Using Native Vegetation Screens to Lessen the Visual Impact of Rural Buildings in the Sierras de Béjar and Francia Biosphere Reserve: Case Studies and Public Survey

Abstract

Tree screens have a demonstrated role in lessening the visual impact of buildings nonintegrated aesthetically by means of filtering façades. This is particularly useful on village fringes and in areas bordering urban green spaces. However, the role of other vegetal structure such as climber species, and their optimal percentage for façade filtering, have not been measured yet. The main objectives of present study were: (1) To guess if climber species have a similar positive role to lessen the visual impact of a façade than tree species, and (2) to compare optimal percentage of coverage for both vegetal structures. To explore them, we designed three percentages of partial-concealment vegetation screens (0% none, 40–50% medium, 70–80% high), comprising tree or climber native species from a study area, in eight buildings from the same region. As a result, 24 final infographics were evaluated by two groups of interviewees: 27 local people and 39 non-local university students. Respondents had to assess the integration of the building in terms of visual preference using an ascending scale with 5 options from “Very poor” = 1 to “Very good” = 5. The results show a clear linear positive response of participants when increasing the percentage of coverage by both types of vegetal screens. However, positive significant valuation over 3 points on average was reached before in tree species screens (3.06, in 40–50% of façade coverage) than in climbing species screens (3.02 in 70–80% of façade coverage). Finally, there was a high consensus in responses when both groups polled were compared.

Visual Impact Assessment in Rural Areas: The Role of Vegetation Screening in the Sustainable Integration of Isolated Buildings

“…Description of the Method Bearing in mind the studies mentioned in the Introduction, a proposal for measuring visual impact based on the initial study by García et al [11] is shown in Table 1. In this case, we used 40% increments in vegetation screening, according to the results of Garrido et al [30]. Two screening classes were established: 0-40% and 40-80%.…”

“…Recent studies have taken a further step by attempting to determine the amount of screening necessary for sufficient integration as a percentage of the total built area [30]. One of the conclusions of Garrido et al [30] was that using vegetation with an intermediate degree of filtering in the frontal plane of a building (40-50%) increases the possibility of the perception of the façade improving from poor or very poor to at least acceptable. However, they did not determine a possible logarithmic relationship between increases in the percentage of vegetation concealment of buildings and their visual acceptability.…”

Analysis of Façade Color and Cost to Improve Visual Integration of Buildings in the Rural Environment

“…In recent decades, rural buildings have proliferated in the rural environment, in many cases clashing with the surroundings [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8]. Growing environmental awareness has created a need for more studies to analyze how the visual impact of buildings on the landscape can be minimized [9][10][11].…”

“…Polling measures observers' reactions to a series of visual proposals and may be the opinions of experts or surveys of the general public [37][38][39][40][41]. This tool has been widely applied and tested to validate hypotheses for visual impact analysis of buildings in the rural landscape [8,[42][43][44][45][46][47][48], and is the method used in this study.…”

“…The effect of outdoor landscaping was similarly not quantified in this study, and no cases with landscaping were chosen. Its positive visual effect as a filter using vegetation on frontal planes has been studied [8,47] but not quantified in economic terms, and could therefore be addressed in future studies.…”