BECOME A LANDSCAPE DESIGNER

Meet Jojo Navarro, get familiar with the course structure and see how every assignment builds toward the one residential landscape project you'll develop across nine weeks.

• Meet your instructor
• Course structure
• Assignments and final project overview
• Discussion: What makes a successful outdoor space

Explore the landscape designer's role, scope and workflow, and learn the core principles of scale, proportion, balance and hierarchy that make outdoor spaces work.

• Landscape design vs landscape architecture vs garden design
• The landscape design process
• Core design principles
• Function vs aesthetics
• Case studies: Australian and international residential landscapes
• Workshop: Critique a residential landscape

Optional Assignment: Landscape Inspiration / Design Vision Board
Collect the references and ideas that shape your design vision before the project work begins.

Learn to read a site the way professionals do, from topography and drainage to sun, wind and privacy, then translate your findings into a clear opportunities and constraints diagram.

• Site information and survey data
• Site inventory and circulation
• Topography, levels and existing drainage
• Orientation, microclimate and soil
• Drawing basics and base plans
• Demo: Preparing a site analysis diagram

Assignment #1: Site Analysis & Opportunities / Constraints
Analyse the provided residential site and map its key conditions, opportunities and constraints, with notes on how your findings will shape the design.

Discover how to turn client needs, priorities and constraints into a concise design brief and a functional zoning strategy that organises public, private and service spaces.

• Understanding the client and project context
• Translating needs into a design brief
• Functional zoning
• Adjacencies, circulation and indoor–outdoor connections
• Bubble diagrams
• Workshop: From client brief to functional zoning

Assignment #2: Client Brief & Functional Zoning
Write a concise client brief with prioritised requirements, then develop a functional zoning diagram annotated with key adjacency and circulation decisions.

Master the move from zoning diagram to landscape concept by building a design narrative, testing alternative directions and refining geometry, hierarchy and focal points through iteration.

• Translating analysis and zoning into design
• Developing a design narrative
• Alternative concept directions
• Spatial organisation and focal points
• Iteration and refinement
• Demo: Developing a concept from a zoning diagram

Assignment #3: Landscape Concept Plan
Submit concept alternatives or process sketches, a preferred concept plan and a short design narrative showing how it responds to the site and brief.

Plan terraces, paths, decks and outdoor living zones at the right scale, and build a materials strategy that balances character, climate suitability, durability, cost and maintenance.

• Hardscape layout and sizing
• Human scale, accessibility and safety
• Material selection and transitions
• Climate suitability and maintenance
• Sustainable, lower-impact materials
• Demo: Developing a preliminary hardscape and materials palette

Use trees, shrubs, grasses and groundcovers as spatial tools, layering structure, texture, colour and seasonal change to create enclosure, privacy, shade and focal points.

• Planting structure and layering
• Focal, structural and supporting plants
• Form, texture, colour and seasonal change
• Mature size, spacing and quantities
• Planting around buildings, pools and hardscape
• Demo: Turning a random plant selection into a coherent composition

Apply a repeatable method for selecting resilient plants based on climate, soil, water and maintenance, then document your choices in a clear planting plan and schedule.

• Climate, microclimate and soil conditions
• Native and water-wise planting strategies
• Biodiversity and habitat
• Planting plan notation and quantities
• Demo: Developing a plant palette and planting schedule
• Case study: The Australian Garden, Royal Botanic Gardens Cranbourne by Taylor Cullity Lethlean and Paul Thompson

Assignment #4: Planting & Preliminary Materials
Develop a hardscape and materials strategy, planting character zones, a plant palette with rationale, a preliminary planting plan and a basic planting schedule.

Produce clear, accurate landscape drawings using the right scales, lineweights, symbols and annotation, and learn to read and navigate a professional drawing set with confidence.

• Scale and drawing hierarchy
• Landscape symbols and annotation
• Plans, sections and elevations
• Concept vs technical drawings
• Sheet layout and callouts
• Demo: Reading a professional plan and developing a concept sketch into a clean plan

Resolve level changes with slopes, steps and retaining elements, and learn to direct surface water away from buildings while recognising when specialist input is required.

• Contours and reduced levels (RLs)
• Gradients, falls and crossfalls
• Building thresholds and connections
• Surface-water movement and drainage responses
• Coordinating levels with hardscape and planting
• Workshop: Resolving a level change between house, terrace and garden

Build a basic SketchUp model of your landscape to test scale and spatial relationships, then set up camera views that communicate its design character to clients.

• 3D in design development
• Importing 2D design information
• SketchUp essentials
• Terrain, massing and landscape elements
• Responsible use of AI-generated visuals
• Demo: Building a simple residential landscape model

Refine your design into a cohesive, buildable whole by integrating hardscape, planting, levels, lighting and amenities, then put it through a structured quality review.

• Integrating hardscape, planting and architecture
• Outdoor furniture and human comfort
• Functional and ambient lighting
• Accessibility and inclusive use
• Water features and focal elements
• Workshop: Design development and QA review

Discover what contractors need from designers, then translate your developed design into coordinated sections, details and specification notes that communicate buildable design intent.

• Design stages and documentation
• Coordination with architecture and services
• Sections and construction details
• Material specification notes
• Common documentation mistakes
• Demo: From plan callout to enlarged plan, section, detail and material note

Assignment #5: Technical Design Package
Produce a developed plan, indicative levels and drainage strategy, a section, a typical construction detail, material notes and a basic 3D view.

Shape your design story into clear presentation boards, explain your rationale with confidence and practise responding to client feedback and managing revisions.

• Developing the design story
• Presentation board composition
• Selecting drawings and imagery
• Explaining design rationale
• Responding to client feedback
• Workshop: 3-minute client design presentation with feedback

Understand the designer's role from design approval to handover, including scope and fees, contractor coordination, RFIs, cost awareness, site inspections and practical completion.

• The landscape project lifecycle
• Professional scope, fees and deliverables
• RFIs and contractor queries
• Quantity take-offs and budgeting
• Value management
• Quality assurance and handover

Structure your project as a professional portfolio case study, tailor it to the roles and clients you're targeting, and prepare for interviews, portfolio reviews and freelance work.

• What employers look for in a portfolio
• Structuring a portfolio case study
• Portfolio layout and quality control
• Landscape design career pathways
• CV and interview preparation
• Freelance practice fundamentals

Present your completed residential landscape design package, gather instructor and peer feedback, and wrap up the course with a final Q&A session.

• Final project presentations
• Instructor and peer feedback
• Wrap-up and closing
• Final Q&A