(...and saving the planet, one yard at a time!)
Yvon Chouinard:
"Going back to a simpler life is not a step backward."
DESIGNING HABITAT FOR HUMANS, TOO
SERVICES OFFERED:
property audits
design consultations
regenerative landscape design
Staring down the charred, smoking barrel of climate change, carbon footprints, and global warming, we wonder -
Can I even make a difference?
Heck yeah.
Right in your own backyard. Let's say we develop your plan to do that?
SERVICE: PROPERTY AUDITS
UNDERSTANDING YOUR PROPERTY
This "educational" service encompasses a site visit to assess: What do I have? Where am I at? We'll walk your property and share an honest, lively conversation - be sure to take notes. By the close, you'll understand the lay of your land:
is my property ready for the era of aridity?
how "alive" is it, is it "feeding" itself?
what am I doing wrong?
how resource-intensive is it?
what should I take out?
what can I leverage?
what's next?
SERVICE: ON-SITE DESIGN CONSULTATION
EXPLORING POSSIBILITIES
We all contribute to land transformation and overdrawn watersheds. You want to address consumption, but you also want a sweet place to land that doesn't feel dry and pokey. Let's assume that every step we take addresses those things, and let's move on to the fun stuff, shall we?
During an on-site consultation, we discuss ways to:
introduce cohesion
reduce barriers and separation
refine the flow between spaces
marry your home to the land
bring Earth's aliveness into the moment
explore local materials and species
discuss & weigh various implementation methods and practices
Clients often carry paper and pencil; They scribble notes, drive stakes and label them; and we whip out a design, right here and now. It saves hundreds if not thousands of dollars to design this way - and it's immediate!
SERVICE: REGENERATIVE LANDSCAPE DESIGN PLANS
A ROADMAP FOR SUCCESS -
INVESTMENT, EFFORT, & OUTCOMES
Invest in processes, species, materials, and deliverables that will flourish into aridity - because it's coming.
Resilient, intelligent design requires less effort than shoddy design. Shall we make wise choices grounded in science and Nature?
Several concepts are a given:
Nature WILL move in
Humans crave beauty
Chaos is uncomfortable
Backcountry Backyards uses rigorous design concepts to allow for the wandering bit of Nature. Solid architecture within the design is the armature for beauty and organizes what feels to us like chaos.
SCROLL DOWN FOR MORE INFORMATION ON REGENERATIVE DESIGN CONCEPTS & WHAT THIS SERVICE ENCOMPASSES
SERVICE:
REGENERATIVE LANDSCAPE DESIGN
A "LIVING" BLUEPRINT
(This is where you feel good saving the world.)
HOW A LIVING DESIGN PROCESS DIFFERS FROM A TRADITIONAL DESIGN PROCESS
Backcountry Backyards' design process is similar to traditional design, however, each step along the way is "alive," and therefore iterative: ebbing and flowing with the tide of the project.
Breathing in possibilities, releasing constraints in a direct reflection of Nature... Flow, touched by the transition of space, cycles, and seasons.
'Design is not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works.' - Steve Jobs
HOW A LIVING DESIGN PROCESS IS SIMILAR TO A TRADITIONAL DESIGN PROCESS
Regardless of Nature's complexity and our love of it, we still want order: the regenerative landscape design process must still deliver visually arresting and welcoming spaces.
Rigorous design principles and processes ensure it.
'The Designer does not begin with some preconceived idea. Rather, the idea is the result of carerful study and observation, and the design is a product of that idea.'
- Paul Rand, American graphic designer
The deliverables at this level of service is what most people think of when they think of a landscape design: the roll of 24" x 36" drawings. Behind those rolled up "blueprints" is a thorough, fun process:
A Client interview to
Develop your Design Program, which relies upon
A Site Analysis exploring constraints & opportunities
Designer & Client communicate back and forth, chewing on ideas towards a
Preliminary Design, which pitches a variety of possibilities & solutions for the Client to consider
Back to the drawing board to integrate decisions, resulting in the
Final Plans, to-scale; includes a "living" spreadsheet of plant species & materials specified & quantified
Drafted plans are developed as a guide for major features of the plan such as site walls, terraces, circulation, and spatial layout. Trees, shrubs, boulders, and the like.
The driving document, the value in this level of service, however, is the Design Narrative.
THE
DESIGN NARRATIVE
"MESSY VITALITY"
DESIGN NARRATIVES EXPLAIN THE RICH, DYNAMIC COMPLEXITY (VERSUS STATIC SIMPLICITY) IMPOSSIBLE TO CAPTURE IN A LAYOUT SCHEMATIC
A traditional landscape plan, or "blueprint," cannot begin to document the ever-evolving, intermingling, seen and unseen, complexity of species, processes, cycles, and seasons inherent to ecological biodiversity.
Design Narratives will vary from project to project, carrying the client through
The design program, site analysis, and how the design addresses opportunities and constraints
Plant communities and the waxing and waning of species
Implementation, construction, and stewardship recommendations
THE DESIGN NARRATIVE IS A VALUABLE RESOURCE, ENSURING THE LONGEVITY AND INCREASING VALUE OF THE PROJECT.