HO-162
LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE
HORTICULTURE DEPARTMENT 
COOPERATIVE EXTENSION SERVICE
PURDUE UNIVERSITY 
WEST LAFAYETTE, INDIANA 47907
DEVELOPING A RESIDENTIAL LANDSCAPE DESIGN
by Ada Niedenthal, Extension landscape architect
A home surrounded by an attractive and useful landscape increases in value and provides an enjoyable setting for the owners. This publication is intended to help you continue in the process of developing a pleasing and functional landscape for your home.
In HO-161, "Planning a Residential Landscape Design," you learn how to analyze your site and consider the desires and needs of your family as the first steps in developing a landscape design. That publication further illustrates how to develop alternative planning studies in the form of bubble diagrams and select the diagram which reflects the best fit between you, your interests and the existing site.
This publication explains how to refine your preliminary design studies by considering circulation and how to develop a landscape design theme that is in harmony with the existing surroundings and structures. It offers considerations for determining size and space requirements for the different activity areas you may have chosen. It also illustrates uses for landscape structures and offers criteria for the selection of construction materials and plant materials. Overall, it will enable you to further develop your residential landscape design plans.

Refining Preliminary Design Studies
You have made some comparison bubble diagram studies to explore alternative activity locations based on your design program and your site analysis. These studies are intended to:

■	help you visualize the location of activities.

■	help you evaluate optional locations in relation to existing site conditions.

■	help you determine (in general terms) the amount of space needed for each activity.

■	help you determine conflicts which may arise by having incompatible activities next to each other.

■	help you draw alternative studies in a quick manner.

Select the diagram which best fulfills your program needs, which makes the best possible use of the existing site conditions and which provides for the least amount of conflict between activities.
Now consider just how functional is your arrangement of activities. Think in terms of moving through your site plan, walking to and from the house, and moving into and out of the various activity areas. As you imagine yourself moving about on your property, you will be establishing paths and proposing circulation routes.
Place another piece of tracing paper on top of your bubble diagram and draw the paths people will follow in order to get from one activity area to another. Also show doorways and consider movement into and out of the house and other buildings. Draw these paths on your plan using bold lines to show heavily traveled circulation routes and lighter lines for minor circulation routes. Try to eliminate conflicts, such as having children cut across a garden to get to a play area. Eliminating conflicts at this stage is an important step in refining your design studies. These proposed circulation routes will be places where you will consider providing paths, sidewalks, or other paved surfaces (Fig. 1).