BEN CRISFIELD-SMITH
B. Landscape Architecture (1st Hons) B. Urban Planning (1st Hons)
As a Landscape Architect I have specialised in the design and construction of residential projects with a particular focus on natural landscapes that are Australian bush themed and are a little bit out of the ordinary. This has enabled me to follow my projects through from conception to completion. Post construction, I have worked with knowledgeable local gardeners and property owners to assist with the shaping of the gardens to maturity.
I pride myself on working closely with my clients and on creating unique, meaningful garden spaces that reflect the people they are built for. Whenever possible, I create habitat for local birds, lizards, insects and frogs which in turn bring life and ambience to your garden. I create play spaces for kids and places adults can hide in a garden. It is so important that we connect meaningfully with the natural world and the residential yard is a great place to begin.
Many of my past clients have been avid gardeners and have brought with them an extensive plant knowledge which I have gladly welcomed into the design process. When this has not been the case, I have suggested local gardeners who understand local plants and have been able to help shape their gardens through time. Through working closely with you during the design process, I will develop an understanding of the role the outdoor spaces around your home can play in your life, with the aim of then designing a garden that reflects and supports the way you like to live.
WORKING METHODOLOGY
THE DESIGN BRIEF
All work undertaken by Crisfield Landscape begins with a design brief. A great design brief is the beginning of a great project. The design brief ensures that you as the client end up with a finished design/built project that reflects your original intentions. It also allows me to understand you and to design from a position of empathy and understanding.
Through the design brief we establish
- your personal taste in landscape,
- who and what your garden may accommodate,
- the key functions it will perform and
- the landscape project’s scope, budget, and
- intended future uses.
THE DESIGN CONSULTATION
Once a design brief has been completed, we can organise a design consultation. The design consultation allows us to take the ideas you might already have, explore them further and mix them together with the possibilities that the site offers. After the design consultation you will have a really good idea how the outdoor spaces around your home could function and the types of landscape that could be appropriate. After the design consultation, we will have enough information to quote the design work needed to facilitate construction. After the design consultation, a project map/sketch is produced which makes note of the ideas discussed/suggested during the consultation.
SITE ASSESSMENT
I begin the design by producing a scaled ACAD base drawing over which future design layers can be drawn. This phase is a study of the site and captures current features, conditions, characteristics, usage, opportunities, threats and constraints. Upon completion of this phase we are ready to design the project making the most of the space you have to work with. After this phase, you often have your first design as the ideas discussed during the design consultation are tested at scale with the possibilities and understandings of the site developed during the design consultation.
LANDSCAPE DESIGN
The design takes shape after the site assessment and it usually only takes a few iterations to get right before it can be produced and cost estimated. If the design brief was well written and the site assessment done well, we should get to a finished design fairly quickly. For front yard projects likely to involve excavation, I generally recommend a scan and mapping of existing services be done during the design phase.
Once the design is completed and produced, it can be project planned and cost estimated. At this point in the project, a degree of cost engineering can take place and the project can be brought into alignment with its budget. At this point you may break the project into stages or potentially choose to stagger its construction.
The design package will include an overall site plan and the required hardscape, softscape and feature details to be able to accurately price the project and put together a schedule of works. Generally drawings produced will be ACAD in plan at scales of 1.100 1.50 and 1.25. Any not to scale sections/elevations/details will be hand drawn as required to ensure construction methods are agreed on and finish heights and locations realised. Accompanying the planting design is a planting pallet. A construction cost estimate/schedule of work also accompanies the design package produced by Crisfield Landscape. At this point the design is finished and a detailed quote can be generated.
CONSTRUCTION
Crisfield Landscape can build all or part of the project depending on its size and its requirements. In situations where contractors are engaged I help you find highly skilled specialists to bring into the project. Should the project include elements outside of landscape construction a licensed builder can be engaged on your behalf.
ONGOING MAINTENANCE
I will consult with your local gardener to manage your garden maintenance needs post construction and to ensure they know exactly how to shape your garden through time to achieve the desired result.
SPECIALITIES
ARTISTIC ROCK
Natural rock can help bring the raw emotion of the natural world to your landscape garden. With natural stone comes immediate maturity and a sense of the passing of time. Natural rock can also bring wondrous textures and colours to a garden space giving it a sense of place and identity.
NATURAL CREEK LINES & FLOWING WATER
The presence of flowing water within an urban landscape transforms it from being a garden into a place by creating a layered ‘white noise’ that displaces the hum of the city with a soothing flow that can change how you feel in your garden. Flowing water asks you to slow down and engage meaningfully with your surroundings, to listen, to observe.
Flowing water can also provide a reliable water source for local wild life, bringing insects, lizards, frogs, birds and ducks closer to your home. Even a dry creek line that only flows during rain events can go a long way to creating habitat, microclimates and the possibility of a diverse garden ecology.
INDIGENOUS PLANTING DESIGN AND WILD PLANTS
Since 2015, I have specialised in the use of the local plants of the Melbourne region in the home gardens I have designed and built. I have strong working relationships with Greenlink Indigenous Nursery, Nangak Tamboree Indigenous nursery, Knox Environmental Society and Edendale Indigenous nursery. In 2018 I ran a series of community workshops on how to design a home garden with Indigenous plants. In most of my softscape designs, I have included a percentage of Melbourne Indigenous plants.
In sourcing plants, I can follow local provenance or work between nurseries giving you the widest possible range of Indigenous plants. By definition, a garden should be that which is ‘the best of’ and even if a garden is focused on providing habitat it should be beautiful and direct key lines of sight and moments. If you know how to make full use of the wide range of plants Indigenous to Melbourne, you can mix them cleverly with both Australian native and exotic plants.
Often, I bring in a few Australian native/Exotic plants into what is predominantly a Melbourne Indigenous planting design. In which case, I will steer you towards plants that although might not be local are suited to the clay soils of Melbourne. Planting must always follow soil profile. Even within Cottage/Exotic and Mediterranean gardens I have found ways to successfully integrate Indigenous plants.
Gardens created with Melbourne Indigenous plants function more like an evolving, moving landscape and are beautiful, wild and can provide habitat for local birds, lizards, insects and frogs. If this is the type of landscape you are interested in creating, I’m very interested to discuss with you how though landscape construction we could create a design that enables such a project, whilst also providing you and your family with a garden that has a space for everyone and is a place you can lovingly call home.
ESTABLISHED GARDENS UNDER MATURE TREES
Over many years I have worked below mature trees and have a good sense of what you can get do without damaging the trees long term health. The older trees becomes, the less resilience they will have to disturbance within their root zones. Before designing any work below a canopy, I would suggest calling in a local arborist to discuss both the trees health and your projects ambitions and constraints. Creating a garden below the canopy of large established trees can be challenging but it is doable with the right strategy.
TIGHT ACCESS DIFFICULT TO BUILD GARDENS
Access at many sites in the inner metropolitan Melbourne area is challenging. There is always a creative solution for how to work in ‘land locked’ yards and circumvent the restrictions created by limited access. A clever design will consider this and not specify materials and building techniques that don’t suit the site access. Over the years, I have completed many projects that have had significant access challenges and have been able to meet the challenge of tight access in creative, budget savvy ways. If site access is a defining issue of your property, I will often bring my team to site at the beginning of the design to make sure the design stays within the realm of what is realistically buildable and at a reasonable cost.
LIFESTYLE DESIGN
A great garden design meets the lifestyle requirements of the dwellings occupants and should empower you to live the life you aspire to live. The designs I produce are empathetic to your lifestyle and how you live and aspire to live.
WATER SENSITIVE LANDSCAPE DESIGN
Whenever the opportunity to retain soil moisture presents itself you need to grab it. The most resilient garden design is the one that makes clever use of surface grades and runoff stormwater minimising the need for additional mains water. The principals of Water Sensitive Urban Design (W.S.U.D) can be applied to the home garden with regard to site grading, drainage lines, ephemeral ponds and rain swales. Where possible ‘wet spots’ within a garden are created, slowing down and cleansing water as it leaves the site which in turn supports your plants and opens up the opportunity for a more diverse planting design.
The local Indigenous & Australian Native gardens Crisfield Landscape designs are intended to survive with rainwater alone (once established). To do this, the planting design must be paired with the existing soil and light conditions, and makes sensible use of runoff stormwater. Your garden (once established) should not need irrigation in most situations if you design and prepare your landscape correctly.
For food plants that need significant amounts of water to produce I favour wicking garden beds, drip irrigation and micro sprays that can direct water to its destination. Water sprayed accidently onto areas not intended to be wet can lead to weed infestation.
If possible, I make use of water leaving the site once water tanks are full and overflowing as another source of water. When water features are designed, minimising evaporation is considered and water from alternative water sources to the mains supply will be made use of when available.
What’s important is being strategic and getting full value out of the water you do use. Wet spots and water features in a garden can create habitat for local birds, insects, lizards and frogs which is really important to do. So long as the water you use is intentional and considered, the chances are you’re on the right track to a W.S.U.D. home garden.
GARDENS FOR KIDS
The joy of sharing a garden with children can’t be underestimated, and kids will find the most creative ways to enjoy what we create. Where possible, I try to include special spots in my gardens where children can hide and play away from adults. Sometimes it’s as simple as a little side track to an area under an existing bush or a kids cubby in a back corner. Designing a garden that enables unstructured, free play is a wonderful gift to give a child.
GARDENS FOR WILDLIFE
Through working predominantly with Indigenous plants in recent years I have come to deeply appreciate the relationship between the plants we use, floral resources they create and local wildlife. Through ecologically sensitive design practices we can reshape a garden and include a wide variety of microclimates conducive to a varied ecology. In doing this we can ensure we build gardens that create habitat and backyard ecologies that grow richer through time.
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