Throughout history, gardens have been used to help heal. From the meditative Japanese Zen garden to the monastic cloister garden, nature has proven to have biophilic benefits like stress reduction and improved well-being. With the onset of modern architectural advances in healthcare campuses in the 20th century, the use of gardens as healing elements began to diminish. Today, hospital healing gardens have been reimagined and incorporated as vital elements of healthcare design. Recent interest in complementary and alternative therapies that emphasize holistic healing—mind, body, and spirit—rather than simply alleviating symptoms is one of the main reasons the interest in gardens as healers was revived.
As with Holy Cross Hospital, challenging site considerations can also present healing garden opportunities. A narrow sliver of space separated the front façade of the hospital from the two-story, partially submerged parking structure. Unfortunately, the parking structure served as the actual front door of the hospital. Presented with this design challenge, the landscape architects utilized the narrow space to provide users with intimate settings, including a water element for noise abatement, wildlife habitat, Greenscreen® Trellis to create vertical elements and naturalistic plantings. The buffer between architecture and functional space is greatly enhanced, and the garden's usage is evident on a pleasant day.
