A Guide to Creating Outdoor Rooms

When designing residential landscapes, there are many things to consider. Understanding the homeowner’s needs and wants; the relationships between the interior rooms and the exterior landscape; climatic conditions; site opportunity and constraints; and budget are some of the issues critical to a successful residential landscape design. Landscapes must be designed to be both functional and aesthetically pleasing. One way to address functional issues is to think about landscape design in the same way as a house. A house is made up of a series of rooms. Some rooms may be connected by doorways or hallways and divided by walls. Walls may offer complete visual and sound separation by running from the floor to ceiling. Doors and ceilings protect occupants from natural elements and further define the rooms. Some houses have an open floor plan where two or three rooms are interconnected, only separated by a partial wall, a change in flooring material or a change in function. A typical example found today are houses where the kitchen, dining and living room have a strong connection.