Spring 2006

ASLA Therapeutic Garden Design

The Memory Garden at Lakewood Manor

NATHAN GRUVER, ASSOCIATE ASLA

Lakewood Manor is a 128-acre active adult and senior living center located in Henrico County, Virginia, near Richmond.  The client, Virginia Baptist Homes, contracted with SFCS Architects and Timmons Group landscape architects to update their facility to reflect the wants and needs of today’s senior housing market. The new additions will include fourteen single family cottages in a neighborhood setting, three apartmentstyle villas, a large recreation area, and a new health services wing complete with an outdoor courtyard, titled the “Memory Garden,” for Alzheimer’s and dementia patients. Construction and planting of the Memory Garden are scheduled to be completed by summer 2006.

Our goal as designers of these restorative landscapes was to improve overall quality of life by creating a space that would engage the residents’ five senses in a safe and pleasant environment.  The creation of a Memory Garden in a relatively small space (5,700 square feet) presented design and materials challenges. In addition to the challenges common to most design and construction projects such as budget constraints, maintenance concerns, and project design control, this project entailed design issues common to many healthcare projects, namely addressing the specific needs of the users, from safety through improved quality of life issues, based on existing research.

The premise of the Memory Garden was based on the importance of earliest memories and how they are inevitably tied to the world outside. Many of the experiences we have as children, such as the first time we watched a butterfly flutter
or a hummingbird dance in the air, may remain with us the rest of our lives. As we continue to grow, we learn to expand these interactions to other senses—perhaps taking shelter under a shade tree, pausing briefly to listen to the grasses rustle or reaching down to touch the water of a nearby brook to test the temperature with a quick splash. The body and mind’s senses can result in an attachment to moments in time when we laughed, smiled and found a way to put everything aside and relax in a peaceful environment, if even for a moment.

Memory Garden site plan

The Garden is comprised of many elements to help aid the users’ recollections of past experiences. From inside the door of the health services building, visitors can walk out onto the “front porch” to view and hear Hazel’s fountain. The gardens
are planted with colorful, fragrant, non-toxic perennials, annuals, and shrubs that provide interest during all four seasons. From the colorful benches visitors can see and hear birds, and can watch squirrels running along the top of the white picket fence. The fence keeps patients within the garden, in view of the staff, without feeling confining or prison-like. A pergola with raised planters offers visitors the ability to garden, or at least dig their hands into the rich black soil. Residents can grow the plants that they grew at home, providing a sense of continuity in their lives. These
sensory elements are designed to reconnect residents to some of their favorite memories, and to facilitate positive experiences in the here and now.

The Memory Garden was the sole portion of the project relying on private donations. In order to raise money for its construction, the owners proactively came up with the
fundraising idea of inscribing brick pavers with the name of project donors. The brick pavers would be used in the walkways of the Garden. While the project design team applauded the fundraising idea, two design concerns became apparent. First, the selected pavers were to be inscribed in black writing. Research has indicated that complex patterns and shadows along walking surfaces can be confusing to sensoryimpaired individuals, who sometimes mistake the writing for an object on the ground, or a change in grade. Would the bricks cause undue stress, or be a tripping hazard, to Garden visitors? The second design issue was the beveled edge on
the pavers. This edge type was selected because it would potentially reduce breakage during shipping, and it holds in the sand to lock the units tightly together. The design team was concerned that the subtle channel between the pavers could be a tripping hazard and an obstacle for walkers or wheelchairs.

We did not want to replace the bricks with concrete as in the other courtyards within the facility. Concrete should be used rarely, partly because of its cold colors and lack of texture. We wanted to keep intact more familiar surfaces and memories to the user. We felt the bricks might somehow keep alive a memory of sitting on a back porch at home or walking down the sidewalk in one’s hometown.

We contacted the owners and advised them of the potential problems, and we discussed our concerns with Dave McGill of SFCS, an architect on the team who specializes in the programming and design of senior living facilities. Though he did
not believe the inscribing on the bricks would be a problem for Garden users, he was concerned about the bevel in the pavers, and felt that pavers with a ninety degree edge would be safer. The owners consented to eliminating the bevel, at a slightly increased cost per brick, which created a safer, more fluid walking surface for the residents.

By effectively communicating with all members of the project team and closely examining every aspect of the design, the design team created a safe, functional and appealing space that will enrich the lives of Lakewood Manor’s residents and
Memory Garden visitors.

Nathan S. Gruver, Associate ASLA is employed by Timmons Group, a
diversified design consulting firm in Richmond, Virginia. He can be reached
at nathan.gruver@timmons.com.

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