OUGD603 - Brief 6 - Research Brief - Indoor Gardening - Development - Simplifying the idea of a garden

Simplifying the idea of a garden

It was considered that potentially trying to represent a full scale garden in such a small space would potentially be quite busy and not allow much room for plants within the planter. The use of buildings within the design such as a houses and sheds potentially makes the design a little whimsical despite the design being quite minimally in terms of the shapes and forms used within the design and the use of one material. 

It was considered instead that potentially a feature or aspect of a garden could be represented within each of the planters. This would create the impression of someone having a small area of garden to tend to indoors rather than a full one. 

It was considered that perhaps the design could simply represent different forms of garden the distinctive features of these. Key features of a garden were considered such as raised beds,, walls, patios, lawns, arches, sheds, greenhouses, rockeries etc. There would be a focus on representing a variety of specific elements within a garden. For example a simple symmetrical geometeric pattern could be used to reflect a formal garden, a rectangular pond with steps through the middle could reflect a modern garden, a lawn with path alongside it could reflect someones back garden, a enclosed patio area with sunken seat could reflect a courtyard garden. Restricting the idea of a garden to specific areas and simplifying the shapes to geometric forms will allow more space for plants to be planted alongside the design. The use of different layers and depths within these designs will also add to the the sense of the planter being a landscape rather than a flat design e.g. a pond will be sunk into the design with the steps through it raised up allowing water to be added to these or a courtyard patio will be sunk into the design allowing raised beds to be created around this.

It was considered that perhaps some of the marks and shapes used in garden design drawings to reflect different materials could be used over the top of the designs to suggest different materials used within the gardens e.g. patios, decking, brick walls etc.