Tina Worboys | June 24, 2024
It’s a question often overlooked, we just like what we like. It’s something that, as a designer, we’re trained to dissect. A throw away comment that something is loved or loathed, on closer inspection can become revelatory as we discover its source.
Of course, likes and dislikes are mostly just personal; perhaps your grandparents’ garden was full of fuchsias, so their ballerina-like flowers always make you feel content, cocooned and safe. Likewise, as a child you may have been made to were a hideous dress covered in sunflowers and will forever despise those huge, golden blooms.
We know how evocative scent is in sending messages straight to our emotional memory bank, but some responses come from somewhere far deeper inside us, way beyond memory and lived experience.
In his influential work of 1975, The Experience of Landscape, Jay Appleton asks “What do we like about the landscape and why do we like it?” Much like Hogarth’s studies into the universal observations of beauty, Appleton set out to define a consistent, universal theory of landscape aesthetics.
Through detailed exploration Appleton concluded that the most appealing scenes were those that included refuge within vegetation, far reaching views plus elevated secondary vantage points. According to Appleton these are born of basic biological and behavioural needs from our earliest days surviving in the wilds and savannah.
His 'Prospect - Refuge Theory' (now widely used in the creation of everything from landscapes to shopping centres) sums up our inborn desire for environments that allow us to see without being seen. Appleton goes as far as to say that no artist, architect or landscape designer can ignore these natural elements when creating a pleasurable environment.
When we really start to explore why we feel a certain way in and around nature it feels highly logical to embrace it, slow down, take a moment and trust our animal instincts. I think it’s a comfort to know that wanting to sit unseen, yet with clear views out, isn’t just us being antisocial or somehow lacking or struggling with the world. It’s a part of our being, an echo from another time. Today we’re probably safe from wild animals or approaching enemy tribes but with our constant connection to the world, processing images, facts and data like never before in human history our systems need sanctuary.
So, if you’re designing your garden, whether tiny or sprawling, remember the work of Jay Appleton and give yourself that space, that moment cocooned from the world to sit, think, breathe and reset. It’s OK to hide sometimes. In fact, it's an instinct you possibly have no control over so why not embrace it. It might be just the tonic you needed.
Do you know someone who would like this post? Why not share and spread the Appleton appreciation?
