How Line Forms Dictate Space and Style
Principles of design are the fundamental guidelines, which every landscape designer should use as a basis for creating their plans. These principles consist of scale, line value contrast, lettering and line forms. View five basic line forms:
• Rectilinear
• Arc and tangent
• Arc and radii
• Arc and arc
• Curvilinear
Line forms emphasize real and imaginary lines and play an important role in the creation of large and small spaces within a landscape. Hence, in landscape design, spaces define "outdoor rooms" and the movement and flow between those rooms.
Also line forms dictate traffic patterns within the landscape and help visitors guide visitors through the various spaces. Arrangement of hard features will also depend on the line forms used and the flow they create.
Each type of line form - rectilinear, arc and tangent, curvilinear, etc. - will create spaces differently and the designer should be aware that the line form they choose to define a space will depend on the design style they are trying to achieve and the desired experience.
Mixing styles and remembering that "form follows function" allows a designer to accentuate the best elements within a landscape.
Line Forms and Styles:
Rectilinear Line Form
Rectilinear:
Grid: the pattern created by lines running side by side (parallel) and intersecting with lines running at right angles (perpendicular) to the parallel lines.
Form
• No arching or curved lines;
• Line segments may be of any length or various lengths;
• All lines are straight;
• All lines are either parallel or perpendicular to one another;
• Lines intersect at 90-degree angles;
• Promotes a regular grid pattern style
Style
• The intersections of this grid pattern dictate gathering spaces;
• Rigid style;
• Very formal style;
• Typically symmetrical;
• May create the feeling of cold and unwelcoming if underdeveloped.
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