# Who coined "hardscape"?



## Robert Hudson (Feb 5, 2004)

Who made up the word "hardscape"? I know it was someone in this forum, and it has now spread to planted tank. It came from one person, fairly recently, just as the term "aquascaping" was coined by someone in the 90s in an internet forum. I want to know who is to blame for this! :yo:


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## Mud Pie Mama (Jul 30, 2006)

"Hardscape" is not a term specific to planted aquaria. I took a class on Home Landscape Design at the USDA in Washington D.C., over fifteen years ago and my textbook from then has an entire chapter titled: "Hardscaping: Choosing Your Materials and Structures". The next chapter is: "Softscaping: Choosing Your Flowers, Shrubs and Trees."


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## lildark185 (Jul 7, 2006)

I was just looking at one of the updated threads and here is where I see the word hardscape used: http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/...29589-georges-33-nature-aquarium-journal.html


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## John P. (Nov 24, 2004)

Here are the earliest threads on this forum using the term (actually merged posts from AB):
http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/forumapc/search.php?searchid=392884&pp=25&page=19


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## Robert Hudson (Feb 5, 2004)

So it started on my forum? Thats interesting. I figured it was someone like Carlos or Jay luto. I had no idea the term had an actual usuage in landscaping. I always thought it didn't make much sense.


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## gnatster (Mar 6, 2004)

The word Hardscape is derived from Landscape. 

Landscape is from the Dutch word landschap, from land (land, patch, area) and the suffix -schap, corresponding to the English suffix "-ship". Landscape, first recorded in 1598, was borrowed as a painters' term from Dutch during the 16th century, when Dutch artists were on the verge of becoming masters of the landscape genre. The Dutch word landschap had earlier meant simply “region, tract of land” but had acquired the artistic sense, which it brought over into English, of “a picture depicting scenery on land.” 34 years pass after the first recorded use of landscape in English before the word is used of a view or vista of natural scenery. This delay suggests that people were first introduced to landscapes in paintings and then saw landscapes in real life.

Hardscape was entered in to the Oxford English Dictionary's 11th Edition (OED). The OED lists hardscape as a noun, mainly used in the US and defines it in this manner. 

"the man-made features used in landscape architecture, e.g. paths or walls, as contrasted with vegetation."

About.com defines Hardscape in this manner:

"Hardscape, or "hardscaping" consists of the inanimate elements of landscaping, especially any masonry work or woodwork. For instance, stone walls, concrete or brick patios, tile paths, wooden decks and wooden arbors would all be considered part of the hardscape. But by extension, anything used in landscaping that is not part of the softscape can be considered a hardscape element, including home accents such as water fountains and, yes, even pink flamingoes!"

That leads us to some of the the other derivatives as well. 

Softscape - Softscape comprises the animate, horticultural elements of landscape design, i.e., plants. Softscape elements are complemented by hardscape design elements, such as stone walls, tile pations and brick walkways.

Moonscape - A moonscape is an area or vista of the lunar landscape (generally of the Earth's moon), or a visual representation of this, such as in a painting. The term "moonscape" is also sometimes used metaphorically for an area devastated or flattened by war, often by shelling.

Cloudscape - A work of art representing a view of clouds.

Hardscape was not coined here on APC or on the the AB forums. It is a word that is in use by the landscaping industry and it works well in our little niche of the world as well.

Someone with access to an OED subscription at a university may be able to shed some more precise etymology on hardscape. 

Sources:
Oxford English Dictionary 11th ED. 
TheFreeDictionary.com
About.com
Wikipedia.com


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## Roy Deki (Apr 7, 2004)

I was going to mention that we used the term 20 years ago, when I was a landscape foreman in Monterey Ca.

I think you cleared that up Gnatster...


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## Steven_Chong (Mar 17, 2005)

So if you have a bubbling castle in the tank, it's hardscape eh??


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## joephys (May 9, 2006)

Steven_Chong said:


> So if you have a bubbling castle in the tank, it's hardscape eh??


Sure, just because its tacky doesn't mean it isn't hardscape. Just like most of the junk I see around my campus that is considered art. It doesn't look good, but apparently, its art.


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## T-Bone (Nov 23, 2005)

What about spongebob? Is he considered hardscape?


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## Anti-Pjerrot (Mar 12, 2006)

Hes soft - yet a hardscape .... ARGH now im confused for the rest of the day...


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## Roy Deki (Apr 7, 2004)

Sponge Bob's cool...


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## RoseHawke (Jan 4, 2005)

If it's not a plant and it's not substrate, it's hardscape .

Yup. The term's been around a looooong time. I know I've got a landscape bush from the 70's that refers to "hardscape."


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## Erik Aa (Mar 19, 2005)

Robert Hudson said:


> ... just as the term "aquascaping" was coined by someone in the 90s in an internet forum. I want to know who is to blame for this! :yo:


I think I heard the word "aquascaping" first time in the late 1970s (or maybe very early 1980s). And at that time internet fora was not impressing...


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## Robert Hudson (Feb 5, 2004)

> think I heard the word "aquascaping" first time in the late 1970s (or maybe very early 1980s). And at that time internet fora was not impressing...


70s is before the internet, (or before th WEB I should say) So in what context did you see it? How was it used, what did it mean? Is aquascaping in the dictionary? I don't think even Amano ever used the term before the first American AGA "aquascaping" contest. A more definite, relevant term would be aquariumscaping! I have hear the term pondscaping used.



> I was going to mention that we used the term 20 years ago, when I was a landscape foreman in Monterey Ca.


OK. So who was the first person in our little circle of hobbyists with a knowledge of landscaping to apply the term to our hobby? There must be someone to blame!


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## zig (Jul 3, 2005)

First heard the term "aquascaping" on the interweb in the not too distant past, hardscape is a term I knew from landscaping like most of the others from years ago pre internet.

Wikipedia has aquascaping listed although no clues as to the origin of the term.

Aquascaping - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


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## jerseyjay (Jan 25, 2004)

Robert Hudson said:


> So it started on my forum? Thats interesting. I figured it was someone like Carlos or Jay luto.


Wasn't me Robert


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## Hurriken (Oct 15, 2006)

"Yes, I invented the term 'aquascape'" - Al Gore


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## jsenske (Mar 15, 2004)

I first read it used by Erik Leung that issue of the Aquatic Gardener with one of 2001 AGA contest entries on the cover. I know he likely did not invent it, but honestly I had never heard the term before and it really resonated with me as it was obviously the perfect term for the subject at hand.


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## Robert Hudson (Feb 5, 2004)

I started using the term aquascaping in 1999 on aquariacentral, but for the life of me I can not remember where I got it from. In 2000 when discussions of a AGA contest started, the name "aquascaping" somehow got incorporated into it. The point of the contest was to promote both Dutch and Nature aquariums as an artistic showcase, but then the idea of including both biotopes and "rock" scapes was also included on the grounds that the word "aquascape" had nothing to do with plants specifically. I was on the planning committie for the first few months before dropping off, so I remember the discussions. I would be curious how James Purchase remembers how the term aquascaping was decided to be used since he came up with the whole idea and ran the show in the first year.

All the judging rules, criteria and how the contest was structured was modeled after the Dutch aquarium contests, NBAT. In fact there was much heated debate at times of how relevant some of those rules were to what we wanted to accomplish. The dutch by the way never called their art "aquascaping" and have no word for it in their language.


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## Steven_Chong (Mar 17, 2005)

Wow . . . To me that makes the term hardscape feel super old . . . in 1999 I would've been a 6th grader-- at that time I wouldn't have even known that you could seriously grow plants in an aquarium . . . XD


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## Erik Aa (Mar 19, 2005)

Robert Hudson said:


> 70s is before the internet, (or before th WEB I should say) So in what context did you see it? How was it used, what did it mean? Is aquascaping in the dictionary? I don't think even Amano ever used the term before the first American AGA "aquascaping" contest. A more definite, relevant term would be aquariumscaping! I have hear the term pondscaping used.


Finally I found it. In Oct 1978 there was a meeting in Stockholm, Sweden to promote education of young aquarists through aquarium societies. The supposed "teachers" from different societies in the country (I was one) was teached different tecniques: building aquariums etc. One subject was "Aquascaping". I have saved the short written introduction by Sune Holm, the Swedish guru of the subject (still active - also one of the inventors of the "Back to Nature-background) who also was the speaker of that part. He wrote (translated): "Aquascaping, a new word for an old conception, it is picked up in America and means roughly creating underwater landscapes"

I will meet Sune Holm within two weeks. I will ask him for details...


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## Robert Hudson (Feb 5, 2004)

Very interesting! Thank you


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## Erik Aa (Mar 19, 2005)

Erik Aa said:


> I will meet Sune Holm within two weeks. I will ask him for details...


He told me:
It must have been around 1978 that he visited New York and read about "aquascaping" in an American aquarium journal (but he don´t remembers which one).


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## saumya (Oct 19, 2010)

firstly i beg your forgiveness for digging up an old thread, in some other forums they lock topics if someone does so. but please allow me to share some info with you.










this is a scan of a magazine called "The Aquarium", founded by William T. Innes in 1932, the issue is from september 1966, vol 35, no. 9. the editor's letter, written by a certain Helen Simkatis, uses the word "aquascaper" twice. to my knowledge this is one of the oldest use of the word in print.

hopefully you found this interesting, i am not online most of the time but you can catch some of my aquatic activities in a facebook group called AquaCentral.

hopefully this is not considered as a promotional for an alien forum in APC, if it is moderators may please edit my post.


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## Michael (Jul 20, 2010)

Your post is completely appropriate--thanks for the history!

The more I learn about the history of our hobby in the USA, the more it seems all to go back to Innes and his publications.


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## saumya (Oct 19, 2010)

you are most welcome Michael


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