PRINCIPLES OF PARK DESIGN 



as to forestall criticism, its lines positively demarked and well tied 

 together so as to announce a firmness of treatment, a man's solution of 

 the problem that will not brook change after the design has been 

 accepted to the point of being laid out on the ground. Only with such 

 strength of design for a foundation will the park detail of it appear 

 vital rather than superficial. Strength of design can be obtained only 

 by a forceful solving of problems well in advance of execution, a 

 getting down to fundamentals and a constructing of the design on an 

 axial two-dimension basis that will diagram simply and read clearly. 

 The more elaborate a park is to be, the more carefully arranged must 

 be the main lines of the design to provide strength for carrying the 

 landscape superstructure. 



NEED OF UNITY 



The third principle is that of unity. The design of a park must 

 express a certain oneness of idea. There must be a common trait in 

 the expression of the different elements of its design and an amiable 

 relation between them. There cannot be unity if there is attempted 

 admixture of too-widely variant park elements, and nothing will so 

 destroy the unity of a park and render its effect so distinctly unpleas- 

 ant as the bringing together of too miscellaneous features into one 

 park composition. To obtain unity in a park there must be a har- 

 monious relation in both the design and the material of its component 

 parts. For example, the introduction of a stucco building into a small 

 park already characterised by brick walls and a brick pergola, or the 

 introduction of a brick building into a park perhaps already dominated 

 by stone retaining walls, can be accomplished only at the sacrifice of 

 unity, for there w r ill be an obvious discord of material. Again, the 

 grouping of a Colonial arbour, a Spanish pool and Florentine seats 

 cannot be pleasing, for there will be discord of design. Finally, in 

 addition to harmony of material and relation of style, unity of park 



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