Community Landscape Lab

Examples of Designs for Healing

The natural and social aspects of landscapes offer a variety of healing benefits to those suffering from loss or hardship. If designed thoughtfully, outdoor spaces can become a place of relaxation, restoration, and rehabilitation for mind and body.

The following case studies illustrate how landscapes for healing can come in a variety of forms and functions. While there are several good examples of healing gardens are located within a hospital setting, we focused on healing designs that focused on youth.

Institute for Child and Adolescent Development Therapeutic Garden

Aerial view of the garden and its varying landscape features
Image Source: https://alicedonovaninspired.wordpress.com/2011/08/26/h20/

Location: Wellesley, MA

Date Designed / Built: 1995-1998

Client: Institute for Child and Adolescent Development

Designer: Reed Hilderbrand

Project Context

The Institute for Child and Adolescent Development therapeutic garden was established by Dr. Santostefano and his wife Susan. Dr. Santostefano, a highly regarded mental health professional, founded the institute of child and adolescent development in order to provide a health care environment within a homelike setting. Integral to his interactive healing theory was the therapeutic garden that he commissioned in the practice’s backyard. Dr. Santostefano believed that the landscape could heal children with traumatic experiences by allowing them to relive the experience through physical activity.

Project Description

The garden is composed of a series of spaces geared towards assisting a child’s recovery from trauma. An earth formed ravine is designed to feel like a cave of security while a reflective pond provides opportunity for discovery. A natural woodland allows for exploration and an adjacent open lawn for running. A turf covered mound is used for climbing while the steep slopes provide a tool for conquering one’s challenges. Connecting these spaces and guiding a child through the garden is one continuous ribbon like stream.

Turfed covered mound used for climbing and challenging oneself

Image Source: https://knowltondl.osu.edu/index.php/Detail/objects/5060

Close up image of the ribbon water stream that ties the garden's rooms together
Image Source: https://knowltondl.osu.edu/index.php/Detail/objects/5060

Open woodland adjacent to the steep slops of the earth mounds

Image Source: https://knowltondl.osu.edu/index.php/Detail/objects/5060

Ribbon water stream weaving through the garden's lush vegetation

Image Source: https://knowltondl.osu.edu/index.php/Detail/objects/5060

Project Significance and Impact

The garden showed significant success in patient treatment. Serving over a 1,000 children over the years, the garden and its intentional therapeutic design expanded therapy options and showed significant treatment improvement. Unfortunately, Dr. Santostefano retired his practice and the garden was sold and removed in 2006.

Takeaways for Design

- - Pediatric trauma treatment can be enhanced by time outside.
  - Landscapes can be designed to evoke past experiences
  - Gardens can help individuals visualize their place in nature

For more information:

https://www.reedhilderbrand.com/works/institute_for_child_and_adolescent_development

https://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/13/garden/the-doctor-is-out-and-so-are-the-patients.html

Brent Elementary Schoolyard Greening

Brent Elementary's south entrance featuring a colorful butterfly & pollinator garden
Image Source: https://www.landscapeperformance.org/case-study-briefs/brent-elementary-schoolyard#/overview

Location: Washington, DC

Date Designed / Built: 2006- 2010

Client: Brent Elementary Parents and Teachers Association & DC Public Schools

Designer: Sustainable Life Designs

Project Context

The schoolyard improvements began as an effort to create a positive outdoor space in order to engage students in environmental education and outdoor enjoyment. Due to budget constraints, money was not previously allocated for outdoor spaces, so parents and school officials worked together to initiate the project and brainstorm for outside funding.

Project Description

The schoolyard improvements encompass 20,000 square feet of newly designed spaces. Traditional lawns were replaced with native plantings, rain gardens, and natural play elements. Additional spaces were created for outdoor classroom activities and discussions. The school’s entrance incorporated improvements by replacing traditional shrubbery and plantings with butterfly and pollinator gardens, providing bright blooms and spaces for discovery and education.

Schoolyard before design improvements

Image Source: https://www.landscapeperformance.org/case-study-briefs/brent-elementary-schoolyard#/overview

Previously paved schoolyard, now featuring seating areas, rain gardens, & native plantings
Image Source: https://www.landscapeperformance.org/case-study-briefs/brent-elementary-schoolyard#/overview

New outdoor classroom space featuring a vegetated teepee, pollinator plantings, & a rain harvesting barrel
Image Source: https://www.landscapeperformance.org/case-study-briefs/brent-elementary-schoolyard#/overview

Pollinator garden with educational singage

Image Source: https://www.landscapeperformance.org/case-study-briefs/brent-elementary-schoolyard#/overview

Project Significance and Impact

The project produced a low-maintenance, cost effective, sustainable, educational, and interactive schoolyard. The design was funded by a total $264,000 raised by local fundraisers, donations, and funding from local and national organizations like the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and the Capital Hill Green Schools Initiative. The redesign heavily relied on community engagement. Teachers and parents participated in three design charrettes over two years. The final product provides weekly outdoor learning opportunities, a 9 degree decrease in summer surface temperatures, over 1,600 gallons of rainwater capture annually, and a 191% increase in enrollment demand.

Design Takeaways

- - Engaging parents in the design process heightened their interest in the school grounds and eased the process of recruiting volunteers for regular maintenance
  - Design phasing allows for funding to be available in approachable, segmented stages.
  - Engaging students during two annual volunteer events fosters environmental stewardship and community involvement .

For more information:

https://www.landscapeperformance.org/case-study-briefs/brent-elementary-schoolyard#/challenge-solution

https://sustainablelifedesigns.com/gallery-images/2.html

http://www.brentelementary.org/

Rogers Memorial Hospital Children and Adolescent Center Therapeutic Garden

Aerial view, highlighting the whimsical design of the therapeutic garden
Image source: https://www.hitchcockdesigngroup.com/portfolio-item/rogers-memorial-hospital-children-and-adolescent-center-therapeutic-garden/

Location: Oconomowoc, WI

Date Designed / Built: 2017

Client: Rogers Memorial Hospital

Designer: Hitchcock Design Group

Project Context

As a center of behavioral health services, Rogers Memorial Hospital firmly believes in the power of nature in the process of healing. The Children and Adolescents Therapeutic Garden was created once the 50-acre Oconomowoc campus master plan was completed, as a compliment to their new Children and Adolescent Center. Additionally, the garden supported the center’s new horticultural therapy program. Utilizing the opinions of doctors and staff, the garden provides a therapeutic space for programming and individual respite

Project Description

The Rogers Memorial Hosptal Childredn and Adolescent center therapeutic garden was created as a place for healing and respite while incorporating playful elements to appeal to varying age levels. The garden houses seating for small groups, patio tables, a bird and butterfly sanctuary, a gazebo and swing, a water feature, and a green wall. Nature based play elements geared toward younger patients allow for creative expression and discovery. Raised garden beds create a space for nutrition therapy, aiding adolescents to become familiar with planting and harvesting food in order to foster a healthy relationship with food.

Patients utilizing raised garden beds to connect with nature

Image Source: https://www.hitchcockdesigngroup.com/portfolio-item/rogers-memorial-hospital-children-and-adolescent-center-therapeutic-garden/

The garden features multiple passive play areas like the tree stepping stumps pictured here
Image Source: https://www.hitchcockdesigngroup.com/portfolio-item/rogers-memorial-hospital-children-and-adolescent-center-therapeutic-garden/

Colorful pollinator plantings featured on the perimeter of health center's garden

Image Source: https://rogersbh.org/locations/oconomowoc

A patient plantings new plantings in the garden's raised bed planters

Image Source: https://www.hitchcockdesigngroup.com/portfolio-item/rogers-memorial-hospital-children-and-adolescent-center-therapeutic-garden/

Project Significance and Impact

As a recently created space, research is ongoing but Rogers Behavioral Health has witnessed that direct contact with nature leads to increased mental health and well-being. Benefits include cognitive, physical, and social improvement.

Lessons Learned

- - A single landscape of healing can successfully serve a wide range of ages
  - Therapeutic gardening and horticulture therapy professionals can aid in designing effective landscapes of healing

For more information

https://www.rogersbhfoundation.org/what-we-do/capital-projects/garden-therapy/

https://www.hitchcockdesigngroup.com/portfolio-item/rogers-memorial-hospital-children-and-adolescent-center-therapeutic-garden

Sources:

Acar, Habibe. 2013. “Landscape design for children and their environment in urban context” in Advances in Landscape Architecture. InTech. doi: 10.5772/55751

Allcock, A (2019) ESSS Outline: Healing environments for children who have experienced trauma. Iriss. https://doi.org/10.31583/esss.20190506

Browning, William, Catherine Ryan and Joseph Clancy. 2014. 14 Patterns of Biophilic Design: Improving Health & Well-Being in the Built Environment. New York: Terrapin Bright Green llc.

Burls, Ambra. 2005. “New Landscapes for Mental Health.” The Mental Health Review 10 (1): 26-29.

Connellan, Kathleen, Mads Gaardboe, Damien Riggs, Clemence Due, Amanda Reinschmidt, and Lauren Mustillo. 2013. “Stressed Spaces: Mental Health and Architecture.” Health Environments Research & Design Journal (HERD) (Vendome Group LLC) 6 (4): 127–68. doi:10.1177/193758671300600408.

Eli Paddle, and Jason Gilliland. 2016. “Orange Is the New Green: Exploring the Restorative Capacity of Seasonal Foliage in Schoolyard Trees.” International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 13 (5): 497. doi:10.3390/ijerph13050497.

Hitchcock Design Group. “Roger’s Memorial Hospital, Children and Adolescent Center Therapeutic Garden.” Accessed September 1, 2020. https://www.hitchcockdesigngroup.com/portfolio-item/rogers-memorial-hospital-children-and-adolescent-center-therapeutic-garden/.

Kent, Jennifer L. 2015. “Therapeutic Landscapes : An Evidence-Based Approach to Designing Healing Gardens and Restorative Outdoor Spaces, by Clare Cooper Marcus and Naomi A. Sachs.” Australian Planner, no. 3 (September): 242–43.

Landscape Architecture Foundation. “Brent Elementary Schoolyard Greening: Phase 1.” Landscape Performance Series. Accessed August 26, 2020. https://www.landscapeperformance.org/case-study-briefs/brent-elementary-schoolyard#/challenge-solution.

Moore, Robin C. 1996. “Compact Nature: The Role of Playing and Learning Gardens on Children's Lives.” Journal of Therapeutic Horticulture 8: 72-82. http://www.jstor.com/stable/44025358.

Moore, Robin C., and Herbert H. Wong. 2000. Natural Learning : The Life History of an Environmental Schoolyard : Creating Environments for Rediscovering Nature’s Way of Teaching. MIG Communications.

Moore, Robin C. 2002. “Healing Gardens for Children” in Healing gardens: therapeutic benefits and design recommendations, edited by Clare Cooper Marcus and Marni Barnes. John Wiley and Sons.

Negami, Hanna R., Robin Mazumder, Mitchell Reardon, and Colin G. Ellard. 2018. “Field Analysis of Psychological Effects of Urban Design: a Case Study in Vancouver.” Cities & Health 2 (2): 106–15. https://doi.org/10.1080/23748834.2018.1548257

Ottosson, Johan. 2007. “The Importance of Nature in Coping.” Doctoral thesis, Landscape Planning, Horticulture and Agricultural Science, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences.

Pretty, Jules et. al. 2005. “The mental and physical health outcomes of green exercise.” International Journal of Environmental Health Research 15 (5): 319-337. doi: 10.1080/09603120500155963

Project for Public Spaces. 2016. The Case for Healthy Places: Improving Health Outcomes Through Placemaking.

Raver, Anne. “The Doctor Is Out (and So Are the Patients).” New York Times, January 13, 2005. https://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/13/garden/the-doctor-is-out-and-so-are-the-patients.html.

Reed Hilderbrand. “Institute for Child and Adolescent Development Therapeutic Garden.” Accessed August 31, 2020. https://www.reedhilderbrand.com/works/institute_for_child_and_adolescent_development.

Rogers Behavioral Health Foundation. “Garden Therapy.” Accessed September 1, 2020. https://www.rogersbhfoundation.org/what-we-do/capital-projects/garden-therapy

St. Thomas, Bruce, and Paul Johnson. 2007. Empowering Children Through Art and Expression : Culturally Sensitive Ways of Healing Trauma and Grief. London: Jessica Kingsley Publishers.

Sustainable Life Designs. “Brent Elementary School.” Accessed August 26, 2020. https://sustainablelifedesigns.com/gallery-images/2.html.

Tsunetsugu, Yuko et. al. 2013. “Physiological and psychological effects of viewing urban forest landscapes assessed by multiple measurements.” Landscape and Urban Planning 113: 90-93. doi: 10.1016/j.landurbplan.2013.01.014

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