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Tim Thoelecke, APLD
July Member of the Month
Motivation
Like any good designer, design decisions
must always be motivated
Okay this month I get the soapbox, so here goes.
It's not about the plants.
Ouch! A lot of landscape designers don't like to hear me say that. But it's true. Gardening IS about the plants, but design is not.
To
me, a well-designed landscape should be an extension of the architecture
and an extension of its owner. When you step onto a patio, it
should feel as if you have entered another room. When you approach
a front door, you should feel a sense of entry before you cross
the threshold. Yes, it's about how it feels, but, no, you don't
arrive at good solutions by feelings alone. Good design, to me,
is a logical, methodical process, tempered with experience, a
cultivated aesthetic sense, and, yes, a bit of "feeling." An
instructor I had while I was a student at the Inchbald
School of Design years ago said something
to the effect of, "You must be able to justify everything
you put in a design." That is, if a design element does
not have an explainable, defensible reason for being where it
is, it probably doesn't belong there.
If the reason is "for
decoration," or "for interest" or "to provide
some variety," that's not enough. In my view, these expressions
ought to be stricken from the vocabulary of landscape designers.
Those terms are peeves of mine. 
They
are "decorating" terms,
not design terms.
Now, I'm not going to claim that I've always done things right from a design standpoint. Most designs are client-driven to a certain extent, and often we do things to please the client, despite our preference to do something else. We need happy clients, even if their project never makes it to the portfolio. I can also state quite confidently that I didn't always "get it."
Over the course of my career I have had a number of epiphanies. I began to "get it" while at The Inchbald, but it's been a maturing process for sure. Experience and travel are probably the biggest contributors to any success I've had in creating good landscape designs. That and a constant hunger to understand, to get better. When I see a design that I like, I always take time to figure out what it is I like and to "deconstruct" it in my mind. There is always someone out there who is better and more experienced, and we may as well learn from them. We can't live long enough to make all the mistakes ourselves either, though I HAVE made an effort!
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The American Academy of Landscape Design came about because I believe that certain strategies can be learned and that with proper instruction, designers with the will to pursue it, will eventually "get it." And even if they never truly reach a full understanding, methods can be learned that will keep them from making the big mistakes.
My friend Harry Schuster used to say,"All other things being equal, a well-designed landscape doesn't cost any more to install than an ugly one." Why then shouldn't we be installing good designs? Easy answer. How do we learn good design vs. bad? Difficult answer. Many in our industry come to it from another career. Some come from a horticulture background. Others come from a landscape architecture background. Where do we learn how to make things look good? Curiously, it is rare that even a good LA program deals with this very important part of the field. They teach function very well, but the aesthetic portion, not so much. Professors like Greg Pierceall are a rarity. Most good designers out there, in my estimation, learned to be good through their own initiative, or by mentoring under an accomplished designer.
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During
a workshop, a student asked me a simple, yet very powerful question. "So,
Tim, when YOU are working on a design, where do you start?" Wow.
Tough one. It's not a linear process, but it certainly can start
that way. For me, I start with what is known and non-negotiable.
Usually that's the house. I look at views of and from the house.
I'll often draw a grid of sorts, extending construction lines
from every conceivable architectural component: windows, doors,
corners, views and whatever else needs to fit into the design.
I begin working within that framework with the idea that anything
that fits within it will somehow relate to the architecture.
Now, this is a "101" approach, but it's essentially
foolproof. There are many iterations that follow, but if you
dissect most any of my designs, no matter how informal and "loose" they
may appear, you will find this underlying structure.
It's kind of fun to have the soapbox for this short time. There is no intent to offend. In design, there is more than one right answer. Our job is to find the best right answers for our clients. (I believe this is paraphrased from my friend Greg Pierceall.)
If you care to check it out,
my blog is
where I usually rant. I also have an e-newsletter that
goes out every month or two.
About Tim Thoelecke
A past president and certified
member of the APLD, Tim Thoelecke is also a certified arborist
and a full member of ASLA and the Landscape
Design Association.
He founded Garden Concepts, an award-winning residential design/ build firm, in 1988. In 2002, he was awarded the Harry Schuster Service Award from APLD and is a member of its Past Presidents Council.
A member of the Garden Writers Association, Tim’s work has appeared in almost 70 publications. He has written for Crain’s Chicago Business and was one of the writers of This Old House Complete Landscaping, a book released in early 2004. He has also consulted or provided illustrations or text for five Sunset Books publications and had a project featured in Better Homes and Gardens in 2006 and appeared on HGTV’s Landscapers’ Challenge.
Tim’s newest venture is the American Academy of Landscape Design, a professional development program that improves the confidence and skills of landscape designers and landscape architects.
Tim lives in Glenview, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago with his wife Chris and three children. He is also a member of American Mensa, enjoys magic tricks, computers, gardening, golf, hunting, and anything that makes him laugh.
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