Answers
We just finished building a earth-sheltered home. Earth-sheltered home are homes built into the side of a south facing hillside. I plan on doing the landscaping myself to save money. So I need to do some looking into basic landscaping design. I've done the landscaping with my other homes that have had grass and few trees before, but never any thing from scratch. I do have big equipment experience. So that is not a problem for me.
I guess the equipment you use will depend on the plans you decide on and the terrain of the property. I personally would use the internet for information on landscaping and ideas.
You have a plethora of options available
HGTV
DIY Network
Bob Villa Home Again
This Old House
and last but not least Lowes click and drag.
Use Lowe's Landscape and Garden Planner to help build the yard of your dreams. With our design tool, garden and landscape planning are as easy as clicking and dragging
Just sign up and click enter .
http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=pg &p=Down_to_Earth/GardenPlanner/garde nplansplash.html
3D rendition of a hillside landscape project overlooking the lake.
Built Despite Tiny Site: Small Stone Hillside Home Design | Dornob
Designing for a hot climate, small site and hillside lot are difficult enough individual constraints for architects to overcome alone – let alone all at the same time. This marvelous little home by P + T architects manages to make the most of a seemingly difficult situation through a few critical design moves that turn problems into opportunities.
The result is a two-volume solution in which the top level overlaps the lower story to create a shield from the bright sun while also providing views out over the valley below. The odd triangular lot shape led to a complex angular form that conforms to the site without violating the legal boundaries of the buildable lot area.
Variegated stone fences create a conceptual barrier that blends in with the desert-like natural surroundings while the rectilinear wood and dark gray stone of the house proper set it apart from the landscape. In the end, this house manages to be both contextual and contemporary, using local materials but clearly differentiated as a modern home on the hill.
Hillside House Design in a Precarious Position | Modern House Designs
This unique and very modern hillside house design in Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais in Brazil, was a creative and contemporary collaboration between architects Fernando Maculan and Pedro Morais. This concrete walls house enjoys sparse neighbors and gives way to a lush landscape and dense forest covering the steep 60 percent incline of the site. This unusual slope house design starts with a concrete base where the private rooms are housed, and is topped by a glass-enclosed main floor occupied by a kitchen, living room and den, and capped by another concrete slab supported by pillars. Designed first and foremost as a contemporary home of creature comforts, this sprawling 3,000m2 hillside home incorporates indoor and outdoor living areas. The modern open concept design also encourages socializing and entertaining. The spectacular view can be taken in from any point in this glass wall house. Fernando Maculan and Pedro Morais
