PRINCIPLES OF PARK DESIGN 



ade walk thirty feet wide, which caused much alarm at the time it was 

 first staked out, and yet when executed appeared perfectly in scale 

 with the park entrance with which it composed. A formal park walk 

 may be changed in scale by the divisions of its marking, exactly as the 

 scale of a fa9ade is influenced by the size of its voids and the detail of 

 its ornament. A park, similar to architecture, must relate in scale to 

 the human figure but not to the same extent as must a building; it is 

 controlled more by the scale of its area and the scale of its surroundings. 

 A factor of scale that must be considered in the design of parks is 

 that of third dimension. For example, the small city park surrounded 

 by high buildings requires as great a foliage height as may be obtained, 

 in order to prevent its having an undue appearance of depression or 

 squattiness ; while a broad expanse of park bordered by comparatively 

 low buildings would have a stilted, gangling appearance if planted 

 with a superabundance of tall-growing fastigiate trees. Scale in park 

 design, therefore, is ensured in two ways : First, by comparing the park 

 features with each other, allowing no feature to dominate others unduly 

 by reason of size ; and second, by comparing them with the size of the 

 park area and the architectural scale of the surroundings, determining 

 the size and height each feature may take in relation to its environment. 



EXPRESSION OF CHARACTER 



The fifth principle, that of character, is of importance in park work 

 in two respects : First, a park design should not seem anonymous ; and 

 second, it should express the character of a park, not the character of 

 something else. The design of a park should not be so intricate in its 

 detail as to suggest a private garden. It should not appear personal 

 as though owned by the residents of the adjoining properties, nor so 

 individual as to attract attention to the personality of the designer. 

 It should express a breadth of purpose, a largeness in the handling of 

 its masses and in the disposition of its parts, that shall make for its 



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