Brooklyn Botanical - Japanese Garden Visit

2 minute read

Torii and Marsh Plants

Impermanence, asymmetry, seasonality and connection to nature are hallmarks of the Japanese garden experience. We visited the Japanese Hill and Pond Garden in New York a few weekends ago. It is part of the Brooklyn Botanical Garden and includes a small lake, torii gate, tearoom-style viewing platform, Shinto shrine, Machiai waiting bench, stone lanterns and a wide variety of delicate and beautiful Japanese flora.

The public garden was among the first of its kind in the country. Its creator Takeo Shiota, came to the US in 1907 and was hired to design and build the garden in 1914. He worked with an incomplete palatte of plants, as many Japanese species were unavailable locally at the time. In later years, the garden has gained authenticity by upgrading these to more traditional native species, while preserving Siota’s original vision and layouts. The garden is in the shizen tradition—the art of making it look like it grew that way on its own. It is crafted to make it look non-crafted within a miniature landscape that’s also been designed to look natural. “Western gardens are typically optimised for visual appeal while Japanese gardens are modelled with spiritual and philosophical ideas in mind” (Springer, 1961). So the garden is artificial and natural at the same time, a Zen-worthy paradox!

Peace Lantern

It’s a fair bet that out of all the couples, families, birdwatchers and horticulture fans, we were the only garden visitors seeking inspiration for electronics projects. A garden lends itself to organic forms, quiet, patience and undirected wandering. Electronics in the garden threaten to detract from all of these. In fact, a lack of electronic and mechanical distractions is what brings many people there in the first place, for an uninterrupted commune with nature. So yes, a garden may have little to gain from electronics and that’s fine—it’s not why we came here. We want to know what electronics and electronic devices can learn from the garden. Could some of the devices in our homes bring the same kind of peace, relaxation and connection to the natural world? How might that work?

Several project ideas came from this visit:

A possible on-site workshop to build electronics outdoors in the context of the garden (see Andy Quitmeyer’s outdoor electronics workshops)
Creation of a miniature indoor garden with water, lights and even wind.
A desktop moss garden with lighting and humidity management
Designing a printed circuit board laid out as a Japanese garden, with functioning electronics.
Finally, not certain what form it would take but have started imagining an American version. (Would it be inspired by Walden Pond, Yellowstone or Mall of America?)

Here’s some picture from our visit. Do you have a favorite Japanese garden? Let us know in the comments.