By Ed Fenzl, ASLA

FIGURE 1?EUR? the 2D site plans from the project general contractor gives the scale and location of buildings, parking lot, curbs, site hardscape amenities and existing trees to be saved.

The Dreamtree Project is a residential treatment facility for at-risk youth in Taos, New Mexico. The first and original construction of buildings was completed on a one-acre site about five years ago, implementing both LEED (U.S. Green Building Council?EUR??,,????'???s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) and sustainable architectural building methods.

In October of 2006, five additional units and a community room ?EUR??,,????'??round house?EUR??,,????'?? were completed to accommodate eight additional residents, providing housing for 16 communal residents.

Last April, I volunteered to provide pro-bono landscape design and construction management services for the entire site; five distinct areas for landscape and garden development were identified. The front entry and the Courtyard Garden were determined to be the highest priority and are currently being constructed.

This month?EUR??,,????'???s article focuses on three stages of development of conceptual plans for the courtyard garden using a variety of software programs and techniques for presentation to the clients, staff and resident users of the facility.

After acquiring the 2D Site Plans (see Fig. 1) from the project general contractor the first phase 3D Plans for the Courtyard Garden were developed after a field visit for observation, measuring and taking digital photos of the many site perspectives. Figs. 2a, 2b, 2c show an AutoCAD 2006?EUR??,,????<

FIGURE 2a

FIGURE 2b

 

FIGURE 2c


FIGURE 2a, 2b, 2c ?EUR??,,????'??+The AutoCAD 2006?EUR??,,????<

The first model developed for the Courtyard Garden was the hexagonal arbor with the central fountain and benches; this space naturally lends itself to being the central gathering place and providing circulation between the buildings. This space will be the outdoor meeting room for group therapy. It includes passive recreation for the individual and small groups in need of a calm restorative atmosphere. While the larger space is open to the sky, the walkway paths utilize the architectural vernacular of latia (aspen and pine tree poles) lathing. At this stage, very few of the plants have been placed; lighting, materials, people and details such as building windows and doors have not been placed. It is important to note that all items created with closed polylines must have thickness; this includes the front door concrete pads, footpaths, ground plane surfaces and the dry creek bed swales. This additional step ensures visibility of all objects in the rendering that eventually get imported into your 3D modeling program. A basic knowledge of ?EUR??,,????'??extrusion?EUR??,,????'??? techniques is needed to develop 3D solids and models.

This rendition was created to get a feeling for the space; the orbit tool in AutoCAD?EUR??,,????<

FIGURE 3 ?EUR??,,????'??+The second stage development plans began with the AutoCAD?EUR??,,????<

The second stage development plans began with the AutoCAD?EUR??,,????<

FIGURE 4 front

FIGURE 4 side

FIGURE 4 top


FIGURE 4 front, FIGURE 4 side, FIGURE 4 top ?EUR??,,????'??+This stage of completion is the artist?EUR??,,????'???s concept from the front, side and top view. The different angles and depth ranges are produced by manipulating basic toggle buttons, orbit and zoom tools.

The final stage of development utilizes all digital images to create a photo-realistic landscape concept of how the site looks with hardscape and plants installed. A digital photo of a front or side view of a site is imported into the Design Imaging Group?EUR??,,????'???s DesignWare?EUR??,,????<

AutoCAD?EUR??,,????<

FIGURE 5 ?EUR??,,????'??+ An example of the finished product shows the placement and sizing of details, a fairly easy process similar to cut and paste tools. Lighting gradation, shadows and 2-3 point perspective manipulation of objects requires some practice with the program.

Three dimensional modeling and rendering is more time consuming than traditional design methods both in terms of learning the software and creating production scenes, but as a marketing tool it?EUR??,,????'???s an invaluable resource. The Dreamtree Project received grant funding for the first phase construction within four months of design commencement. The programs and tools available to designers have bridged the gap to contractors and clients who need that ability to visualize the built landscape for their project.

Ed Fenzl, ASLA, is a freelance landscape designer in Taos, New Mexico. At the ASLA conference in Fort Lauderdale in 2005 he presented "3D Landscape Modeling from CAD to Rendered Presentation?EUR??,,????'?? using Bryce 5, Autodesk Viz and World Builder Pro 4.