The courtyard project was a lot of fun to work on because it combined numerous elements. I decided to use a piece of art titled Samba by AJ LaGasse for inspiration. I was particularly drawn to a portion of the painting that, in my mind, could easily be transferred to the landscape.

I worked on sketching my ideas out to see if I could turn this work of art into a working landscape. Eventually I selected which elements from the painting would become elements in my design.

After seeing the bold colors of the painting I wanted to transfer them into the landscape. To accomplish this I created a perennial bed that was filled with purple flowering plants year-round. Additionally the water, turf, and walkways were a solid color.

The sketched plan was transferred into AutoCAD, detailed, and then rendered by hand. In addition to the plan, a SketchUp model was created to facilitate a solar analysis to ensure the design would encourage use year-round.