Healing Garden for San Francisco Fire Department
Students in the School of Landscape Architecture have been hard at work creating proposals for a Healing Garden for the San Francisco Fire Department. The garden will have multiple uses. One will be as a space used by first responders during debriefing sessions after critical incident events. Students in LAN 311/611 created two options based on feedback from SFFD under the guidance of faculty Mark Yin. The proposal will be further revised to reflect feedback from the wider community.
Proposal 1 Eternal Growth
Click to open PDF file of SFFD Healing Garden Proposal 1 Eternal Growth
Student Team: Yining Li, Richard Elliot Whitehurst, Sofia Vasquez-Saut, Onam Benitez, Jennifer Hammond
Proposal 1 Design Elements:
- Large deck for gatherings
- BBQ zone for outdoor cooking and dining
- Fountain
- Pergola, green houses, raised beds
- Outdoor composting toilets
- Low-maintenance plantings
Proposal 2 Finding Peace
Click to open PDF file of SFFD Healing Garden Proposal 2 Finding Peace
Student Team: Ronie Barrientos, Francesca DeVargas, Ana Paola Hayes, Alex Zhuokai Lyu, Yu Meng Tsai
Design Statement: How should we portray a healing garden? In Therapeutic Gardens: Design for Healing Spaces, by Amy Wagenfeld and Daniel M. Winterbottom, healing is defined as the process of making something whole or sound, aiding individuals in overcoming challenges, and restoring purity or integrity. This multifaceted concept encompasses physical, psychological, and spiritual dimensions.
For this project, we are focusing on addressing stress and PTSD. Behavioral scientist Roger Ulric emphasizes the importance of individuals having a sense of control over their surroundings, as well as access to a variety of spaces when dealing with stress or PTSD. A well-designed healing garden can provide this by offering diverse environments – some enclosed for privacy and introspection, and others open for social interaction. Such thoughtful design gives users the freedom to choose the setting that best supports their needs.
To achieve these objectives, we developed five conceptual designs that reflect our vision for therapeutic gardens. After extensive discussions and collaboration, we consolidated our ideas into this preliminary design proposal.
Proposal 2 Design Elements:
- Large gathering area supports flexible use of space.
- Consultation space provides a sense of enclosure and intimacy.
- An adjacent water feature creates a soothing sound.
- Amphitheater seating features soft diffused lighting.
- Memorial wall remembers lives lost. Use of SFFD symbol, the phoenix.
- Meditation paths invite a sensory experience of walking on river rock pavers.
- Aromatic and edible gardens further deepen the sensory experience.