General

Zaretsky and Associates, Inc.

Bruce Zaretsky, Principal
1965 Watson-Hulburt Road
Macedon, New York 14502
Phone: 585.377.8330
Fax: 585.377.3548
sharon@zaretskyassociates.com
www.zaretskyassociates.com
Zaretsky and Associates’ blog, Dirt Digger Online

Profile

Zaretsky and Associates, Inc. is a landscape design-installation-consulting firm, located in Rochester, New York. With a focus on residential and health care design and installation, we have garnered national recognition (and awards) for our creativity, construction abilities and integrity. Company owners Sharon Coates and Bruce Zaretsky form the design and consultation team, and have a combined 45 years experience in the landscape design-build industry. In addition, Bruce was a charter member of the Chicago Botanic Garden’s Certificate program in Health Care Garden Design in 2003 and writes extensively for such publications as WaterShapes, The Journal of Light Construction, American Nurseryman, and others.

Zaretsky and Associates, Inc. are dedicated to improving lives through creative and inspiring gardens and landscapes. We do this by creating gardens that are interactive, sensory, stimulating, calming, and memory-enhancing. Gardens heal the body and soul. We engage the visitor and inspire them to interact with the space, not just pass through it. Zaretsky and Associates offers design of residential, public and health-care gardens, labyrinth design, consultation, project management and installation nationally.

Projects

Rochester General Hospital Woodward Healing Garden
Rochester, NY
See Zaretsky and Associates’ website for info
Entry gardens and an outdoor waiting area for relatives and friends of patients. Installation of the waiting area (a stone fence in the shape of a Nautilus) and management of the rest of the site work and installation.

Rochester General Hospital
Rochester, NY
See Zaretsky and Associates’ website for info
Healing Garden in a central courtyard of the hospital.

Cherry Ridge Assisted Living Center
Webster, NY
See Zaretsky and Associates’ website for info
Design and installation of Alzheimer’s garden for senior living facility.

Kirkhaven Nursing Home
Rochester, NY
See Zaretsky and Associates’ website for info
Design and installation of a garden for an assisted living center, including a curved pergola, waterfall wall, entertainment space. Had to meet Preservation District parameters.

Sharon’s Sensory Garden
Mendon Ponds Park, Mendon, NY
See Zaretsky and Associates’ website for info
Design and installation of a sensory garden with 175’ of raised gardens, waterfalls, and an herb garden. 75 varieties of fragrant plants; Braille plant identification plates; fully wheelchair and sight-impaired accessible.

Shepherd’s Home
Penfield, NY
See Zaretsky and Associates’ website for info
Design and installation of healing gardens for a hospice.

Strong National Museum of Play
Rochester, NY
See Zaretsky and Associates’ website for info
Design and installation of Dancing Wings Butterfly Conservatory.

Crestwood Children’s Center
Scottsville, NY
Pro-bono design and installation of a garden for mentally impaired children and their parents.

Daystar Treatment Center
Pittsford, NY
Pro-bono design for a daycare center for children with severe physical handicaps.

Equicenter
Mendon, NY
On-going landscape consultation for therapeutic equine center.

Fairport Baptist Home
Fairport, NY
Water garden installation for an assisted living center.

Maplewood Nursing Home
Webster, NY
Water garden, woodland trail and planting installation for an assisted living center.

Private Residence Alzheimer’s garden
Gates, NY
Design of an Alzheimer’s garden for a private residence.

Young + Dring Landscape Architecture, LLC

S. Kay Young, Principal
8444 Marty Street
Overland Park, Kansas 66212
Phone: 913.642.9664
www.youngdring.com

Virginia Burt Designs

Virginia T. Burt, OALA, ASLA- Landscape Architect and Consultant
5318 Cedar Springs Road
Burlington, Ontario
Canada L7P 0B9
Phone: 888.339.3031
Fax: 905.335.2606
http://www.vburtdesigns.com/

Profile

Consulting services for participatory design programming using Process Facilitation and Large Group Intervention techniques (specifically Open Space Technology), Garden Needs Reports, Therapeutic Garden assessments, supportive horticultural therapy design services, master planning and detailed design of therapeutic gardens through working drawings and contract administration

Projects

Allendale Long Term Care Facility
Milton, Ontario, Canada
Therapeutic Garden Courtyards

Burlington Labyrinth Project
Central Park, Burlington, Ontario, Canada

Homewood Health Centre
Guelph, Ontario, Canada
The Homewood Labyrinth (first psychiatric hospital in Canada to create a permanent outdoor labyrinth for clients, their families, and staff)

Interval House Shelter for Abused Women
Hamilton, Ontario, Canada

John Gordon Home AIDS Hospice Healing Garden
London, Ontario, Canada

Post Inn Village Long Term Care Facility
Oakville, Ontario, Canada
Two therapeutic garden courtyards, one that includes multi-generational day care

Shalom Village Seniors Facility
Hamilton, Ontari, Canada
Gussie Sobel Healing Garden and other therapeutic garden areas

Versa Care-Brantford Long Term Care Facility
Brantford, Ontario, Canada
Therapeutic Garden Assessment

The West Studio

847 Hiawatha Place S
Seattle, WA 98144
Phone: +1 206.519.5690
E-mail: info@theweststudio.com
Web: TheWestStudio.com

Profile

The West Studio is an exciting and very alive evidence-based landscape architecture firm with roots in Seattle, Washington and feet that travel the country and the globe. The firm is founded on the belief that focus brings excellence and that evidence-based design is the vehicle for that focus and achieving the best possible outcomes for our clients. Our team listens, responds with sensitivity, and delivers powerful results through expert design, consulting services, and assessment tools.

We are not just another landscape design firm, we are different and we like it that way. At The West Studio, we base site planning and design decisions on reliable evidence. We work with you to define your specific design goals and objectives. We are ever mindful of client goals and objectives and ensure the best possible user and operational outcomes – that is what evidence-based design is all about.

Our team brings experience with healthcare settings, affordable family and elder housing, infill housing, parks, transitional housing, community facilities, justice facilities, tribal facilities, educational facilities, memorials, culturally sensitive, therapeutic and restorative environments. Our goal is to maximize positive outcomes meeting the clients’ specific needs and cultivate a practice of on-going collaboration with each of our clients.

Select projects fostering Health and Well-being

  • Vantage Point Senior Apartments – Renton, WA
  • Jardin de Malenalco Meditation Garden– Malenalco, Mexico
  • High Point Healthy Homes Report – Seattle, WA
  • VA Seattle Campus Expansion – Seattle, WA
  • PTOI Elder Housing – Tacoma, WA
  • Fircrest Healing Garden – Shortline, WA
  • Chehalis Elders Center – Oakville, WA

VireO Design Studio, LLC

Jan Satterthwaite, ASLA, L.E.E.D.™
Seattle, WA
Phone: 206.409.9970
www.vireods.com

Profile

Vireo [Latin]: ‘To be green, verdant; to be lively or vigorous’
VireO Design Studio, llc is dedicated to creating personalized life-enhancing designs for healing, learning, living and playing in the landscape. Our designs strive to be conscious of environmental as well as health impacts. We work with clients ranging from simple healing herb gardens for single family residences, to urban therapeutic gardens, to hospital master planning. Our studio has the artistic and sensitive design experience to create outdoor living spaces that inspire the soul.

The founder, Jan Satterthwaite, ASLA, L.E.E.D., is an experienced public artist and award winning designer whose interest in landscape architecture has been a lifetime journey that first began with intuition and learning to read place. Later it was leavened by observing the landscape via world travel, freelance work in art as well as experience living with cancer. Her design philosophy is drawn from a dual sensibility—in aesthetics and evidence based design. It is the intersection of the intuitive design process and a sensitivity to individuals with special needs where she finds design can successfully influence environmental change and promote therapeutic health benefits. Having once been a cancer patient, her focus is on the human experience in the landscape, with consistent themes appearing in her design exploration—a profound engagement with site and a modernist faith in the ability of design to transform both site and human response.

Projects

VA Puget Sound Fisher House
Veterans Peace Garden
Seattle, WA, USA
Meditation & healing garden for families of veterans (right-hand image)
This transformative garden project was sparked by the energy of the Friends of VA Puget Sound Fisher House™ working in collaboration with students at the University of Washington Dept. of Landscape Architecture Design/Build program. The new landscape is intended to soothe the souls and refresh the spirits of the military and Veteran families staying at Fisher House. The concept design for the garden embodies the “healing journey.” One enters the garden through a threshold of trees, leading to a central plaza. The focal point of the plaza is a “reflection” sculpture composed of metal bands weaving through a bed of ornamental grasses, suggesting the movement of wind. The plaza is surrounded by textured, colorful, and aromatic plants to delight the senses. The pavilion is also marked by metal panels depicting a dove and olive branch motif, referencing peace and healing. An extended woodland restoration garden completes the “healing journey,” symbolizing both spiritual and ecological reclamation.
Click here to view description, plan, renderings, and images of the garden.
Click here to view a video of the project, from build to finish.

Yakima Valley Memorial Hospital
Yakima, WA, USA
Healthcare Master Plan
Successive arrangement of ADA pathways, viewing plazas, a meditation meadow and interactive elements to provide staff, patients and children opportunities for restoration, meditation, & healing.
[Project design while at Berger Partnership]

Fircrest Rehabilitation School
Seattle, WA, USA
Healing Garden
Fircrest provides specialized, high-quality personalized service to the most challenged individuals with developmental disabilities. It serves a diverse population of people who are medically fragile, multiply handicapped, and behaviorally challenged. The accessible garden serves a dual purpose: as outdoor therapy and mitigates the displacement that residents undergo to provide a reconnection of a familiar ‘home’ landscape. A production zone, consisting of raised gardening beds and work tables, provide a space for horticultural therapy activities. A play and exploration zone, with a series of sensory paths, a wheelchair chime and interactive game table address cognitive skills. The zones can be chosen by individuals or caregiver groups. For users with low social skills, severe autism for example, parallel play or gardening may represent the highest level of social interaction they can manage. For others, gardening side by side may inspire social interactions not stimulated by more passive activities. In addition to the therapeutic aspects of the garden, a memorial circle was installed to commemorate the memory of residents, parents, guardians and friends who have passed away as well as other life celebrations and memorable events in Fircrest history.
Click here to view images of the garden.

Mary Bridge Children’s Hospital
Tacoma, WA, USA
Restorative Healing Garden (left image)
Children in any kind of environment like to make up imaginary worlds to cope with adversity and the challenge of growing up. In this healthcare setting, a whimsical and colorful planting design offers children, parents and visitors a sense of surprise and delight, awakening a new part of consciousness and relief from a potentially stressful hospital environment. A more contemplative garden behind the facility offers staff and visitors a place of refuge and respite.[Project design while at Bruce Dees & Associates]

U.W. Bnai Brith Hillel House
Seattle, WA, USA
Restorative teaching garden (center image)
Amongst the hustle & bustle of a busy urban university campus, the design for this project serves a dual purpose:  visitor respite and contemplation combined with an educational experience.  Natural materials have been selected to reflect the local vernacular.  Seating boulders and entry arbors define outdoor rooms that evoke a transition to nature.   They are functional but they also respond to human needs, built on a scale to welcome and reassure.  Plants were chosen with a biblical or historical meaning to serve as a catalyst, inspiring students and guests to reach out to their past.  The design was as much about creating a functional outdoor story room as it was about deepening personal knowledge and attaining peace with oneself.
[Project design while at Bruce Dees & Associates]

Towers|Golde Landscape Architects & Site Planners

85 Willow Street
New Haven, CT 06511
Phone: 203.773.1153
Fax: 203.865.6411
www.towersgolde.com

Profile

Towers|Golde is a full service site planning and landscape architectural firm known internationally for elegant design, environmental stewardship, and superior collaborative service. The partners and staff undertake each project as a unique design challenge whose solution is specific to the client, the site, and the larger physical context, whether that is ecological, architectural, historical or institutional.

T|G’s extensive experience in master planning and project design for therapeutic and healing gardens has made the firm’s approach particularly successful in its responsiveness to issues of patient wellness, institutional identity, and operational efficiency.
Skillful analysis of landscape conditions, sensitivity to architectural mission, commitment to the principles of sustainable design, and unusual respect for client concerns are the foundation of the firm’s practice. Carefully interweaving environmental character and architectural aesthetic, T|G’s designs unite site and structure, creating memorable places of distinctive character which connect people to the landscape. T|G is dedicated to an inclusive, collaborative design process that serves art and stewardship as well as budget and function.
Recipients of over fifty state, national and international awards, the firm is especially honored by the American Society of Landscape Architect’s 1997 Award of Excellence, national recognition of the firm’s long history of achievement in landscape architectural design.

Projects

Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center
Garden of Hope
Lebanon, New Hampshire
Architect: Shepley Bulfinch
Located in a quiet courtyard sheltered by surrounding buildings, this sunny space was designed to provide respite for patients undergoing cancer treatment, and their families. A single brick path meanders through lush, native plantings offering opportunities to be distracted from the sterile setting of this busy medical center.

University of Kentucky: Albert B. Chandler Hospital
Entry Courtyard Garden
Lexington, KY
Architect: GBBN Architects
“Not your typical hospital…” Is how UK Healthcare describes their new Patient Pavilion and featured among their touted assets is the special courtyard off the atrium lobby that offers “a place for tranquility in a lush garden setting with intimate seating areas and benches built into the natural limestone wall.” The courtyard is strategically visible from the entry and is part of the “Uniquely Kentucky” branding of the hospital ethos/aesthetic that guided much of the design considerations. The plants are all native, selected and planted to simulate nearby Appalachian forest settings. Wildflowers and spring flowering shrubs are featured, as are the natural rocks which were collected locally.
The courtyard is a therapeutic amenity that is actively used by both visitors and staff. It provides respite and relief from the inevitable pressures of any hospital environment while it makes a strong statement of the hospital’s commitment to world class healthcare within reassuringly local surroundings.
Awards: AiA Kentucky, Honor Award

Greenwich Hospital
The Carl and Dorothy Bennett Community Garden
Greenwich, CT
Architect: Shepley Bulfinch
The Carl and Dorothy Bennett Community Garden is the culmination of a 10-year building effort by Greenwich Hospital. To make a place for the park and therapy garden, a former wing of the hospital was demolished and the site completely reshaped. The garden welcomes the general public, visitors from the surrounding neighborhood, and patients. It is an outdoor escape, a place for relaxation, contemplation and private conversation.
Features include a verdant landscape, a basin and fountain, a memorial sculpture, plaza paving with donor names, and a generous terrace and pergola adjacent to the new hospital cafe. The garden has been structured to accommodate a number of thematic sub-garden areas as donor opportunities arise. All garden areas have been designed to be fully accessible to the handicapped.
Awards: CT ASLA Merit Award; Connecticut Building Congress Merit Award

Smilow Cancer Center at Yale-New Haven Hospita
Betty Ruth & Milton B. Hollander Healing Garden
New Haven, CT
Architect: Shepley Bulfinch
This innovative seventh floor rooftop healing garden provides an outdoor place for relaxation, contemplation or intimate conversation. Patients can meet with family members or health care professionals at one of the seating areas, or visit the garden alone. The resultant garden design was governed more by the needs and desires of cancer patients who favored images of nature, reminiscent of patients’ own backyards. The patient-centered design was carefully vetted through meetings with hospital staff, patients and their families.
One can traverse the circulation loop on foot or via wheelchair, experiencing different views of the garden or the city beyond. An unexpected naturalistic, re-circulating stream meanders through the garden, terminating in a reflecting pool. (Images displayed above)
Awards: Gold Winner – Center for Health Design Landscape Architecture Award; CT ASLA Award of Merit, Connecticut Building Congress-
Project Team Award First Place; US Green Building Council – CT Chapter Award of Merit

Bridgeport Hospital
Norma F. Pfriem Healing Garden
Bridgeport, CT
Architect: Shepley Bulfinch
Associated LA: Devore Associates
This highly visible garden is designed as a soothing oasis in the heart of the new medical center. It is a focal and focusing space that anticipates the special needs of cancer patients, staff and visitors while providing physical and psychological comfort as well as sensory engagement. It harnesses both the dynamic healing power of natural elements and the familiar elements of the southern New England landscape.
The centerpiece of the design is a sparkling waterfall set against a traditional stone wall. Other garden components include curving paths, intimate gathering spaces for individuals or small groups positioned in sun and shade, café dining, and naturalistic and seasonally varied plantings which feature a wildflower ‘meadow’ as well as numerous deciduous and evergreen trees. A screened terrace with a shade pergola adjacent to the infusion suites creates a private prospect for patients to receive their treatments in the garden. The splashing water of the fountain and a perimeter screen minimize the distractions of the world outside.

T. Delaney / Seam Studio

Topher Delaney, Principal
600 Illinois Street
San Francisco, CA 94107
Phone: 415.621.9899
Fax: 415.626.8998
www.tdelaney.com

Profile

Topher Delaney’s forty year career as an environmental artist has encompassed a wide breadth of projects which focus on the exploration of our cultural interpretations of landscape architecture, public art + the integration within the site spiritual precepts of “nature.” Her practice, SEAM Studio, has evolved to serves as a venue for the investigation of cultural, social and artistic narratives “seamed” together to form dynamic physical installations.

Ms. Delaney’s projects place an emphasis on the integration of physical form with narratives referencing the currency of a site’s unique historical, cultural, physical and environmental profiles. The text of the terrain is evidenced in the structure of these narratives, crafted by technical skill and quality of materials to create a site which will be read and interpreted by the general public.

Projects

Avon Comprehensive Breast Center, San Francisco General Hospital (left image)
Carolyn S. Stolman Healing Garden
San Francisco, CA, USA

Beth Israel Hospital
Jonathan Parker Abramson Garden “A Safe Harbor”
New York, NY, USA

Isaac Espinoza Memorial Garden (right image)
San Francisco Police Department Bayview Station
San Francisco, CA, USA

Kenneth Norris Cancer Center
University of Southern California
The Sherri Hinderstein Memorial Garden
Los Angeles, CA, USA

Marin General Hospital, Marin Cancer Institute (center image)
Greenbrae, CA, USA
Meditation Garden

San Diego Children’s Hospital and Health Center
Leichtag Family Healing Garden
San Diego, CA, USA

Studio Sprout Inc.

Roy-Fisher Associates
Connie Roy-Fisher, Principal
Mailing address: PO Box 420, Jupiter, FL 33468
Physical location: 18761 131st Trail North, Jupiter, FL 33478
Phone: (561) 747-3462
Fax: (561) 747-0281
www.studio-sprout.com

Profile

Studio Sprout, Inc. is dedicated to evidence-based design and sustainability. Connie Roy-Fisher, ASLA founded our design studio in 1983 and has a history of achievement and recognition for her work on public and private projects. Connie frequently lectures on evidence-based healthcare design and sustainable landscape techniques for South Florida. The firm works as both prime consultant and as part of an integrated interdisciplinary team offering expert advice on built projects of distinction.

Studio Sprout believes that a restorative environment is crafted by a careful arrangement of a variety of sensory, psychological and natural stimuli in an effort to:

  • Bring the visitor to the moment by connecting to something outside the body (a sensory experience or connection with nature)
  • Bring the visitor to an awareness of an environment bigger than “the problem” to regain a sense of perspective and control (psychological stimuli)

Studio Sprout strives to incorporate features that are the right choice considering each unique patient population through evidence based design. Landscapes for Healing incorporate features shown to be beneficial through past research and are tested in post occupancy evaluations. SPROUT collaborates with caregivers, patients, families and integrated design teams to design supportive, safe, and accessible outdoor spaces

Hanley Center Master Plan
West Palm Beach, FL, USA
The Hanley Center is a not for profit drug and alcohol rehabilitation center. A 12-step garden associated with the wellness center focuses on themes and metaphors associated with the recovery process.The Master Plan incorporates walking paths with sensory plant material, a walking meditation garden associated with a chapel, labyrinth, ropes course, horticultural therapy areas, butterfly garden and outdoor patios.

Hanley Resource Center
West Palm Beach, FL, USA
The Hanley Resource Center is the hub of community outreach for the Hanley Center. The Resource Center holds classes for families and corporations. Several outdoor spaces accommodate a variety of group sizes in a relaxed setting, surrounded by lush plantings. The spaces were carefully detailed to provide shelter and shade including moveable furniture, leafy tree canopies and a trellis with vines for shade and privacy. A large garden area adjacent to a popular inspirational book store encourages reading outdoors, small staff gatherings, and private meetings with a mentor in a restorative setting. A smaller area directly adjacent to classrooms provides a space for students to refresh during break. The site landscaping mitigates traffic noise and bermed plantings of native, xeric and low maintenance plant material distract from a nearby busy road.

Jupiter Medical Center Emergency Room
Jupiter, FL, USA
Jupiter Medical Center is an acute care hospital. This garden provides a comfortable outdoor alternative to the indoor waiting room. Lush tropical plantings provide a variety of colors and textures, a bubbling fountain provides a pleasant distraction from the stresses associated with acute care. Visitors are protected from sun and rain by a canopy cover, breezes are supplemented by outdoor fans and vending machines provide the opportunity for refreshment.

Jupiter Medical Center Pavilion Master Plan
Jupiter, FL , USA
A series of connected gardens at this 120-bed nursing and rehabilitation facility emphasizes four therapeutic outcomes:

  1. Sense of Control – Residents can choose whether to sit in the sun or shade, in groups or alone. Curved pathways unify the outdoor areas and allow residents to choose where and how far into the gardens they wish to explore.
  2. Exposure to Nature – A bird garden, raised water garden, and plantings along a large pond provide wildlife habitat. A raised gazebo is oriented to feel the predominant southeast breezes. Eighty-percent of bedroom windows have views to a designed outdoor space for residents unable to venture outside.
  3. Exercise – Paths encourage patients and staff to stroll or explore in their wheelchairs. Benches, fountains, and small sculptures provide subtle “goals” to reach.
  4. Social Support – Spatial considerations for wheelchairs allow residents to meet outside with family and friends. Please visit www.studio-sprout.com to view a plan, pictures and an extensive post occupancy evaluation of this project.

Jupiter Medical Center Pavilion Butterfly Garden
Jupiter, FL. USA
The Pavilion Butterfly Garden was the first of a series of garden spaces developed at this Nursing Home facility. The butterfly garden featured a trellis, a variety plantings that attract butterflies and a fountain for residents to view from their indoor dining room.

Jupiter Medical Center Pavilion Pond Restoration
Jupiter, FL, USA
This project at a Rehabilitation and Nursing Home Facility was funded by a local grant to improve water quality. The perimeter of the retention pond was planted with native plantings that provides habitat for waterfowl as well as screens an unattractive parking lot. A spray fountain cools an adjacent patio that is a favorite gathering place for residents to relax and enjoy the wildlife associated with the pond setting.

Jupiter Medical Center
Jacqueline Fiske Healing Garden

Jupiter, FL, USA
The idea for a healing garden began with the Director of the Cardiopulmonary Rehabilitation Center. She thought that if her patients could look at something other than blank walls, they would be more inclined to exercise. Through a program called Johnny Apple Seed, hospital staff and volunteers donated close to $20,000. Part of this seed money enabled the development of preliminary plans. The plans were mounted on a sign to request further funding for the garden. In 2002, Guy Fiske visited the hospital with his wife, Jacqueline, saw the sign and offered to fund the garden as a Valentine’s gift to her. She accepted. Through the Fiskes’ generosity, not only was the garden construction funded, but an escrow account was established for long term maintenance.

The goal of the Jacqueline Fiske Healing Garden is to foster the physical, mental and spiritual restoration of patients, visitors and staff by distracting from the medical setting. A series of garden spaces connected by paths create a tranquil and sheltered environment. The garden can be seen from inside the Cardiopulmonary Rehabilitation Center exercise room and offers an alternative outdoor route between hospital units. Seating areas for visitors, patients and staff seamlessly incorporate elements that can be used in rehabilitation therapy.
The garden has several special features. The central focus is a calming pool of water that can be touched and provides a soothing sound. A sculpture of a pair of rising herons by a local artist provides a healing metaphor in the fountain. A transplanted 40’ live oak gives a sense of permanency as well as shade. A large arbor provides a sheltered meeting place and a shaded transition area from indoors. The Jacqueline Fiske Healing Garden received an award of excellence from the Florida Association of Landscape Architects. Please visit our website www.studio-sprout.com for a plan, pictures and to review a post occupancy evaluation of this project.

Jupiter Medical Center
Jacqueline Fiske Garden of Hope

Jupiter, FL
The Garden of Hope is cradled between a meditative lake and cancer center views. A series of spaces accommodate support group gatherings and provide private spaces for quiet reflection amidst a calm lake setting. A Seven-Point Vessica Pattern represents the interconnection of all life and provides a gathering place for meditative exercises. An adjacent shaded patio accommodates outdoor yoga and group meetings. A lush variety of plants creates a sensory environment that attracts wildlife and provides a positive distraction. SPROUT Roy-Fisher Associates facilitated focus groups with patients and staff to identify garden elements that support the emotional needs of individuals with cancer and incorporate the garden into support group programming. Patients preferred two spiritual archetypal landscapes – the promontory (extension) and the harbor (embracing) – which informed the design. Please visit our website www.studio-sprout.com for pictures and a plan of this project.

Mollie Wilmot Center
West Palm Beach, FL, USA
A welcoming environment that is attractive and intriguing to children complements this medical facility’s state-funded program for underserved children. Topiary wildlife hangs from trees for patients on gurneys to observe on their arrival. Colorful fish in waves of native grasses greet children from the parking lot. A proposed canopy and shade structure over a play area will provide protection from the sun and rain. A future bubble garden will let play elements “float” to children in wheelchairs in an area that also attracts butterflies with specialized plantings. Raised vegetable gardens will be used in diabetes education classes.

Views from the adjacent lobby attract patients, visitors, and staff outside, alleviating an overcrowded waiting room. A stained glass window provides a nature setting in a quiet room overlooking a trickling water feature in the garden. The connection with nature provides a pleasant distraction from treatments. Please visit our website www.studio-sprout.com for pictures and a plan of this project.

Smith\GreenHealth Consulting, LLC

Jerry Smith, FASLA, LEED AP, EDAC, Principal
Columbus, OH
Phone: 614.266.6685
www.smithgreenhealth.com

RGS Designs

Rick Spalenka, Principal
Cedaredge, Colorado
Phone: 970.856.6077
www.rgsdesigns.com

Profile

Design service specializing in residential and healthcare gardens, designing contemplative spaces using sensory enhancing elements such as water features, tactile and aromatic plants, shade, sound and lighting. Currently a solo Registered Landscape Architect with over 30 years of varied experiences including design, construction, and healthcare, Rick Spalenka is certified in Healthcare Design through the Chicago Botanic Garden and training in horticulture therapy through the Denver Botanic Garden. He is licensed in Landscape Architecture in Virginia and Colorado and registered as a nurse in Colorado, and has experience in psychiatry and Veteran nursing.

Spalenka grew up as a Navy dependent with world travel experience and served in the Army as a Combat Engineer in Europe both in a combat role and practiced as a landscape architect with the Armed Forces Recreation Center – Garmisch, Germany. He has returned to Europe many times to visit friends and family, and his projects are influenced by both European and Asian experiences.

Projects

Association for Research and Enlightenment (Edgar Cayce A.R.E)
Harris Prayer and Meditation Garden
Virginia Beach, VA, USA
Edgar Cayce Research Center and Headquarters
www.edgarcayce.org

Smith\GreenHealth Consulting, LLC

Jerry Smith, FASLA, LEED AP, EDAC, Principal
Columbus, OH
Phone: 614.266.6685
www.smithgreenhealth.com

Profile, images, and projects list coming soon