Concept design
Turning a brief and a site into a plan
The creative phase, and the one amateurs skip straight to. Done properly it is systematic: zone the space by function, resolve circulation, design for a 40-degree February, group plants by water need, then draw it.
You end up with
A concept plan for your property that answers the brief and respects the site analysis.
What you produce in this phase
Zoning diagram
Produce at least three different bubble diagrams for your block, allocating every square metre to a function drawn from your brief. Then pick one and say why it beat the others.
Material palette
Assemble a mood board and a written material palette: paving, walling, decking, edging, mulch, screening and furniture. For each, note the material, an approximate Perth rate, how it weathers here, and why it belongs with the others.
Hydrozone plan
Divide your garden into hydrozones — typically high (lawn, vegetables), medium (feature and exotic planting), low (established natives and waterwise planting) and none (dry, unirrigated). Draw the boundaries and estimate the area of each.
Concept plan
Produce a scaled concept plan of your property showing all zones, surfaces, structures, planting masses, levels changes and circulation, with a title block, scale, north point and date. It should answer the brief and respect the constraints plan.
Lessons
- 01
Design fundamentals: proportion, scale, unity, rhythm and focal points
Not written yetThe principles that make a garden feel resolved rather than assembled. They are learnable, they are testable against a drawing, and they are why professional gardens look calm and amateur ones look busy.
⏱ 60 minFoundation - 02
Functional zoning and bubble diagrams
Not written yetBefore any shape is drawn, allocate the space by what happens in it: arrive, sit, eat, play, dry washing, hide bins, grow food, store the trailer. Bubble diagrams are ugly, fast, and the single highest-value hour in the design process.
⏱ 60 minFoundation📐 Makes: Zoning diagram - 03
Circulation, sightlines and thresholds
Not written yetHow people actually move, not how you wish they would. Path widths that work, the desire lines that will be worn into your lawn anyway, what you see from the kitchen window, and what the neighbours see of you.
⏱ 45 minIntermediate - 04
Designing for a Perth summer: shade, thermal mass and the western wall
Not written yetForty-degree days, relentless afternoon sun and paving that reaches surface temperatures you cannot walk on. Shade is the highest-value element in a Perth garden, and where you put it decides whether the space gets used from December to March.
⏱ 50 minIntermediate - 05
Style, mood boards and material palettes that belong in WA
Not written yetLimestone, jarrah, granite, rammed earth, liquid limestone, corten — the WA palette, what each costs, how each ages in this climate, and how to build a mood board that constrains your choices instead of just being pretty.
⏱ 60 minFoundation📐 Makes: Material palette - 06
Hydrozoning: water-led design before you draw anything
Not written yetGroup plants by water requirement and you can water each group correctly on two days a week. Mix them and you will overwater the tough ones and kill the thirsty ones. In Perth this decision precedes the planting plan and shapes the layout.
⏱ 45 minIntermediate📐 Makes: Hydrozone plan - 07
Producing the concept plan with free tools
Not written yetHand drawing, SketchUp Free, QGIS, Inkscape or plain graph paper — the professional output is the same: a scaled, labelled plan that shows the layout and reads at a glance. What to draw, at what scale, and what to leave off.
⏱ 3–6 hIntermediate📐 Makes: Concept plan - 08
Presenting a concept and taking feedback without wrecking it
Not written yetProfessionals present a concept in a structured way and handle feedback without either caving or digging in. Do this with your household and you will find the problems now, when changing them costs nothing.
⏱ 40 minFoundation