Planting Design 2013 Working Group 12 - Case Study B

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Over the pond

Name	Over the pond
Location	Tiefenbach
Country	Germany
Authors	Dorothea Eisenmann

Rationale: Why is this case interesting?

A pond in a small hamlet in Bavaria. It was used for fish farming in former days. Around the pond there are indigenous trees growing. Beyond the trees there is an agricultural area with its fields, lawns and forests. The pond is the connection between settlement and rural area, between garden and landscape. I chose this case, which is next to my parents' house, because I love this pond where I spent much time in my childhood with swimming and having barbecues in summer and ice-skating in winter.

Author's perspective

I am documenting this case from the professional background as a landscape gardener and landscape architect. I am also decumenting this case from the perspective of a person, who lives next to this pond. From this point of view I would like to assess the place in its current state, define the positive and the negative aspects and have a look at its potentials for the future.

Landscape and/or urban context of your case

In the past there was a marsh area in the place of the pond. The marsh area was very wet, of course. The water was standing on the lawn because of its loamy ground. So this land was not very interesting for the farmers. Around 1900 this marsh area was dug out and the water of a little spring filled the gab with water. The now developed pond was used for fish farming. Today there are common carps, tenchs and pickerels in it. Other animals like wild ducks or dragonflies can also be found. The pond seems very natural, the trees are quite old and the whole place fits into the surrounding agricultural area.

Analytical drawings

• natural dynamic versus cultural framework - in how far do these two forces come together in your case?
• dynamic through the year (you may imagine how the site looks in spring and summer, maybe you also remember it) Because my picture shows the case in summer, I tried to imagine how it could look like in autumn and winter...
• highlight potentials and problems

• Analytical Drawings
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  how it could look like in autumn

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  how it could look like in winter

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  potentials and problems

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  natural dynamic versus cultural framework

Projective drawings

How plants or no plants make a difference...

• Projective Drawings
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  how it could look like in one year

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  how I would like, that it looks like in one or two years

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  how it could look like in ten or more years

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  how it also could look like in ten or more years

Summary and conclusion

Although the place is private property, the pond and its surroundings seem very natural. But even if it does not seem like that, it needs quite a lot of work and maintenance to keep this status. There are some problems to handle like the fertiliser, which is whased from the fields into the water, or the leaves which bring in organic mass. When there is too much fertiliser and organic mass in the water, plants start growing in the pond, the water circulation is reduced and the water heats up. This is problematic for the fish. To reduce this main problem, the pond has to be dug mechanically from time to time. This destroys some plants and the natural habitat of some animals, of course, but it also sustains and improves the biotope of other animals. With this example I want to show the general problem of planting design. As soon as we change something in the nature, we will always influence the environment and its inhabitants. And it will always be difficult to decide what is important and worthy of preservation and what is not. So I tried to demonstrate in my drawings how small and big changes can make an immense diffenence to this place.

Image Gallery

• Image Gallery
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  image 1

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  image 2

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  image 3

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  image 4

References

* Please make sure that you give proper references of all external resources used.

* Do not use images of which you do not hold the copyright.

* Please add internet links to other resources if necessary.

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