Perusing the internet I was a bit overwhelmed by the influx of landscape companies offering "contemporary" and "modern" design/plans. Reading some of the descriptive paragraphs of these said landscape plans it was clear that merely design process terms filled in the blanks and were not necessarily incorporated into the plans. This concerns me on the behalf of homeowners who simply "don't know what they don't know", and in some fashion being misled into believing what is good landscape design. Perhaps I'm a being a bit egotistical to suppose that my ideas, experience, and education give me the authority to judge one design from another, but I believe in the examples shown below I'm just in my views, but by all means, I encourage different points of view.
One of the most frequented requests I receive from clients is a "natural" landscape, which to them refers to curvilinear. Its hard for me to understand this obsession with forcing "natural" forms on a site. You live in 30'x70' square foot lot in the cusp of an urban area and you want natural? I suppose a more relevant unused term could be organic, but these curvilinear lines in confined, often odd-shaped lots subtract, not add to the space provided both visually and physically.
The Bad
Take the above landscape plan for example, given the odd-shaped lot, notice how the converging of curvilinear lines create acute angles and unusable spaces. The center planter "island" does not define spaces but rather interrupts the larger grass area, rendering that space useless as well. It may be argued that this space is purely visual and doesn't serve as a functioning space, and to that I have to ask why is turf, a maintenance, water, waste heavy material being used in the first place.
The second plan incorporates an abundant program, including spa, bbq, fountains and a patio, but the relationship between these program elements and forms are hodgepodged together in a way that shows zero clarity or spatial harmony with each other.
The Good
Enough with the bad stuff, now I want to show a few designs which exemplify the creation of quality and maximized spaces, and overall good landscape design. The three designs below also have three different design intentions, but all are equipped with the same key items for spatial harmony.
The above plan shows what can be done with a confined space and zero lawn. The modernistic garden designed by Stephen Woodhams, merges the inside with the out, and creates defined spaces using simple elements. The variety of textures and colors of materials and planting categorize but do not subdivide the garden.
Below is a softer approach, which uses program elements more commonly requested such as a small lawn area. But in this design the spaces are clearly defined with lush, mass groupings of plantings. A center axial reference directs the eye longitudinally, creating depth. The mix of a variety of planting species and pea gravel and stone give the landscape the cottage garden feel.
The final landscape design above diverges away from convention creating a bold artistic expression in the landscape. The mix of greens, blues, and greys with the planting and rockwork build a dynamic contrast in colors and textures. The swirling, converging lines of the plan at first glance appear haphazard and chaotic, but further study shows rather an "organized chaos" relationship with each other. The goal is to keep the eye moving and interested.
Rather then just my voice being heard as judge and jury by all means share your comments in discussion. The fun part about design is that it is viewed differently with alternate perspectives individually.
All images from David Stearns book Small Space Gardens, highly recommended as a great source for small space ideas and materials.