WITH THE LANDSCAPE

“Whatever evaluation we finally make of a stretch of

land… no matter how profound or accurate, we will find it
inadequate. The land retains an identity of its own, still
deeper and more subtle than we can know. Our obligation
toward it then becomes very simple: to approach with an
uncalculating mind, with an attitude of regard. To try to
sense the range and variety of its expression – its weather,
and colours and animals. To intend from the beginning to
preserve some of the mystery within it as a kind of
wisdom to be experienced, not questioned. And to be
alert for its openings, for that moment when something
sacred reveals itself within the mundane, and you know
the land knows you are there”.
 The four stages in man’s relationship with nature..

• I-thou
• Self confident I-thou
• I-it
• Age of responsibility
Thus, there are natural processes that form the landscape, and the social
processes that have altered it to varying extents.
 LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT
• Create and preserve beauty of surroundings
• Natural scenery of the country
• Comfort, convenience and health
• Refreshment and calmness- nature

• FL Olmstead coined the term ‘Landscape architect’

(his second choice was ‘Rural embellisher’)
• During 18th century, architects designed gardens and landscapes
and no difference between both professions.

• However, in terms of the spatial use landscape architects

have a much greater role to play.. Also while considering
that the products of architecture are obsolete with life
spans much shorter than the time it takes for a tree to
reach maturity.
 The three components of practice…

• Landscape planning and assessment

• Site planning
• Detailed design
 The five components of a theory…

• Natural processes
• Social processes
• Methodology
• Technology
• values
Natural landscape reflects processes in Nature…
No one aspect of the pattern is without cause or consequence.
All merge irrevocably into a self sustaining end evolving
ecological system, representing the resolution of the natural
forces and processes up to a specific moment in time.
Man made form should reflect social processes, and be equally dynamic..
The parallel is perhaps limited, but it is this sense of ultimate resolution of form-
giving forces with a built-in potential for change that should be the goal of the
landscape planner and designer.
 PLEASURE GARDENS
• As we have seen, primary aim of landscaping was
functional- to grow food, to control and modulate
landforms and microclimate
• A garden is another aspect of landscaping, aim of
which is pleasure. There are several types of pleasure
gardens throughout history, and in different regions.
• Each type of garden is a reflection of the concurrent
man/nature relationship and an ordering of the
environment according to an image of an ideal world.
• Also, recent garden styles are built on the vocabulary
of great gardens of history.
• The concept of pleasure gardens starts with the
concept of heaven- like the Garden of Eden.
 ANCIENT GARDENS

MESOPOTEMIA (3500 BC)

• Earliest examples of landscape design
• Around Euphrates valley
• Dimensions and shape of planting beds similar to that of the fields.
• Irrigation channels and ponds for functional as well as sensuous
enjoyment of water in hot climate.
• Shade provided by forest trees in regular groves.
• Wall to protect from intruders and animals
• Sun baked palaces for nobles with gardens like these.
• Open spaces were planned as part of city design
• One third of the city set aside for orchards.
• Hanging Gardens of Babylon (600 BC) was one of the Seven ancient
wonders of the world.
• Earliest occupations of the inhabitants were Mesopotemia gardens
agricultural. Great flocks of sheep and herds of cattle
and goats, enumerated, in the lists of temple property.
Herdsmen and shepherds formed a numerous class,
recruited from the Bedouin constantly floating in from
the desert. The chief grazing grounds were to the west
of the Euphrates. All Babylonian life was affected by
this predominating activity.
• The need of irrigation of the fields fostered an
immense development of the canal system. At first,
the lands nearest the rivers were watered by the
primitive devices even now employed on their banks.
It was a genial thought of King Urukagina to construct
a canal, and wisely did he name it after the goddess
Nina for the work was worthy of divine approval. Soon
the canal became the characteristic feature of the
Babylonian landscape and the chief condition of Early Babylonian
agricultural prosperity. civilization
• Land was named according to that which it produced, Location
Oxen were used for farm-work, and numerous On the east
agricultural implements were employed. Sowing and
reaping, ploughing and threshing, irrigating and bank of the
cultivating, -- -- these constituted the chief events in River Euphrates,
the lives of the great mass of the Babylonian people, about 50 km
and made their land one of the richest and most south of
prosperous regions in all the world.
Baghdad, Iraq.
 Hanging Gardens of Babylon
• The Babylonian kingdom flourished under the rule of the famous King,
Hammurabi (1792-1750 BC). It was not until the reign of Naboplashar (625-
605 BC) of the Neo-Babylonian dynasty that the Mesopotamian civilization
reached its ultimate glory.
• His son, Nebuchandezzar, King of Bablyon (600 B.C.) was said to have built
the Hanging Gardens for his wife, Amytis, because she was homesick for the
flowers and trees around her former home in Media.
• The Gardens consisted of an immense pyramidation of terraces 30 stories
high, each overflowing with spectacular masses of colorful blossoms and
greenery, and kept watered by artificial rains pumped through a sprinkling
system from the Euphrates river. Here, in beautiful apartments within the
terraces, the King and his Queen spent the rest of their days.

Situated in The Tigris-Euphrates Valley,

Babylonia has been referred to as "the
cradle of the human race" for somewhat
good reason - the Garden of Eden was
located somewhere in it .
• The approach to the Garden sloped like a hillside and the several parts of the structure rose from one
another tier on tier. On all this, the earth piled and was thickly planted with trees of every kind . The water
machines [raised] the water in great abundance from the river, although no one outside could see it.
• "The Garden is quadrangular. It consists of arched vaults which are located on checkered cube-like
foundations.. The ascent of the uppermost terrace-roofs is made by a stairway..."
• "The Hanging Garden has plants cultivated above ground level, and the roots of the trees are embedded in
an upper terrace rather than in the earth. The whole mass is supported on stone columns... Streams of
water emerging from elevated sources flow down sloping channels... These waters irrigate the whole garden
saturating the roots of plants and keeping the whole area moist. Hence the grass is permanently green and
the leaves of trees grow firmly attached to supple branches... This is a work of art of royal luxury and its
most striking feature is that the labor of cultivation is suspended above the heads of the spectators".
 EGYPT (3500-322 BC)
• Around the Nile Valley
• Gardens were prized.
• Religious and symbolic significance of certain tees and
flowers like lotus, papyrus and date palm- for use and
ornamentation.
• For pleasure and medicine, food and worship
• For shade and coolness, Multipurpose spaces
• Irrigation channels and garden pavilions, surrounded
by high wall for protection
• Thought to have the first botanical garden
Geography
The ancient Egyptians thought of Egypt as being divided into two types of land:
• the 'BLACK LAND'
&
• the 'RED LAND'.

 The 'BLACK LAND' was the fertile land on the banks of the Nile. The ancient Egyptians
used this land for growing their crops. This was the only land in ancient Egypt that could
be farmed because a layer of rich, black silt was deposited there every year after the
Nile flooded. The vast majority of the population lives along the Nile valley, because
most of the rest of the country is desert.
 The 'RED LAND' was the barren desert that protected Egypt on two sides. These
deserts separated ancient Egypt from neighboring countries and invading armies. They
also provided the ancient Egyptians with a source for precious metals and semi-
precious stones.
ent Egyptian Gardens
 Throughout the history of ancient Egypt, gardens were prized & were kept both for
SECULAR purposes and attached to TEMPLE compounds.

 There were gardens for every purpose:

• for pleasure
• for medicine
• for food
• for worship.
• A key feature of the
gardens was the
architecture, which was
characterized by its
grandeur.
• one of the first countries
where the skill of
the creation of gardens
and parks arose.
• Because of the floods in
the Nile Valley it was
only possible to grow
agricultural plants.
 First Artificial Terraced Gardens
• The first artificial terraced gardens in Ancient Egypt
appeared at the elevated locations that the water of
the Nile could not reach during floods and in the places
with a deficiency in moisture and vegetation.
• Those areas were irrigated by creation of channels.
• Alleys with shady trees and bushes were stretched
along the channels, this helped to decrease the
evaporation of water, provided shade and freshness.
• The vineyards were located next to the gardens.
• The regular, rectangular network of channels dictated
the creation of the rectangular, symmetrically located
gardens.
• The best years of landscape
design were reached in the period of
the bloom of the ancient capital of
Egypt - Luxor(Thebes).
• The gardens were created in the
palaces, the temples and the houses
of well-off owners.
• They composed the green
decoration of the city. •High trees were placed on
the peripheries and low
• Gardens, as a rule, had rectangular
plants in the middle of the
form, a regular, symmetrical plan and
garden.
the closed composition, it had alleys
•Space between the trees
and a series of plants located in front
was occupied by vegetables
of the palace.
and flowers.
•The composition centre of
ensemble was always the
palace, located on the
central axis of composition.
• The main part of the garden was
taken up by a large amount
of ponds , often very large in size
(60x120m).
• Gardens had exotic trees, birds and
animals.
• Egyptian gardens were the
gardens of plains, in which because
of the natural climatic conditions
the main part of the gardens was
occupied by large ponds, pools
and channels.
• The magnificent Egyptian Gardens
of Queen Cleopatra were famous
around the world. Date palms, fig
tree, garnet, acacia and fruit
trees were planted here. Gardens
surrounded by the massive
amounts of wood plants.
 PRINCIPLES
• In ancient Egypt the gardens were
designed using the following principles:
• • The use of symmetry is one of the main
elements of the regular plan
• • The closed compositions
• • The centre of ensemble is always the
main house, situated among the large
number of the ponds
• • Rhythm as the composition method
• • Alleys and series of plants
ANCIENT GARDENS
GREECE (400 BC)
• Villa Gardens
• Houses were modest- living rooms opened to an
interior court paved and decorated with statues
and potted plants.
• Olympic Village
• Houses which connected external spaces
ROME (1 BC)
• Mountains, rivers, channels
• Using techniques of Greece and Egypt,
developed park culture
• Peristyle gardens, public gardens, hippodrome
gardens
ROMAN GARDENS

Roman gardens were enormously influenced by greek gardens, or atleast the roman
perception of them, but evolved into much grander affairs and ultimately became quite
distinct from them.

CIRCULATION PATTERN
•The Romans used the concept of “growth by accretion” - space as connector.
• This method was initialy used by the Greek
• Circulation was through defined public spaces & it did not serve only for circulation
• The buildings ordered around one axis is so placed in relation to the existing buildings which
binds them together.
•The principle axis through fares (main street )were designed to visually to link the important
spaces & built forms. Archways were built.
• Different landscape features such as fountain, freestanding arches, arched porticos were
extended from various complexes that enhanced the street status as principal avenue.
• These landscape elements differentiated the main avenue from the sub streets.
• These principal streets acted as the market streets that ultimately led to the forum
AXES ORGANIZATION PRINCIPLES
Axes as connectors
• The axes became the connector because of
their strong sense & liking for order & logic.
•They introduced a new element that was the
“interlocking axis”.
•unifying system brought about by : Unifying
of building shaving perpendicular axes which
led to locking of spaces between them.

Mass as connectors
•A new design concept introduced, that is
the angular relationship of masses.
•Interlocking of curved structures such as
exedras, rotundas, and cylindrical colonnades
offered a wide range of angular sub axis
which could interlock various parts of
composition.
ELEMENTS

• In Greek cities residences were part of the city but in Roman

cities, residences were extension of the city. For the first time
residence was the combination of house & Garden – The Estates &
Villas evolved.

• Other hallmark in Roman cities were the non commercial public

space.

•These were called places of happiness. Like one such place is the
bath – great bath

• But as the individual residences collapsed, the important of public

space was lost.

• The cites were beautiful with sculpture and ornaments.

• One important aspect was the animation of the light on

continuous flow of water which the Romans designed and to
enhance the visualization. The continuous motion and the sound of
water splashing in fountains and pool gladding over water stairs was
the important basic and cultural landscape.
INFLUENCES

•Roman gardens were influenced by Egyptian, Persian, and Greek

gardening techniques

•Porticos were developed to connect the home with the outdoors and
created outdoor living spaces

•The gardens were enclosed to protect from drought and were in contrast
to the Persian gardens

•Pleasure gardens originated from Greek farm gardens, which served the
functional purpose of growing fruit
ARTS OF A ROMAN GARDEN

Private Roman gardens were generally separated into three parts

•The xystus, was a terrace that served as an

open air drawing room and connected to the
home via a covered portico

•The ambulatio consisted of a variety of flowers,

trees, and other foliage served as Roman recreation
activities
Archaeological Park of Baia -
The garden in the section
Ambulation

•The gestation was a shaded avenue where the master of a home could ride
horseback or be carried by his slaves. Generally it is constructed in oval shape
ELEMENTS REQUIRED FOR ROMAN GARDENS

PAVING AND PERGOLA

GARDEN BEDS, CONTAINERSTURF
EVERGREENS
Mostly preferable plant is the evergreen
shrubs, which shades in the summer and have
strong structure for winter

•This would include box plants

formed as balls or other shapes.
• These plants add year-round
color to the Roman garden.

FRUIT
•Figs, olives, pears and apples were most common.
•apple, cherry, peach or pear were used, if figs and olives don't fit into their
climate.
•The flowers add color and fragrance to the Roman garden in the spring while
the fruits add interest during the summer and fall.

FLOWERS
•Roses, marigolds, violets and crocus are all common bedding flowers used in
Roman gardens.
DIFFERENT TYPES OF ROMAN GARDEN

•BASIC HORTUS
•PERISTYLE GARDEN
•VILLA GARDEN
BASIC HORTUS

• Due to limited space in towns and cities, people of Rome started to

grow plants on the roof and window boxes.
• Gradually, a back yard garden was developed in the towns of the
Rome known as hortus.
• In this garden , people started to grow herbs and vegetables for
household purpose.
• Gradually hortus gardens are turned into a place of
entertainment and relaxation.
• Rather than ornamental, they were used for growing vegetables
and herbs for the household
• It is very limited and confined area in the courtyard of a Roman
house

Eg: House of the Surgeon in Pompeii

ROMAN HERB GARDEN

Herbs were essential, being useful for culinary and medicinal use. Eg:
thyme, mint, savory, celery seed, basil, bay
 PERISTYLE GARDEN
• The fashionable version of the hortus design is
the peristyle design garden.

• It was originated from Hellenistic, Greek.

For Greeks, it was the courtyard in the centre
of the house. But later on, Romans converted
it into a fashionable design of garden.

• Instead of surrounding their houses with large

lawns and gardens, the Romans created their
gardens inside their domus.

• The peristylium was an open courtyard within

the house; the columns surrounding the
garden supported a shady roofed portico whose
inner walls were often embellished with
elaborate wall paintings.

•. The courtyard might contain flowers and

shrubs, fountains, benches, sculptures and
even fish ponds. and linked to all the parts
of the garden by footpaths.
The 'Garden of Pompeii' is a
peristyle garden in the Roman
Empire.
VILLA GARDEN

•Large country Villas were the expanded, varied and large garden design on the
basis of recreation, ornamental and functional.

• Ornamental gardens were the large alternative of peristyle

garden.

• Flower beds and larger raised beds arranged with different shapes with trees,
hedges and water features were the
main items needed for Villas garden.

• Villa gardens were the most suitable space for a morning

or evening walk and exercise purpose.
Pliny The Younger Villa at Laurentium