| A primary principle of landscape design lies in the aesthetics of visual elements. Complacency of vision can actually disengage one from the landscape, causing the pleasurable sensory experience of listening to nature to be missed. The landscape is a complete unit, with stimuli for all the senses, and the sense of hearing adds a vital element to the total enjoyment experience of nature.; This research studies the methods that the blind use to perceive and enjoy their non-visual environment, in the effort to teach landscape architects the skills to create more pleasing, multi-sensory designs for the blind and the visually impaired, as well as for the sighted public.; This study illustrates that a complete, site-specific sound inventory is needed in the landscape architect's site analysis process. A resulting "sound palette" is thereby used in the design process as a planned, deliberate method by which the total landscape experience is enhanced. |
