How to build a brief for a garden project

Briefing is the first structured stage of the project, before the design. It is there to understand how the client wants to live in the space and to turn routines, needs and priorities into a brief that can be analysed.

It is not a questionnaire about styles. It is a guided conversation, supported by plans, photographs and documents, that helps to separate what is essential from what is still open.

The starting point is the people. How many live on the property? Are there children, people with reduced mobility, animals or frequent guests? Is the space used every day, only at weekends or mainly during holidays?

Next, the activities are identified. Meals, rest, swimming pool, games, reading, work, kitchen garden and events need different areas and relationships.

The scale of each use matters too. A table for the family does not take up the same space or need the same access as an area set up to host larger groups.

Routines help with siting. Breakfast may look for morning sun; a late-afternoon area needs shade and shelter from the wind; night-time routes call for light and safety.

Entrances, doors, windows and levels shape the outdoor space.

A dining area works best when it is connected to the kitchen. Bedrooms may call for privacy. The living room may open onto a view that the garden should frame rather than block.

The briefing identifies these relationships before functions are distributed across the site. It also records current problems: an awkward access, a space with no shade, an unattractive view or a change in level that is hard to use.

The client should say what they want to show and what they need to protect.

Not all privacy calls for a solid hedge. Standard trees, multi-stems, shrubs and structures filter in different ways.

Visual references are useful when you explain what appeals in each image: material, light, density, relationship with the architecture or overall atmosphere. Copying an image without knowing the climate, the soil and the maintenance rarely produces the same result.

It is also important to identify what you want to avoid. This information reduces vague readings of words such as ‘natural’, ‘rustic’ or ‘contemporary’.

The client is asked how they feel about trees, flowering, deciduous foliage, fruit, scent and seasonal change.

It is necessary to understand whether the aim is a garden with immediate scale, using mature trees and structural specimens, or whether there is a willingness to follow a more gradual growth.

Allergies, toxic plants, thorns, animals and an interest in productive species all feed into the selection.

The briefing does not fix the plant list. It defines the kind of presence and behaviour the design should look for.

A conventional pool, a natural swimming pool, a pond, a fountain, a kitchen garden, an orchard, a vineyard or an olive grove all call for more than an aesthetic decision.

The source and availability of water, technical access, use and maintenance need to be known.

In a productive area, visual interest is distinguished from the intention to harvest or produce. A small domestic kitchen garden has different demands from an organised orchard or a vineyard managed year by year.

The design needs to know who will be responsible for these tasks.

‘Low maintenance’ needs to be translated.

How many professional visits are acceptable? Does the owner want to look after any part of it? Is there time to water, prune, clean a pool, keep a lawn or train a hedge?

The answer influences species, densities, materials, irrigation and trained forms. A formal garden or a natural swimming pool can be appropriate, as long as the commitment is known from the start.

The briefing should also distinguish the maintenance of the first two years, which is more intensive, from the regime of an established garden.

Lighting, security, an automatic, sensor-controlled irrigation system, water storage, energy, connectivity and remote management can all be part of the brief.

Technology is chosen for its usefulness: comfort, autonomy, control and ease of maintenance. It should not be added just to create the image of a ‘smart garden’.

Plant rooms, control panels and access points need space and must stay usable once the planting has grown.

Ramps, steps, surfaces, handrails, path widths and the proximity between functions are assessed from the start.

Even when there is no immediate need, it can make sense to prepare the space for simpler use in the future.

Accessibility changes levels and layout; it should not be dealt with at the end through an isolated adaptation.

The client separates the essential, the important and the desirable.

This hierarchy helps to compare alternatives and build phases. When everything has the same priority, the design loses its ability to decide.

The investment framework should come up early. If there is no set figure yet, the team can explain the main components and develop scenarios to show the impact of paving, walls, water, infrastructure and plant size.

The conversation is not there to limit the idea. It is there to concentrate resources on what really transforms the space.

The briefing records important dates, dependencies on the building work and the time of year when the garden should start to be used.

Rootballed trees have a main dispatch window, and access for lorries and cranes can close as the build progresses.

Well-prepared phasing builds first the levels, services and elements that should not be demolished later. Each stage needs to be left functional and maintainable.

A topographical survey, plans of the house, specialist engineering designs, photographs and information about services reduce uncertainty.

The PDM (municipal master plan), easements, REN (National Ecological Reserve), RAN (National Agricultural Reserve), heritage, the public water domain and other constraints that may affect the work are also identified.

The client may not know all this information. The briefing records what exists and what the design needs to investigate.

When there are several owners, representatives or teams, it is worth defining who approves.

Some clients want to follow every choice; others prefer to approve phases and delegate the detail. The number of meetings and the type of presentation can be adjusted to that level of involvement.

At the end of the stage, the team returns a written summary. The client corrects interpretations and confirms priorities before the concept design begins.

A well-built brief does not close the project. It gives it a concrete base to work from.

• The project starts before the drawing
• How a project is developed
• Why investment should be aligned from the earliest stages

1. Diaplant’s method for briefing and project qualification.
2. Principles of briefing and participation in landscape architecture.
3. Territorial planning instruments applicable to each property.