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The Passage
- Project: Residential Garden
- Location: New England
- Size: 10 Acres
- Firm: Horiuchi Solien Inc. Falmouth, MA
- Landscape Architect: Kris Horiuchi
- Artist: Charles Swanson
Artist: Eck Follen
- Architect: Michele Foster
- Awards: ASLA Residential Design Award of Honor
Swanson Fountains Featured: Enki, Misu, Solas
“A great site plan that creates wonderful moments. The planting plan creates a lush natural feeling.”
– 2006 Professional Awards Jury Comments
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The Passage
At a site in New England, landowners, architects, and artists came together in a very special collaborative effort. Together they created The Passage, a modern reinterpretation of the forms, materials, and rituals of a traditional Japanese garden. Inspired by the Buddhist spiritual path to enlightenment, this elongated garden is designed to appeal to the senses and to the mind as one strolls along the path. This effect is the result of synchronized efforts of Landscape Architect Horiuchi Solien, Cast Stone Sculptor Charles Swanson, Artist Eck Follen, Architect Michele Foster, Buddhist owners, and the graceful presence of mother nature herself.
The Setting
This privately owned garden is located on a 10-acre plot surrounded by undeveloped woods nestled among the scenic hills of New England. Glaciers pounded this area thousands of years ago and left behind beautiful rolling hills and valleys pockmarked by enormous boulders. The preexisting house, which was built over 20 years ago, rests on the verge of a kettle hole, a beautiful scar left by the monstrous ice flow. These shapely raw elements of nature bestow thoughtful, spiritual significance. Furthermore, the winding terrain is essential to the conceal-reveal nature of this project.
The Elements
The garden elements, 3 cast-stone water basins and a light shower, were designed, detailed and constructed specially for this project. Charles Swanson of Birth of Venus Studios handcrafted all 3 basins to fit the vibe of the project. The first, a 9-foot rain catcher called Enki, is placed to gently catch and redistribute rainwater from the roof into a copper polished-stone filled drain. The second basin, a waist-high babbling fountain named Misu, has a solid color and a clean-lined form that is both visually and audibly captivating in contrast to the leafy bloom of the perennial garden. The final basin is a still water bowl called Solas, and it is located in the heart of the garden, the meditation circle. This vivid red, multilayered bowl refracts brilliant light from the shallow surface level and swallows light into the shadowy depth of the offset hollow.
The light shower Akari, designed and built by Artist Eck Follen serves as both a light tower and an outside shower. Inspired by traditional Japanese lanterns the shower’s towering structure is illuminated by a custom-made shockproof fiber optic system.
The Sections
 Comprised of an entry garden, stream garden, courtyard garden, perennial garden, woodland path and meditation circle, the linear trail defies a linear description. Originally conceived by Horiuchi Solien to be both beautiful and meaningful, the garden path leads through a succession of individual spaces, each with it’s own significance, purpose, and style. The journey accommodates familial functions of gathering, dining, and bathing, along with spots for meditation and self-reflection to aid independent enlightenment. Each distinctive space illustrates both a traditional understanding and a new interpretation of the Japanese tea garden. Similar forms, materials, rituals and spaces are designated for specific traditional purposes, while other aspects are symbolically represented. Vibrant, pensive cast-stone basins replace the paper lanterns, an arbor with braided vines curving overhead replaces the arched bridge, and the secluded meditation circle surrounded by forest is used instead of an island surrounded by water.
The Experience
Similar to many traditional Japanese tea gardens, The Passage compels one to stroll through each distinctive region along the path to fully appreciate it as a whole. Uneven terrain allows the garden to reveal its secrets to the wandering observer at several refreshing and surprising moments. An interesting dichotomy is pressed upon the observer as previous sections are viewed from a distance. Distinct memories of an ambience emerge from each distant spot, but from a distance the sections are neat and defined, almost as tangible as a painting of the past. The ambience of each section defines and is defined by the experience of the garden as a whole. If there were a trail blazed between nature and enlightenment, The Passage would be a cairn to mark the way.
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