design

by Aranya

The following pattern is a guide to what you might cover during your design. Either follow this through as described, or use it as a basis for your own ideas.

by Aranya

The ideal that we always aim towards in permaculture is the concept of ‘harvesting as maintenance’. In reality, if we utilise low-maintenance systems to create a design that requires less energy over time to maintain, while providing increasing yields, we’ve done pretty well.

by Aranya

So now you have created your map, you need to provide your client with an implementation plan. There are several factors that can affect the recommendations you make, including costs, so lets look at them one at a time.

by Aranya

This is the stage where we finally put all our ideas down on paper for then client. No design is ever going to be perfect, so don’t be afraid to make some decisions – you’ll always learn from them later, even if they don’t work out as well as you’d hoped.

by Aranya

Now we’ll get down to experimenting with where the different elements & systems in your design might be best placed. If you already have a fixed point of focus on the site (such as a house), then you’ll be aiming to place everything most efficiently in relation to that.

by Aranya

So having identified the key functions that we are going to design for, we are now going to think about the best ways to fulfil them. Ideally, we only include something (a system or element) in our design if it fulfils at least three functions.

By Aranya

This is the stage where we identify what will be the focus of the design. We take what we have learned from the client interview(s) & determine what key functions are required (there may be many, but some will be more a priority than others).

By Aranya

This is the part where we identify why we are redesigning the site. The following process we would ideally go through with each client (everyone involved ought to be interviewed to some degree).

By Aranya

If you are lucky, you will have obtained a good map from your client, on which you can base your own. Maps are made for many different reasons though, and it is unlikely that even if you have, you will be holding the perfect map for you in your hand just yet.

This is the first article of a comprehensive series on permaculture design by Aranya. Enjoy!

by Aranya