Overton Square Capstone: Now for the fun part...

First, check out this link for more info about landscape architecture...

Now that process documents have been submitted and returned, it is time to move to design. This process (different for everyone, but the same at the core) begins with functional plans and conceptual designs.

Functional plans are very loose, fast sketches or diagrams that are used to quickly determine the best layout for elements on a site. Usually, I set out with a general idea of what I want on the site and how big it should be. Then, I overlay trash paper (tracing paper) on base survey for the site and draw multiple, distinctly different plans as fast as I can. From these I can pick and choose aspects that I like from each and compile them into one. For this project, I am required to create three conceptual plans, so I will have three functional plans to base them off of.

Conceptual plans are more refined and start to introduce form to the the design. Will the design be rectilinear or curvilinear? This is where questions like this begin to be raised. I will also start to layout designs for building shapes, courtyards, open space, etc.. Conceptual plans should still be fairly quick to prevent getting locked into one design.

This week was focused on creating functional plans. It has been pretty hard to stay focused on work due to the excitement about New Orleans this weekend. Next week will be devoted to creating the three conceptual plans which are due on Friday. Always working down to the wire...