Designing of Softscape / Landscape: activities that can adversely impact business -Function-Design of Architecture
- 04 Jul 2022,
The design scope
includes the following:
· Selection of following and finalising the specifications
of:
§ Trees
§ Plants for exterior and interior areas, etc
§ Ground covers
§ Grassing
§ Planters
· Providing technical guidelines for planting,
layouts, spacing, quantity take off, watering, and fungi-control and maintenance
· Designing of Golf course and other landscape sloping or uneven areas
· Providing design ideas to the Architect team for
§ Swimming Pools and Spas
§ Lawn Furniture
§ Outdoor Kitchens
§ Landscape
Lighting
§ Watering
system
Characteristics
of a Robust softscape design can be measured vis a vis:
Architecture /horticulture-related aspects
· Scenic beauty
of the landscape
· Contributing to air purification
· Selection of Plants/trees/shrubs etc installed as
per planned specifications/sizes and aesthetically appealing in various spaces
·
Designing
for efficient utilization of softscape space in the landscape area
· Introducing roof gardens
· Bringing in green walls
· Golf course contours and grassing quality meeting
International and national standards
MEP design-related aspects
· Preservation of the environment
· Storm-water management
· Cleaning the soil and water
· Use of lighting as a powerful tool
· Ease of maintenance
Inputs that contribute to making a good Interior design include:
1 Proposing the right
choice of Trees/plants, planters, etc., in terms of specifications while
optimizing costs :
|
Types of softscape/ landscape items |
Key specifications of plants & trees (as required by
customers and suggested by Horticulturist /designers or applicable quality
standards) |
|
Trees
|
Types (coconut palm, oak, pine, redwood, etc.), Sizes: Height, stem/trunk diameter, attached
branches, canopy uniformity & fullness, leaves, flowers/fruits, etc.,
root, etc.) |
|
Ground
covers -for areas like garden, landscape, kitchen, inside rooms,
work areas |
Choices: Flower Colour, fragrance,
charm, sizes Types: rubber, wandering Jews, betel leaf, peace
lily, fittonia-spotted plant, dummies-(Ixora, herbs, anthurium, hoya), etc. wooly
thyme, Irish moss, blue star creepers, Roman chamomile, lady’s mantle, Corsican
mint, beach strawberries, and so on), |
|
|
|
|
Grassing-(cool
or warm season) |
1Blade – flat, narrow, sharp, pointed, rounded
hair-like e, V shape, visible vein, broad 2colour/texture -soft, dense, dark green, pale
green, spongy, pricky, stiff, carpet like 3
Size growth-height, bunch
type, quick, slow 4
Water-frequent, average, below average 5
Cool season- few examples-Bent
grass, Fine fescue, Kentucky bluegrass, Ryegrass, Tall fescue, 6
Warm season -few examples
-Bermuda, centipede, Zoysia, Dichondra, St. Augustine grass, |
|
Golf
course-9 holes or 18 holes |
Specifications
of different parts of a Golf course · The tea box (teeing ground where hole
begins), · fairway (30-50 meters from the hole with
tight trimmed grass) · The green (where each hole is located, with
cut short grass) · The rough (an area that surrounds the fairway
with longer grass) · Hazards
(ponds, lakes, creeks, etc.), bunkers Turf
grass-durable, drought tolerant, climate-driven Turf
choices (Bermuda, Bentgrass, Fescue, Zoysia, Poa annua, Rye) |
|
Planters-outdoor
or indoor |
Types-Ceramic, plastic, wooden, concrete, nursery
pots, garden-planter Urns, grow bags, window boxes, wall planters, vertical
planting towers, hanging baskets, railing planters, raised beds, terrariums, globe
containers, themed planters, Physical-Dimensions, shapes, colour, texture, weight, strength, weatherability, porous/drainage
holes, durability, water circulation, ants proof, |
|
And so on |
|
2 Incorporating, in
Landscape(softscape) related design & drawings, good practices for planting
or & installation of the following as per applicable Quality standards:
· Guying and planting of Trees, and plants, Ground
covers, grass
· Fertilisation
· Transplanting
· Watering
· Handling
· Pest control
· Fungicides control
· Method of constructing Golf- course
3
Building quality in the designing process for Softscape using designing
software:
· Horticulturists proposing High-Quality
§ Trees Plants
§ Ground covers, shrubs, etc
§ Grass
§ Planters
§ Golf course
§ Watering system
§ Planting, growing, and maintenance of plants
·
Providing
valuable inputs to other designers (architect or & interior designer, or
& MEP designer) for:
§ Designing of swimming Pool, ponds, and waterbodies
§ Designing of Patios,
Fencing, Driveways,
§ Designing Lawn /landscape
furniture
§ Designs for Landscape Lighting
§ Designing for the watering system
This
may require using design software such as Idea spectrum Realtime landscape pro,
NCH software dream plan, smart draw, etc., and other software options
Five stages for developing the design
of Softscape
Design activities vary considerably
from company to company, but generally, there are 5 stages to designing
the softscape as below. Whatever designing processes and software are
used, designing must result in developing Robust designs by accomplishing the
following:
· Build designs that are comprehensive, accurate
· Contributes to building quality in construction
by incorporating national and international quality standards in BOQ/material
specifications and construction processes
· Integrates statutory and safety requirements
(if applicable) in the designs and drawings
· Optimise project costs
· Enables efficient delivery of designs &
drawings
· Incorporates maker-checker step in each design
stage through the implementation of
segregation of duties concept
The
five stages are:
·
1 Develop Concept
designs
·
2 Develop a Detailed
design
·
3 Develop Tenders
(Technical design aspects
·
4 Estimating costs
·
5 Issuing
As-built drawing
Stage 1 Activities that can adversely impact business
· Not
obtaining and not incorporating inputs (like types and sizes of plants, ground
covers, planters, and plants for exterior and interior areas) from property
owners, sales team, and design teams functions in Building Softscape
design
· Using
unlicensed software while developing a concept design for Softscape*
· Not vetting the concept and detailed design
/making compromises while vetting Softscape, in collaboration with,
inhouse or outsourced Horticulture consultant, by skipping or
compromising on important designs and drawings aspects such as below vis a
vis Softscape Features:
§ Tolerances
on softscape material specifications and workmanship for installation
§ Bill of quantities for Softscape-
plants, ground covers, grassing, trees, planters, and plants
§ National
and international standards for quality
§ Sizes and specifications for Softscape
§ Softscape
safety requirements *
· Bribing
mandatory Agencies (e.g., green building-related) which approve the Softscape
relevant for issuing compliance *
Stage 2 Activities that can adversely impact business
· Design
intent not aligned to approved concept design
· Softscape
specifications/detailed drawings not comprehensive or not accurate vis a vis
plants, ground covers, grassing, trees, planters, etc.
· Softscape
layout, spacings, and quantities w. r. t. softscape elements are neither
comprehensive nor accurate
· Methods for guying, watering, handling, pest
control, transplanting, equipment, fungicides control and method for
developing Golf course not insufficient details vis-à-vis each type of
Plants, Ground covers, Grassing, Trees, etc.
· Assigning
the same landscape designer to develop specifications & drawings in this
stage who developed concept designs in earlier design stages thus not
implementing the segregation of duties concept*
· Compromising
specifications for the development of samples in collusion with
vendor/contractor
·
·
Stage 3 Activities that can adversely impact business
· In
the tender, the landscape designer/architect includes names and brands of
specific materials only for pre-identified /preferred vendors of the landscape
architect in return for commission/kickback from such vendors.
· Landscape
designer/Architect recommending only a single source for many plants, ground
covers, grassing, trees, planters, and plants for interior areas and thus
leaving very few options with the Project materials team to negotiate prices
aggressively in return for commission /kickback from such vendors.
· Tender
drawings not incorporating applicable Quality-standards or specifications for
all works.
·
Inspection requirements w.r.t. each BOQ material is not comprehensive.
·
Stage 4 Activities that can adversely impact business
Computing Softscape costs are based on
thumb rules rather than on a first principal basis, such as below, leading to
underestimating or overestimating project costs.
· Estimating
costs related to directly bought out BOQ inputs (such as plants, ground covers,
grassing, trees, planters, and plants for interior areas) by the project team
and issued to the Contractor, labor component, construction, installation, etc.
for all types of Softscape
· Estimating costs related to BOQ inputs in the
scope of the Contractor including labor component, construction, installation,
etc. for all types of Softscape
· Costs w.r.t. installation of plants, ground
covers, grassing, trees, planters, and other landscape material is not
considered
Stage 5 Activities that can adversely impact business
· Horticulture
consultant/landscape designer architect issuing “As-built drawings” for
Softscape drawings which are aligned to earlier approved drawings by the project
head but at variant vis-à-vis actual completed physical construction (in
terms of approved plants, ground covers, grassing, trees, planters, and plants
for interior areas materials used and their layouts/quantities, etc.)