Architecture For Palm Beach County - Landscaping Design Concept

As one of the most affluent areas in the state of Florida, landscaping design and architecture for Palm Beach County is a historic, southern style that reflects the regions past, yet blends it with the present. The themes of most of the historic districts in West Palm Beach are of a Mediterranean style and also the mission style is prevalent as well. These particular styles leave a lot of options as to themes that revolve around the architecture.

Rock garden
Rock gardens are a creative way to enhance the features of a property and illustrate appeal through their own aspects. Rocks can be used to create walkways, shadow flower beds, or to simply replace grass altogether. Ideally, this is an eco-friendly direction, saving an abundance of water that would normally be used to water the lawn. Red lava rock is a fabulous way to enhance the features of a Mediterranean style home and add color to any landscaping design and architecture for Palm Beach County. Consider flagstone and polished marble as possibilities when creating walkways or rock gardens.

Trees
Trees carry a large impact in the Landscaping Design and Architecture for Palm Beach County. They will usually be placed in a pattern or a means of providing shade to certain areas of the property. Though the functionality may be diverse, the importance of trees remains very high. Certain trees require very little maintenance in this region, such as palm trees. There are others, weeping willows that will require a greater amount of maintenance (trimming, upkeep). Other trees that can provide shade as well as a colorful appearance are sweet acacias, red maples, black mangroves, holly trees, sycamores and Florida basswoods.

Plants/flowers
There are so many beautiful plants and flowers that are indigenous to South Florida and can enhance any property, whether it is the front yard or the back yard. It may only be a specific area that needs color or appeal, such as a walkway or a porch in the front. Other areas may be a deck in the back, a pool area or even a grotto. There are so many native plants and flowers that are ideal for Landscaping Design and Architecture for Palm Beach County; it would take up too much space to list them all. Here are a few of them that can offer ideas as to presentation.
Leather Fern-this is a plant that takes up a lot of space and also makes a statement. It can be used in a collection or as a standalone plant. Being a native plant of the region, it has a medium salt tolerance. It does require large amounts of moisture. The leather fern is a perennial plant that grows from 4 to 8 feet in height.

Amaranth-A colorful addition to any landscaping is this plant. With its attractive, red foliage, the amaranth grows very quickly and reached a mature height of 1 to 2 feet.
Blue Flag Iris-This enticing, blue flower will perk up any walkway or garden. The blue flag iris is a perennial plant that can grow from 4 to 7 feet in height at full maturity. It does require a large amount of moisture and care, but the results are well worth the invested time.

Green Architecture - Will Really Impact Construction

What is Green Architecture? It is the concept of designing buildings with a view of reducing negative impact of construction on environment and the people. Green Architecture encompasses the entire gamut of factors associated with structural designs ranging from conservation and efficient use of natural resources, use of indigenous material, concepts of recycling to optimizing the finances. It is literally an approach to get "Much More with Much Less". Did you ever wonder why those mud-caked, thatched roofed old houses remained so cool during summers? The answer lies in the advantageous use of local produce and the environment by the indigenous people in building those houses. Modern Green Architecture aims at identifying such indigenous practices and incorporating them into contemporary architectural designs. Green Architecture makes favorable use of natural sunlight and wind flow patterns. Green Architectural designs use energy saving devices such as fluorescent lights and solar heaters to make them more energy efficient. Structural designs incorporate concepts such as on site energy generation of wind, biomass and water.

A holistic Green designed building looks at all aspects of living like a self-sustaining ecosystem. For example, wastewater can be recycled to water the garden and organic waste generated by the occupants can be converted into manure in compost pits, which can be used for the garden. Reduction in the use of synthetic materials is one of the initiatives of Green Architecture. Toxic fumes generated by aging synthetic paints are a health hazard. Some synthetic building insulation material contains formaldehyde, a known carcinogen, which has affected the health of countless citizens. Green Architecture reduces the use of such material so as to create healthier environment. Green initiatives require concerted national and international effort.

The Leadership in Energy and Environment Design (LEED) is a US initiative that sets standards for design and construction practices more in tune with nature having the least negative effect on the surrounding environment and the people. The LEED standard gives different weights to factors such as sustainable sites, water efficiency, energy and atmosphere, material and resources and indoor environmental quality. Based on the weights, certification points are calculated which are graded as Certified, Silver, Gold and Platinum. Platinum is the most environment friendly and healthy LEED certification. The US LEED standards are being used by Canada, India and Israel for some of their Green Architecture projects. Other countries too have adopted their own versions of Green Architecural practices. Some of the countries adopting own standards for Green Architecture are Australia, France, Germany, Japan , Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand and UK.

The serious environmental conditions facing the world requires a sustained effort by the building industry to make a difference. Such an effort can be initiated through Green Architecture as the standard approach for all construction.

Green buildings are not only be designed for a present use,