Analog Perfection
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Category Archives: Good Fit
Doing Garden Design, part 3: Field Notes
As summer’s yard work draws to a close, I offer the following garden-related “notes-to-self” that have been scribbled in my journal during the season.
fatsia berries
PLANT CARE
- Consider and then use the best available tool for any given task.
- Don’t cut corners in any task, large or small.
- Learn about the form of root systems of undesirable plants, the better to eliminate them.
- When pruning, eliminate dead, weak, and crossing shoots/branches. Be mindful that any cut made will determine the leading edge of new growth. Try to visualize the direction the new growth will take. Cut to encourage growth into outward-inclined free space.
- No two plants can thrive in the same exact location. Choose one. Carefully extract the other. (See item #4, above.)
- Mulch, and mulch again.
magnolia, with hardy geranium ground cover
REFINING THE DESIGN
- Think big, pay attention to tiny details. Be on the lookout for surprises.
- Allow room for growth.
- Build into the design some tolerance for chaos. Selectively groom to let in happenstance.
- Cut losses with too-far-gone plants or schemes.
giant fern, unfurling
MINDFULNESS
- Note the cycle of patience punctuated by decisive action.
- Observe with focus.
- Stand back regularly, and take the long view.
- Pace self.
- Slow down. Patience is a goal.
- Stop and smell all of it.
tulip
All photos by Laura Kraft.
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I invite your comments.
What More Do You Need?
These cold, dark, damp Seattle winter days have me thinking about ways to keep warm. I love this elemental hot tub. The wood-fueled heat exchanger is a simple and obvious example of form following function. The tub is a half-sphere, with squat legs and a useful side shelf. Cold water, supplied with a garden hose, is mixed with steam-heated water to regulate the desired temperature. The couple looks like they are steeping in a colossal cup of tea!
Once in a while, a designed object hits all the right notes.
It is only as complicated as it needs to be in order to work. It performs its job with elegant efficiency. Its material is well suited to the application and the material’s properties are appropriately exploited. The object’s use is obvious to the user.
Its form and function resonate with one another, clear as a bell.
The photo was featured on a Metropolis Magazine cover, sometime before 2003. The Dutchtub Original was designed by Floris Schoonderbeek. The quote above is from Sweet Spot, posted in this blog in September 2012.
Feel free to share this image, but please provide a link back to 2H Pencil.
I invite your comments.
Sweet Spot
Once in a while, a designed object hits all the right notes.
It is only as complicated as it needs to be in order to work. It performs its job with elegant efficiency. Its material is well suited to the application and the material’s properties are appropriately exploited. The object’s use is obvious to the user.
Its form and function resonate with one another, clear as a bell.
This one-piece Lucite soap dish (circa 1975, designer unknown) is such an object:
View
Plan
Front Elevation
Side Elevation
All images belong to Laura Kraft-Architect. Feel free to share any of these images, but please provide a link back to 2H Pencil. Thanks.
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