Concept Drawings a Great Read

posted; 08/01/06

This is my version of a concept drawing in the best sense. It’s loose but to scale, it’s flowing and fluid but the spatial relationships are factual.The clients are able to read this along with a series of renderings that I take to the meeting and are able to start a dialogue on what they really want for the landscape. Heck I’ll even give them the pencil and they can start drawing away-they love the empowerment.

This inclusion of the client really makes for a better design. Knowing what they really want allows me to actually go farther into creating great spaces. This enthusiasm from the client allows me to push my envelope even wider.

Doing Justice for the Client:

To this day and as long as I do this I will never understand how Designers, Architects, or large Design-Build firms (the biggest offender) think they can go from a simple interview to a finalized Master Plan with no discussion in between, none. To me this does no justice to the client, or the site. Especially when this gets into large dollars, as a matter of fact the larger the job the more meetings involved-it becomes a process.

Is this necessary for a $2,000.00 job? No, of course not. But when I hear, am told, or actually see projects that go from a interview to master plan for $40,000.00, $60,000.00, or even $100,000.00 I am baffled, and sometimes this happens without the designer even doing the interviewing! Its done by a salesperson. If there are any homeowners reading this; please, interview with the designer and not the sales guy, things/desires/wishes/likes/dis-likes will be lost in the process.

These concepts are just that-concepts, and they should be explained that way. A work in progress, a jumping off point, a place to open up real dialogue about what the space needs-or should look like. This is not only where we really find out what the client wants, but what they don’t want. How very important.

These plan conceptuals along with the renderings tell a story, a real story about where a site is going-its a great read.

By Rick Anderson

The Whispering Crane Institute was originally formed to act as the umbrella organization for the Philosophy of Design Symposium, and other seminars and workshops given by Rick Anderson and Richard L. Dube’. In the year 2000 WCI became a sole proprietorship owned by Rick Anderson. Today the WCI provides design and consultation services for Landscape Contractors, acts as a Green Industry think tank, and provides training for others in the form of workshops, seminars, and individual consulting. The WCI also provides written material, opinions, case-studies and how-to articles for industry trade magazines.

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