Detail is very important in any design. It helps create the the desired 'feel' by the architect, it makes a design unique. When designing, it's fun to call out a specific material or paving layout or even to not that you will have some sort of structure in space b. Usually in studio, we call the details out without knowing if it will actually work there or be functional for the specific space. This week, looking at the Tanger Outlet Mall in Daytona Beach, Florida, my whole world was about detail and making sure it was functional and even more importantly, understandable.
Like I said, it's very easy to call something out and put it down on the plan. You can sell your design by how beautiful it will be and that works most of the time. When it comes down to actually installing the project, how the project turns out is all up to you and how understandable your construction documents are. To simplify this concept, I'm going to ask you to think of a piece of furniture you purchased. That special piece looks so beautiful and you can't wait until it gets back to your new apartment. BAM it's from Ikea and its in box completely disassembled. Now you get to look at a little booklet filled with step by step instructions. You really appreciate clear, simple and understandable instructions.
Obviously our work as landscapes architects, is a little more complicated than putting a new bed set together but the concept is still the same. The installer needs to know how and where to install everything or else your design could turn out to be pretty horrific- and then we all know a few law suits would come shortly after- but that is a different topic. This week at work, we finalized all the paving, the furniture, the concrete, the planters, the everything else you can imagine that goes into a design. We had to know exactly what we wanted to order, how much to order, and the size of everything. We also had to take care of the drawings and make sure every single thing was called out, from irrigation to electrical to hardscape, it was all important (kind of like the layers to a perfect pizza, everything needs to work together). I was under appreciative of the CD's and their importance in school, but taking what I learned then, from Mr. Carl Rodgers, and now (to real life), CD's and I have a whole new relationship. They still drive me insane due to the constant minor changes you have to make in multiple drawings- but they do have purpose and it's very satisfying when all the drawings coincide.