It’s hard to overstate the importance of involving a landscape architect early in the site planning process.
Whether siting buildings or drives with respect to orientation and elevation; so much of the future
site development is controlled by those initial decisions. Too often opportunities are lost or worse,
expensive corrective measures are necessary to mitigate fundamental mistakes; expensive retaining
walls, stairs, drainage structures, wet basements, awkward grade changes, buildings that don’t relate to
the landscape.
The design of building and landscape should go hand in hand. Buildings should relate to grades and the
lay of the land. Plantings reinforce that relationship further, providing sun, shade, breezes or shelter,
capturing and framing views, creating outdoor spaces that directly relate to interior spaces.
Choosing details of pavement or plant species or color though important, are truly secondary to
fundamental site planning issues. Unfortunately though, all too often, this is when the landscape
architect is called in. At this point, much of the controlling issues have already been determined and
must be reacted to. In the worst of these cases, no amount of cosmetics can save the situation.