distance from the point indicated
as level through the eye level to the ground at the preset intervals minus
the height of your benchmark stake.
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Repeat this process at each point of interest on the grid.
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Once all raw data is collected, locate the largest raw
elevation
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This will be the lowest recorded spot
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Subtract this number from all the other readings and change
the sign of the elevations to positive numbers
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Other methods of elevation determination can result in
quicker or more accurate elevation readings but require more specialized
equipment
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Varies from the use of an eye level to complicated survey
equipment
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Interpolate the intersections of the desired contour lines
on the gridded map using the formula:
v/V*d=X
Where:
X = Horizontal distance from the lower elevation to the intersection of the
contour line
v = Vertical distance from the lower of the two known elevations to the contour
elevation
V = Total vertical distance between the known elevations
d = total horizontal distance between the known elevations (set interval)
Example Interpolation
Two measured elevations, 1.5 ft and 2.4 ft, are 10 ft. apart
Find the horizontal distance from the measured elevation of 1.5 ft. to the 2.0
ft contour line?
v/V*d = X
v= 2.0 - 1.5 = 0.5 ft.
V = 2.4 - 1.5 = 0.9 ft.
d = 10 ft.
X = 0.5/0.9 * 10 = 5.6 ft. from the 1.5 ft. elevation
Drawing The Contour Lines On The Design
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Connect the dots between equal elevations on the gridded
copy of the design
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Trace the contour lines onto the design as broken lines
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Remember not to draw the contour lines through features
on the design
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Label the contour lines at the edges of the design
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Indicated proposed grade changes in contours with
solid lines