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From a house to a home

Your Home

Some buy houses, while others buy homes. And even among Kenyans who opt to take the self-build route, the priority is to come up with a home that boasts an exquisite environment.

At the heart of all that is landscaping, otherwise described as creating space for human enjoyment. Hosea Omole, a landscape architect with Lanced Landscapes, says that today, property agents across major towns in the country not only sell the concrete structure but also the splendid landscape where the house stands.

Omole says the property market is demanding higher standards of the outdoor environment, a trend he attributes to lifestyle changes, which he says have seen demand for well-designed and comprehensive outdoor living facilities go up.

“We are increasingly getting briefs that include leisure swimming pools, gazebos, outdoor kitchens, decks, fireplaces and other outdoor facilities that were hitherto considered too foreign,” he adds.

Whereas many perceive landscaping as merely planting flowers and neatly arranging pebbles in one’s backyard - which can be done by just anybody - experts posit that landscaping is more technical as it involves being able to match the language of the buildings’ architectural design with the building.

Preference

Even though many homeowners would prefer their landscaping to be done by a gardener, Robert Kariuki, Principal Landscape Architect and Director at Lariak Landscape Limited, says that a gardener only deals with plants, which represents 30 per of the capacity landscape architects.

“We can design your backyard to regional scales. I don’t know any gardener who can do a regional analysis and come up with a design concept based on the natural resources available,” he says.

Specialization

He adds: “Technically, we (landscape architects) specialize in creating spaces and places for human enjoyment. There are landscape architects specializing in golf courses, some in environmental conversation, while others are general practitioners.

Although considerably new in the country, landscaping sector is facing various challenges, including the emergence of quacks masquerading as professionals. Some “experts” do a shoddy job. Alexina Tasia, a resident of Nairobi’s Riverside estate, is a victim of shoddy landscaping work.

“A few years ago, I contracted a company that purported to be skilled in landscaping for Sh250, 000 to decorate my small garden. I felt cheated because the design and arrangements were unpleasant and some of the flowers started to wither despite being watered,” she says.

Some of the important questions one needs to ask themselves before engaging in landscaping include: Does the building require an introvert or an extrovert design? What are the concepts that can be borrowed from outside the property? What is unpleasant from outside that needs to be reconsidered?

Other equally important questions to be asked, according to Omole, include the lifestyle of the client (is the client single or are they living with a family and how big is the family and what are their ages?); how much is the client willing to spend on the project and how much time does he/she have on their hands to maintain the garden?

Where there are children, deep ponds close to the house should be avoided. In homes where there are elderly people or persons with disability, ramps should be used instead of stair cases. Where there are children or people allergic to pollen grain, expert advice growing of flowers that produce less pollen.

Those living in rental apartments should resort to a more temporal landscape while those residing in their own homes should go for a more permanent landscape and be ready to spend more.

Wasteful

There is a school of thought that holds the view that golf homes and large gardens are “wasteful” because of their high maintenance costs and high water consumption. But Omole maintains that if professionals are involved in designing such projects, everything should fall in its rightful space.

The landscaping sector has witnessed modest growth over the past decade. Omole observes that before, there were probably two professional landscape architects in the country. Today, the number of professionals has grown to over 50.

The Landscape Architects Chapter of the Architectural Association of Kenya (AAK) has been lobbying the Government to facilitate formulation of a legislation to regulate the industry.

Industry players say that lack of laws to govern the profession is to blame for some of the ills plaguing the sector.

“With the right legislation and good policy environment, landscaping can transform our cities and villages from the current chaos to a safer, cleaner and better organised outdoor environments,” says Omole.

Kariuki, on the other hand, told Home and Away in a past interview: “The biggest problem we have is lack of legislation that controls the practice so that people get what they deserve. This will rid the sector of people masquerading as landscape architects.”

Photos:Courtesy

 

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