housing and commercial developments
Commercial Developments
Business units communal atrium area, Hampshire
plan of a small courtyard to office unit
Commercial developments, either office, workplace or retail, bring oportunities for enhanced design. Bringing the landscape indoors, onto roofs or terraces can be a stunning way to use space, enhance the visitor/work experience and create a landmark building and environment.
Housing developments
There are massive requirements for housing development, which put huge pressure on environmental systems, infrastructure and social resources. Good landscape design, including initial site layout, is the balm to heal and resolve many of the arising conflicts and pressures that development inevitably causes.
There has to be a genuine willingness by all parties to see landscape as a value-adding asset to the development, rather than an unwanted expense. Profitability should take into account the social and environmental integration of the development.
One of the single biggest factors on new housing developments is layout of the site and giving preference to people over vehicles. Simple issues of front garden layout in dealing with parking and wheelie bins can make a huge difference to the quality of life. Issues of play and community space and room for trees also greatly enhance the success and thus the worth, of the development. The needs of intense development and room for community and landscape can be in harmony, provided the landscape is dealt with as an integral part of the initial site design.
Workplace Redesign
We spend a huge proportion of our life at work, so it's not surprising that the work environment has a big impact upon us, for good or ill. The entrance to our place of work affects us and creates a phychological impression of what to expect. A bland, dreary office front does little to raise the hopes or spirits of those about to enter. If those people are your clients, you're off to a bad start. Many offices and places of work could be transformed for only a moderate outlay. Entrances should be the biggest focus, but also courtyards or outdoor rooms for lunchtime relaxation and a general enhancement of the surrounding landscape can do much to lift staff morale. Seas of parked cars need breaking up with walls of greenery, bringing things back to a human scale.
