A New Home Renovation Trend: Security Enhancements

A breezeway with a rolling door links the home and garage, framing a painterly vignette of columnar aspen trees. A grid of trees line the courtyard, softened by a dense planting of ferns and native shrubs. — ASLA 2021 Professional Residential Design Honor Award. Highlands Retreat. Aspen, Colorado. Design Workshop, Inc. / image: Brandon Huttenlocher/Design Workshop, Inc.

While security design as it relates to the public realm and to concepts like Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED) may be familiar to many landscape architects, enhancing security and privacy is also an increasingly desirable aspect of residential landscape architecture.

According to the 2022 Houzz home improvement survey, security for outdoor spaces is a new focus for homeowners, who spent 25% more on home security systems in 2021 than in 2020. Outdoor security systems are now the second most frequently installed outdoor upgrade (17%), behind lighting (22%).

A recent Forbes article by Jamie Gold about this renovation trend features Ron DuHamel, ASLA, president of FireSky and a volunteer leader for ASLA’s Design-Build Professional Practice Network (PPN).

ASLA 2021 Professional Residential Design Honor Award. Quarry Garden. Minneapolis, Minnesota. TEN x TEN. / image: Gaffer Photography

According to DuHamel:

“The Homeowners we work with are looking for a defined space that gives them privacy from their neighbors and a space they feel safe in. To achieve this, the design often includes walls, fences, plant screening and lighting…A well-designed plan should not over-illuminate space, but create a rhythm or sequence of light pools that gently guides a person through the landscape.”

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