UGA students participate in children’s garden charrette
November 4, 2009
The State Botanical Gardens of Georgia hosted a design charrette on Friday, October 9, 2009 to discuss the future of the upcoming addition of a children’s garden. In conjunction with the University of Georgia, the Botanical Garden held the two-day charrette to begin the planning phase of the construction of the garden. Graduate school students and faculty members of the university’s College of Environment and Design, as well as local professionals combined to formulate several ideas for the future children’s garden.
The college places emphasis on service-learning and community involvement and is constantly looking to create community partnerships. The Botanical Garden is a unit of the University of Georgia Office of the Vice President for Public Service and Outreach, thus the relationship between the two created a unique opportunity for students of the university to extend their experience while cultivating relationships in the community. Alfie Vick, one of the main faculty members involved in the design charrette said, “It allowed us to collaborate with our community partnerships. They had an idea, and we had expertise.”
Anne Shenk, director of education for the Botanical Garden has made learning a priority for the garden. Shenk said, “Roots of environmental understanding will anchor the learning experiences as children participate in fantasy and play at different garden galleries. These environmental understandings will lead to a love for Earth and her creatures and will sow seeds for a deep respect and empathy for nature.”
The design charrette was separated into three basic phases: research and analysis, design, and construction documentation. Before creating any original plans, the students examined several existing children’s gardens across the country. After evaluating the various gardens, the students separated into five groups that focused on specific aspects of a garden including aesthetics, circulation, context, user groups and programming. Within the groups, garden staff and university faculty members aided the students’ ideas by helping to maintain the vision and purpose of the garden in the plans. The envisioned children’s garden will be a place that creates dynamic experiences that engage young children, ages three through seven, in exploring and loving nature.
The Botanical Garden staff desires a garden that serves as an educational retreat for children. With several hands-on activities, the hope is that children will learn and fall in love with nature. With this in mind, the students created five smaller themed gardens for the overall garden while evaluating the function, child’s perspective, and the designer’s goals for each garden. Children will foster nature education while experiencing interesting, fun activities which will bring children and their parents back for repeated visits.
Although the charrette allowed for initial planning, the design work extended past the two-day event. Students in Vick’s studio class were charged with completing the ideas created at the charrette. “We took home everything from the charrette, began identifying gaps, started design work to fill in those gaps and refined the original ideas.” The students finalized the plans into three main garden designs. These three varied designs are the groundwork for the final report and Request for Qualifications document that will begin the search for the main architect of the garden.
“I think it will be an amazing garden,” said Vick. “It’ll be the kind of facility that draws people in from the entire region, and it will boost tourism for Athens. It’s an exciting experience to have been a part of.”