Zen Gardens by Mira Locher

Author:Mira Locher
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
ISBN: 978-1-4629-1049-6
Publisher: Tuttle Publishing

Designed to be viewed both from the ground level and from the rooms above, the gravel area of the garden at the International House is carefully balanced with trees, rocks, and ground cover.

Water is the theme of the formal courtyard garden at the Faculty of Urban Environmental Sciences, with its central reflecting pool featuring an abstract metal sculpture.

The engawa (veranda) and overhanging eaves of the traditional teahouse extend out to connect to the garden at the International House.

As one enters the campus at the Arts Zone in the southwest end, the plantings both reinforce the formal layout of the buildings and create a soft edge at the boundary, blending the greenery of the campus into the surrounding nature. Flanked by trees, the main path slopes slightly down to the rest of the campus. Rough stone curbs, angling out of the ground and expressing the undulation of the earth, define the spaces of the trees planted along the walkway and point toward the common facilities in the center of campus.

The library and student center are two of the common facilities that connect the Arts Zone to the Sciences. In this area of the campus, the buildings and path are closer together, creating a sense of a critical mass of energy—the fire of the students’ vitality and power. The International House with its traditional teahouse sits at the southeastern side of the Commons Zone. Here the open landscape swells into a lush traditional Japanese garden, giving the international students and faculty a sense of the historic culture of Japan. The naturalistic landscape that surrounds the campus edges pulls in close to the buildings, while a long double line of trees connects to the Science Zone.

A sculptural pool of water set symmetrically between the buildings housing the Faculties of Science and Technology is the principal feature of the Science Zone. On axis with the geometric pool, the view to the southeast reveals a large naturalistic pond adjacent to the Science and Technology Lecture Hall. The curved wood deck under the Lecture Hall is a popular spot for students to gather and enjoy the views across the pond. A few arrangements of rocks and prominent trees, such as willows and red maples, are dispersed along the grassy bank, set off from the thick forest backdrop. The scene is tranquil and gives a feeling of openness while being softly enclosed by nature.

From the Science Zone, the row of trees continues to the Sports Zone at the northeast end of the campus. Along the way, the spaces between the gymnasium buildings reveal glimpses of long vistas over the surrounding landscape. Tall trees arch over the walkway and frame a view at the end of the axis. A hill slopes gently upward, and the vertical columnar stone elements of the Kaze no Gekijo (“Wind Theater”) sculpture march up the slope, drawn by the wind to the sky.

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