CHAPTER II 



Landscape 



Design 



Defined 



Esthetic and 



Economic 



Aspects 



THEORY OF LANDSCAPE DESIGN 



Landscape design defined — Esthetic and economic aspects — Psychological 

 BASIS OF esthetic THEORY OF DESIGN — Scnsation, perception, intellection — 

 Pleasure — Sources of pleasure in sensation — In perception and imagination — 

 In intellection — Experience, emotion, and association — Esthetic analysis in 

 design — Unity — Logical — Ethical — Economic — Esthetic — Esthetic expres- 

 sion and impression — Definition of beauty — Types — Ideals — Taste and 

 STYLE — Landscape character — Landscape effect. 



The word "design" is commonly used in two different ways. We 

 say "design and construction" when we mean to differentiate the de- 

 cision as to what is to be done, and the record of this decision, from 

 the actual doing of the work. We say "good practically but bad in 

 design" when we mean, for instance, that a building serves its pur- 

 pose as shelter, but does not serve its purpose of giving visual pleasure. 

 This use of design as meaning only esthetic design is confusing, for, as 

 we shall see later, no sharp line can be drawn in most actual work be- 

 tween esthetic and economic design. In this book the word "design" 

 will be used as meaning the art or act of determining the character of 

 an object so that it shall serve any predetermined purpose or purposes, 

 and the term " landscape design " will be used simply as meaning design 

 in landscape materials. 



As landscape architecture is a fine art, all of its works must be 

 designed to some extent to be pleasing in appearance; but the great 

 majority of such works are intended to serve also some other purpose 

 of the user. Landscape design has, almost always, an economic as 

 well as an esthetic aspect. The economic considerations affecting the 

 design of landscape are best set forth by discussing the important types 

 of designed areas organized according to use, such as the garden, the 

 private estate, the park. These we take up later in Chapter XI. The 

 general esthetic principles underlying landscape design we will dis- 



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