Total Transformation

asian garden

The Asian-inspired garden is home to a stone fountain, which bubbles quietly and is lit at night. Photo by Carl Socolow '77.

New Scholar Garden transforms a flat stretch of grass into an inviting new space

by Tony Moore

Wander onto campus from the corner of Louther and West streets, through the Japanese maples flanking the sidewalk, and what you’ll find is a newly installed Scholar Garden, influenced by Chinese and Japanese culture. Featuring a Zen rock garden, a bubbling fountain, a flowering cherry tree, Hinoki cypress trees and a circular gathering space, it’s the perfect spot to relax, meditate or hold an outdoor class.

“It's a total transformation of this spot,” says Associate Professor of East Asian Studies Shawn Bender, noting that back in early summer, the space was just flat, open grass. “I hope this idea can be taken up in other parts of campus as well. We have a lot of lawn, but maybe we're at a stage where we can think about other things—given the interest that so many students have in the environment and sustainability—different ways we can use the lawns as other educational spaces.”

asian garden

Photo by Carl Socolow '77.

In part, the new garden—which now undulates with mulch beds and dozens of new plants waiting to spread through the area—was funded by the Henry Luce Foundation’s LIASE (Initiative on Asian Studies and the Environment), which usually only funds curriculum development, not infrastructure projects such as this one.

“But we knew there’d be a teaching area in the garden, and faculty members submitted ideas on how they would use the space for academic endeavors,” Bender says, noting that further funding came from the Center for Sustainability Education and private donors. “A lot of courses were being taught that could integrate the space into lessons, and that helped convince Luce to let us use funds for this.”

The garden is just outside the side door of the Stern Center and now serves as an extension of the Japanese-themed room inside, which is replete with tatami mat space, scrolls, pillows and bonsai plants.

And speaking of plants, another notable feature of the garden is a 500-year-old ponderosa pine, from Colorado.

“People collect these trees, and this one was on the move and available,” Bender says. The tree is a short, wiry little thing, and no one would probably ever call it handsome. But in the end, it perfectly represents what the garden should be. “In a Japanese garden, you want a little bit pretty but you also want some rough edges. It’s not supposed to be something that's constantly manicured and curated. You want to keep up with it but let it grow as nature dictates and shape itself.”

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Published September 19, 2016