By Gregory M. Pierceall

(Photos courtesy of Greg Pierceall)

When you are looking to develop a residential landscape design, it might be helpful to break it down into "three easy pieces" to consider.

We call them "macro aspects," a landscape designer’s three primary building blocks from which we work to determine the smaller aspects; these are 1) the property’s circulation, 2) its open space, and 3) the planting beds. (In our overall design, we will also eventually consider the plant layers, canopy, understory and ground plane.)

In this first of a three-part series on good, basic landscape design, we will focus on how to achieve good circulation (and I promise it will not require any aerobic activity whatsoever).

Circulation is the 'heart of the matter'

As we design for good circulation, we look at site activities, the movement of people, vehicles and other objects or things through the area. Usual site design includes planning for people to get into and around the site, walking through it, and vehicle access to it. In urban site situations, the people and things may be the only circulation, as vehicles are accommodated on public streets and access ways.

First, we need to review what already exists; is it is functional and attractive or will it need work to properly integrate it into our design? Movement of people through a site should connect to the public walkways and to the residence entrance. Usually, but not always, access from the front to rear yards is on the garage side of the property.

In this "before" sketch, you can see that the pre-existing hardscape surfaces in this example of a 50-year-old neighborhood ranch-style home were a driveway and a sidewalk.

In defining an entry for a residence, we must consider that this critical focal point should be a positive reflection of both the client and context of the site.

Talking with the client and reviewing the site and surroundings will help us define the proper alignment and whether the entry should be open or closed to the street. Often in new and renovation design, the opportunity occurs to improve the entry and sequence to the front door.

Diagnosis: a case for some circulation 'surgery'

The case study example illustrated on this web page is a 50-year-old ranch and drive. The existing street access is a straight drive up to the garage and via direct side walks to the entry.

As can be seen in the "before" images, the drive had structural problems. A site investigation revealed the drive had a poor sub base, causing unattractive cracks along the walk that reflected poorly on the property.

Here are "before" shots of the front of the house and driveway...

In the redesign of the entry circulation, the area was developed into an entry space with an inviting and integrated drive, turn around and guest parking with a walk. Two of the early design problems were a drive that required a back out into traffic to exit the site and lack of guest parking.

Other site issues to correct included a front porch with the same subbase problem as the drive resulting in cracking of the concrete.

Better, stronger -- and a heckuva lot more attractive

The redesign started at the door with a new porch. A decorative paver detail in the concrete was added to connect to the new walk and motor court. As can be seen in the porch photo, the band of textured pavers now connects the court materials and curves of the entry.

The edges of the motor court have a more solid course of pavers to define the edge and an interior band or textured pavers with a color change as a visual cue to flag the edge of the pavement.

To scale and accent the center of the drive and guest parking, a circular pattern of textured pavers was created in the field of pavement, which also complements the edge detail in the court.

The pavers are aligned in a varying diagonal pattern down the drive to provide added stability -- and lessen the wear of tires on the drive. The end of the drive meets the street with a concrete apron. A few selected diamonds of textured pavers are added to scale and add accents to the space.

Design elements of bordering pavers and a central diamond accent design provide a touch of elegance and greatly add to the aesthetics. Driveway pavers are aligned in a varying diagonal pattern to provide added stability.

Circulation complete

In the planning and development of this ranch landscape, the circulation was the primary aspect that had to be defined prior to considering the plantings and lawn areas.

In any residential landscape proposal, it is essential to look at the circulation needs of people and vehicles prior to defining the lawn and planting beds.

I hope this explanation and approach is helpful to you. Check back here on LandscapeNetwork.com for parts two and three of this series, which will address the plantings and turf areas within the design.

Editor's note: Greg Pierceall, a Professor of Landscape Architecture at Purdue University/HLA, insists he's "a gardener, not a crop duster." He can be reached at pierceal@purdue.edu.

Click here to read Part 2

Click here to read Part 3