Threshold and transition
Front garden
housing residential neighborhood school apartment building
It is the strip between the property line and the facade that is kept as an unbuilt green area.
What it solves
It separates the house from street noise and leaves soil that absorbs rain. With trees it shades the sidewalk and gives greenery to the neighborhood.
Today
Keep permeable ground with trees and a low, see-through fence that allows a view of the street.
Common mistake
Paving it entirely for parking and closing it with a blank wall, which heats the street and makes it unsafe.
Tomorrow
Added up along a block, front gardens can work as rain gardens that hold back downpours. They are also places for shade trees that lower the heat of the sidewalk.
Where it comes from
- 1Spanish American urbanism Colombia and Chile, 20th century
The word is documented in 1948 for the small garden between the house and the street. - 2Urban regulations Costa Rica, 21st century
Regulations define it as a front setback that must be kept as a green area.
Appears in the routes
See also
Also in Threshold and transition
Diagrams and texts by LDB Arquitectura. They are shared under the CC BY 4.0 license, which allows them to be used and adapted with credit to the source.