principles

2015/1.2, January 21 — Laminar Illusion, Cracked Shells, Frog’s Delight and more

THE ESSENTIAL E-NEWSLETTER FOR WATERSHAPE DESIGNERS, ENGINEERS AND BUILDERS January 21, 2015 www.watershapes.com LESSONS LEARNED…

As a design concept, Japanese gardens know no cultural or geographic borders: Elements of this style of garden design have been exported throughout the world to shape exterior spaces of all sorts in both public and private settings. Here, gardening and landscape design expert Elizabeth Navas Finley discusses the underlying principles of Japanese gardens, defining ways in which this simple approach to designing spaces can be put to use across a spectrum of applications.

Back to the Garden

The gardening impulse of the Japanese is truly ancient. In times before recorded history, sacred outdoor spaces around Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples were arranged according to this design vision. And through more than 1,000 years of recorded history, gardens have been created and refined by priests, warriors and emperors alike in spaces both public and private. The style isn't original in the strictest sense: In many ways, the gardens of Japan find their sources in Chinese gardening styles and landscape painting. But the Japanese developed and refined their borrowings to fit their own national taste for subtle naturalism and elegant rusticity. The result is an amazingly coherent and distinctive landscaping style that now can be experienced at hundreds of public gardens in Japan. The nice thing today is that you don't have to live in Tokyo to appreciate Japanese gardens - or to incorprate their principles into your designs. In fact, garden designers around the world now use the obvious elements of Japanese gardens - the stone lanterns, gravel and clipped azaleas - in naturalistic and asymmetrical settings of all shapes and sizes. In some cases, the total look of the garden is Japanese; in others, its principles are used to