Landscaping can turn your compound into a serene place regardless of the environment. Contrary to popular belief, landscaping goes beyond the mere planting of plants.
Experts describe landscape architecture as the creation of spaces and places for human enjoyment.
"The lesser amount of land you have, the more important it is to plan for it. Land is a finite resource, it will never grow in size," says Robert Kariuki, the principal landscape architect and director at Lariak Landscape Ltd.
Surveying and doing research on your piece of land and its surrounding will give your ideas on what not to include in your landscape design as well as the general architecture of your house in some cases. The details can range from hard-to-miss to finer ones, which might be hard to detect.
"It is important to involve a professional in designing the spaces of your home before construction begins. It may cost you some money but its impact is timeless," says Kariuki.
It is important to be familiar with the by-laws applicable where you live to ensure you are on the right side of the law. The by-laws can at times determine the type of structure and inputs you can include in your compound. Those who value agriculture and view planting of maize as the ultimate landscape choice may have to re-evaluate their taste if their piece of land is in any of Kenya's three cities of Nairobi, Mombasa and Kisumu. Land titles in these areas are registered mainly under commercial and residential users only.
Surveying of neighbouring structures would determine the type of the actual landscape approach one would take. There are two broad types of landscape approach: introverted landscape design and extroverted landscape design.
Blocking unwanted features
An introverted landscape is whereby your piece of land is blocked off from the surrounding environment which is usually ugly and unpleasant to view.
If your piece of land was in the middle of a concrete jungle, where the surrounding buildings were not only taller than yours but intrusive in that your privacy is invaded with scores of people looking down at your property and watching the happenings in your house, this is the kind of landscape design that you should take up.
Making an introverted design is not as complicated as the name might suggests. Methods taken to make an introverted design are merely steps taken to block the unwanted ugly views.
The cheapest and easy way of doing this is by planting trees and shrubs that block these views. Apart from blocking, the trees provide a natural feel to your home that is easy on the eye.
Borrowing from the environment
Extroverted design is the opposite of introverted design that seeks to borrow from the environment. This involves little or no blocking of the surrounding features, which are pleasurable to your eyes from the comfort of your house.
But one needs to be careful before opting for this design. As it is in many upcoming neighbourhoods in Kenya today, the features surrounding a given piece of land now were not the same ones two years ago.
Proper research on the likely features of the surrounding environment years from now would determine whether or not an extrovert design is appropriate. An extensive research would reveal the zoning by-laws and trends governing the area and the type of neighbours you are likely to have a couple of years down the line.
Supposing your piece of land is next to a national park. Evidently, the park scenery will remain unchanged for years to come. Hence borrowing the park's natural scenery to enhance the tranquil view from your home is very much encouraged.
On the other hand, nobody wants to have their piece of land facing a view of natural green forest and build their houses facing this view only to have a 20-something storey tower come up next to their house, blocking their view and forcing them to face the intrusive massive building.
Extroverted view design affects the floor planning of your house. To borrow from the environment and feel its effect, the position of the private area where one spends most of their time should face the major scenery in question. This explains why most beach houses have their living rooms, where guests and occupants spend most of their time, facing the sea.
Views like the Ngong Hills, Nairobi's bright night skyline and the Mount Kenya slopes during the morning hours should be among the features Nairobi city dwellers should have their living rooms face.
Emphasising structures
Ever worn a real exquisite fashion accessory but it keeps on getting overlooked because of the other equally shiny accessories, which you didn't anticipate to be the headliner?
That is exactly what happens with structures within our homes that are meant to elicit beauty but are easily ignored.
Robert Kariuki gives an example of a statue constructed within a compound. If it has a bright surface and is surrounded by equally colourful plants, then it would lose its intended purpose of being the centre of attraction.
Such a statue would need to be surrounded by plants, which have darker leaves or flowers hence making it (statue) the centre of attraction.
Another feature that could bring out this are neat hedges, leading to the centre of attraction, which happens to be gazebos in many an urban Kenyan backyard in recent years.
This simple technique of drawing attention could also be used in emphasising points of entry and using trees in place of hedges leading to the main entrance of a house.
A common feature in Western Kenyan homes already, this landscape technique not only brings beauty to your home but also bars the unwanted area from view while at the same time keeping your beautiful home visible from a distance.
Noise
Buying land in an easily accessible area means being adjacent to busy locations which have noise as a product. Highway noise of cars honking, markets where people are loudly hawking their goods and frequent unwarranted 'Kamukunjis' are just some of the sources of such noise.
There are logical landscape solutions one can choose to keep the noise at bay, making it possible to have peace at night in a remote farmland in a corner plot next to a busy Nairobi superhighway.
If your piece of land is large enough, you could plant trees from the source of noise. The trees or plant materials refract the noise and create a noise shadow on the tree.
A review by Huddurt in 1990 shows that in some instances, noise can he reduced by six decibel over a distance of 30m where planting is particularly dense.
The decibel (dB) is a logarithmic unit which expresses the ratio of the sound pressure level being measured to a standard reference level. A zero decibel level corresponds to the threshold of human hearing. A one-decibel increase is roughly equivalent to the smallest difference in loudness perceptible to the human ear and an an increase of 10 decibels roughly corresponds to a doubling in the apparent loudness of a sound.
If the piece of land is small, the sure way of controlling the noise is by constructing a buffer wall. The buffer wall should not be just any other wall. It should be tall enough with an irregular rough surface to refract sound (noise) and create a noise buffer zone around your house.
Security
Landscaping can also be used to instill a sense of security within a locality. "A lot of cases of burglary are committed in our homes because no one knows what is going on within your compound half the time as you have surrounded your home with a high concrete perimeter wall," says Kariuki.
To this, Kariuki suggests a simple approach that is practised all over the world, which involves keeping an open lawn within a neighbourhood which allows for community policing.
koguoko@standardmedia.co.ke
