Using SketchUp in Landscape Architecture Workflows
Landscape architects require a good understanding of the environmental factors surrounding the job site. The workflows of a landscape architecture project can include the following phases:
- Planning Strategies (PreDesign)
- Functions and Features (Schematic Design)
- Designing Concepts (Design Development)
- Site Design and Visualization (Construction Documents)
- Quality Control ( Construction Administration)
SketchUp has all the tools to help landscape architects plan and navigate their project, from start to finish.
1. Planning Strategies (PreDesign)
Landscape architects provide consultation early in a project to assess an existing site and provide sustainable strategies for:
- Reducing heat island effect
- Beneficial shading areas
- Light pollution reduction
During the planning stage, they assess and provide information on the quality of outdoor spaces. SketchUp’s PreDesign is a great starting point for understanding interventions affecting outdoor spaces and give helpful baselines for what are the most effective strategies in a specific location.
2. Functions and Features (Schematic Design)
During the Schematic Design phase, landscape architects plan and illustrate site elements and entourage using many of the same tools as other designers. Their primary concerns are:
- Site design guidelines and standards
- Paving and site structures
- Irrigation
- Circulation of pedestrians, bicycles, equestrians, and vehicles
- Site furnishings
- Water features
Similar to the entourage and furniture architects and interior designers use, landscape architects populate their models and scenes too. They just use different types of things. SketchUp’s 3D warehouse is a great tool for all designers and features many useful pre-made 3D models. The search features have recently been enhanced, with even more exciting features being planned for better user experience.
3. Design Concepts (Design Development)
Just as architects and interior designers shape a floor plan, the landscape architect imagines how the ground plane of the site might look, and designs its shape.
SketchUp has intuitive tools for modelling surfaces and ground planes easily. As the project progresses, the landscape architect will need to work out the details of the design.
The project site for Utah State Fairpark has a very flat ground plane and it sits right next to a river. However, the river is fenced off and the Fairpark sits a bit too high above the river for anyone to enjoy it.
Using SketchUp as a base model to draw over, the Landscape Architect shows how the Fairpark can connect to the river by creating a sloped lawn area and removing the fence. Changing the ground plane around the river creates a more enjoyable riverwalk area.
This is somewhat a more colourful type of construction doc sheet, but it shows the types of things that Landscape architects are concerned with in this phase, from the types of plants, their location, the zones of planting to the specific types of furniture and equipment.
4. Site Design and Visualization ( Construction Documents)
One of the landscape architects’ tasks involve measuring the quantities and qualities of site features and materials, including elements related to:
- Reducing heat island effect
- Beneficial shading areas
- Light pollution
- Sustainable approaches for water or energy
- Native planting
- Site circulation
Working primarily in 2D, landscape architects are responsible for the materials on the site and the quality that they create. They make key decisions about how much of certain materials there were and how that affected the environmental quality of the site. That’s important for tracking sustainability requirements.
SketchUp is a great tool for performing takeoffs of areas and showing materials.
5. Quality Control (Construction Administration)
Architects, interior designers, and landscape architects are all responsible for ensuring that the designs are installed and built correctly and to the quality specified in their drawings. The renderings they create show the final intent; however, the drawings and specifications show what they’ll check for as the design is constructed.
This is just one of the many workflows that you can use SketchUp. Interested in how SketchUp works in Architecture and Interior Design workflows? Check out this blog.
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