Institute for Child and Adolescent Development
Recipient of the ASLA’s highest design honor, this garden for a clinical psychiatric practice was once utilized to diagnose and treat trauma in children and early adolescents.
Natural dendritic watercourses inspired this intensively inward-oriented and evocative landscape. A ribbon of water weaves through a series of spaces that mirror the stages of a child’s recovery from trauma—a cave-like ravine for the security of home, a woodland for exploration, a mount for climbing, an island and pond for discovery, steep and shallow slopes for challenge, and a large glade for running and playing. Unfortunately, this clinic and garden were demolished in 2006 to make way for a new residential development.
The project is an early of articulation of Reed Hilderbrand’s belief that gardens can engender emotional well-being and help us understand our individual place in larger natural and cultural orders.
Location
Wellesley, MA
Dates
1995-1998
Size
1 acre
Leadership
Recognition
- Award of Excellence, American Society of Landscape Architects
- Merit Award for Design, Boston Society of Landscape Architects
- Merit Award for Residential Design, Boston Society of Landscape Architects
- “The Healing Landscape,” by Carol Stocker, The Boston Globe , October 15, 1998
- “Winning Big,” ASLA Professional Awards of Excellence in Design, Landscape Architecture , November 1997
- “Plenty of Merit,” by Karen C. Wilson, Therapeutic Garden for Children, Wellesley, MA, San Diego Union Tribune , November 1997
- “The Children’s Hour” by Jane Hammerslough, Therapeutic Garden for Children, Wellesley, MA, Garden Design , June/July 1997
- “The Therapeutic Garden,” by Douglas P. Reed, Therapeutic Garden for Children, Wellesley, MA Art New England , August/September 1995
- “When Helping Children, Therapist Says Nature is Key,” by Heidi B. Perlman, The Wellesley Townsman , July 20, 1995
- “The Therapeutic Garden,” by Mac Griswald, Landscape Architecture , October 1994
- “Der Park als Ort des Wandels” by Douglas P. Reed, Garten + Landschaft , March 1995
