Since 1963, the number of guests visiting the Portland Japanese Garden has grown from 30,000 visitors per year to almost 300,000.

In 2007, the Garden’s Board of Trustees began to plan in earnest for the long-needed expansion at the Garden, and launched an international design competition in 2010. One submission from Kengo Kuma & Associates clearly exceeded the others in comprehensively addressing the site’s challenges, while keeping focus on the original garden spaces and understanding the unique aesthetics of a Japanese garden in a native Northwest forest.

“The proposal combined beauty, native materials, Japanese craftsmanship and design, and environmental sustainability with the highest level of functionality and comfort for the people who would use the spaces. The architect who submitted the proposal was Kengo Kuma, one of Japan’s premier designers,” said Stephen D. Bloom, Chief Executive Officer of the Portland Japanese Garden.

In the past, Kengo Kuma has been entrusted with many culturally sensitive designs around the world, including beautiful iconic buildings valued especially for their appropriateness to site and function. Kuma and his team created a design for the Portland Japanese Garden that maximizes every inch of space on the Japanese Garden’s hilltop, answers the Garden’s operational needs, and is beautiful in a particularly Japanese, understated way.

The monzenmachi or “town before the gate” concept preserves the essential experience for each individual visitor, spreading out needs such as admissions, information, education, gallery space, events, orientation, restrooms, shopping, eating, sitting, and sharing experiences—outside of the 5.5-acre Garden. Temples in Japan traditionally use the “gate-town” approach to preserve the sanctity of the precincts within the gates. The Garden’s new buildings will be designed according to the objectives of traditional Japanese architecture, in which the design blends seamlessly into the landscape.

The original garden space will remain untouched and unaltered. After the new buildings are completed, the Garden’s existing Pavilion can be used more efficiently for extended exhibitions and events, such as the annual Moonviewing. The current gift store space will be re-purposed for volunteer needs, with lockers, break room, tool storage, and an office for the Assistant Volunteer Coordinator. As the volunteer corps grows at the Garden, this kind of space and access for volunteers is key to ensuring the Garden’s long term success.

To welcome visitors with a prelude of experiences to come, the welcome gate will be moved down by the parking lot.  There will also be three new gardens to welcome visitors. In the process, the Garden is planting more than 200 new trees and shrubs along the walking trail leading from the parking lot to the Garden while removing invasive non-native species.

By reusing existing space and optimizing built-over areas, the total Garden building footprint will increase by 11,340 square feet.

The original five gardens blend into each other effortlessly, linked by the water that runs through them—including the dry “waves” raked into patterns in the Sand and Stone Garden. In the new gardens, which will surround and protect the original Garden, the flow of water will provide a connection throughout the entire twelve acre hillside. The breathtaking new spaces will offer a taste of diverse aesthetic design.

“Our mission is to serve as a resource for professionals and amateurs. We’re in a unique position—thanks to our history—and what we want to do is share our success in conveying the layers of meaning and relevance of Japanese gardens to contemporary audiences. Expanding our class offerings and developing them into an integrated curriculum for local, national, and international learners is a priority. We have Diane Durston, our Curator of Culture, Art, and Education, and her team hard at work in this area, so that when the space is ready, we can commence,” said Bloom.

The Garden is a magical place any time of year, and adding the frame of Japanese culture, art, and education will help even more people enjoy the special place in a fresh, new way.

The Cultural Crossing Expansion opens to the public Sunday, April 2, 2017.

This full article can be seen in the #3 issue of the 2017 Journal of the North American Japanese Garden Association (NAJGA) expected to be out early next year.

Bamboo-zled

What do you do on a tropical stormy day? Bamboozle the interns. Well, not really. But get them busy with bamboo. 

There’s a good supply of bamboo growing happily in the riparian area of the Morris Arboretum along the Wissahickon Creek. And with fencing on my mind and Hurricane Joaquin a brewing, we got busy. Yesterday I cut the size pieces I needed (about 2-inch diameters), and today we holed up in the garage and split bamboo while it rained.

That’s our Horticulture intern Paige Ida working her magic with the bamboo splitter. Now, you might wonder where to procure such a tool. Well, I recently ordered a couple from Hida Tool in Berkeley, CA. I couldn’t decide on just one from the seven options, so I went with a 3-way and a 5-way splitter. A selection of splitters and other bamboo tools is laid out below for a workshop organized by the North American Japanese Garden Association (NAJGA) that I attended in Minneapolis in August.

I also ordered a bamboo hatchet and fine-toothed bamboo saw, both of which cut the woody grass like buttah. I learned the hard way how sharp the hatchet truly is. (No stitches required)

With the bamboo we have, the 5-way splitter works best. The 3-way tool split the pieces unevenly, making some too weak and others too rigid for their intended purpose as simple hoop fencing. The bamboo pictured below demonstrates to visitors where the path ends and the bed begins, keeping visitors out of the hakone grass at the Charlotte Partridge Ordway Japanese Garden at Como Park Zoo & Conservatory in Saint Paul, MN.

Four Chicago Gardens Take Center Stage at 2014 North American Japanese Garden Conference #japanesegarden #gardenchat

CHICAGO, ILLINOIS — All roads lead to Chicago and its Japanese gardens for more than two hundred professionals and enthusiasts from the US, Canada and around the world who are attending the 2014 North American Japanese Garden Association’s (NAJGA) biennial conference happening October 16 to 18.  NAJGA, a non-profit organization, promotes the horticulture, business culture and human culture of…