A project checklist can be helpful at the end of the design phase and before a PDF print is sent to the client to ensure that all the elements needed to implement a design are in place. Here are some items we suggest need to be considered at that stage.
Start with a template.
We routinely start a project with a template designed for and approved by the principal of our design studio. This method helps match new work to the studio’s CAD standard. We have proven that well-constructed template drawings dramatically reduce drafting time. The model space in our template contains some plant symbols and other blocks we commonly use, some text styles, oft-used layers, etc. In layout space, we set up sheets widely used in our practice, and these are pre-loaded with our title blocks and some floating viewports.
Greater consistency is achieved if a custom template is used for every new job. We show how a template can be set up with a series of layout sheets featuring a title block with your logo. We also add helpful suggestions to your design team on how you want each design job handled.
Sequence of work
The usual landscape design work sequence is set out below. We usually create:
- a concept design plan (or plans),
- meet with the client to clarify these conceptual ideas, gain approval, and then move to,
- detailed design work, adding dimensions as you go,
- species planting, mating each plant to an entry in the plant database file,
- a plant schedule, and finally
- a set of images showing species used in the design.
Concept design plans – three examples.
- This design is based on measurements gained during a client’s site visit. Note the lack of detail, as these are just initial suggestions. We await approval from the client before moving to the detailed design stage.
2. Here is another example of a more detailed concept design, created using gCADPlus on a Mac.
3. We often show several alternative concepts for the space, as shown in the example below. Option 4 (bottom left) was chosen to build the final design. This contained enough detail for a construction team to implement the design.
Detailed design work – a checklist for working in model space
- Double-check the design to ensure that everything has been drawn full-size.
While working on a design for a small courtyard, we wanted to change the length of a wall. A linear dimension had already been applied to the wall, and we show that the STRETCH command can be used to alter the length of the wall and the dimension itself in one step.
Tip: Apply dimensions as you go as a check.
2. Purge the drawing to reduce file size. There is no point in carrying unnecessary blocks/symbols in this final design version. Even extensive sites and details should not be much larger than 0.5- 1.0 MB.
Drawings can be slow and unwieldy as users insert (and discard) blocks they do not use. The BLOCKS command can scan for and remove these unused blocks on the shelf. We show how reducing a sample file by an order of magnitude—from 4,000 kb (4 Mb) to 400 kb (0.4 Mb)—dramatically improved gCADPlus performance.
3. Check using text styles, layer names, and dimension styles. Do these match your design office drafting standard?
4. Check that images are in their correct spot – in modelspace or layout space, not both. If you mix these, print resolution problems may occur if this is the case.
5. Check that using text height in the drawing with expected sheet sizes meets your local drafting standard. For example, the Australian drafting standard sets minimum text heights for use on A1 and A0 sheets. Good text heights make the drawing legible – we aim to ensure that text can be easily read on the printed sheet. The Australian drafting standard allows for the following heights on printed sheets:
1.8mm, 2.0mm, 3.5mm, 5mm and 7mm. On an A1 sheet, the minimum text height is 3.5mm.
It follows that 2.5mm text should be used for general purposes, 3.5mm for secondary titles such as SECTION A-A and in plant schedules.
5.0mm for the primary title, e.g LANDSCAPE DESIGN FOR LOT14 JAMES ROAD
*** 1.8mm or 2.0 mm pen thickness should be used sparingly. ***
Suppose you need to print a version of the design that uses transparency to ‘see through’ the upper canopy of your planting plan. Have you made a copy of the design and stored it within model space (sans plant symbols) in case you need to print a very high design resolution? High-resolution PDF writers do not print designs correctly if transparency is used.
Tip: Use the view switch to check for transparency in entities.
Check via the blocks command that each block in the drawing has a suitable base point. In most cases, the base point will be the centre of a symbol.
If a grid sheet is required, will it be placed in model or layout spaces?
Have you run the gCADPlus sustainable calculator over your design?
Images—Consider a Google Earth image showing the site on its own layer, l-IMAGE. Then, consider enhancing the image with an image editor.
Have you included the following?
A suitable scale bar.
A legend.
An MTEXT entity detailing the design philosophy.
Placed the plant schedule well away from the main design?
Have details been added? Details such as screens, water features, raised planters, and water features are placed well away from the main design. These will be shown on layout sheets by creating new floating viewports within existing layouts.
Create layouts – a checklist for working in the layout space
Layout sheets
Designer initial, checked by, etc.