Toronto East General Hospital,
Terrace Garden, Toronto

The fifth-floor rooftop restorative garden has turned a place of residence into a home. The 75 residents of the Complex Continuing Care Unit now discover backyard beauty and joy in their new terrace garden. The garden draws on characteristics and features of the Sacred Landscape, enabling residents to draw on inner strength, spiritual connections and a sense of well being -- necessary for healing. It is a place in which to reconstruct a sense of reassurance and restoration of confidence gained through healthful aging; one that respects and values the diversity of residents and their support network, providing for both privacy and interaction with others.
Within a space 140 feet long, 9 to 23 feet wide, the garden is a sculpture, stimulating all senses. In response to the diverse backgrounds of the residents, the design was inspired by the richness and depth of historical and cultural details of the residents’ homelands and birthplaces. Two vibrantly coloured steel pavilions frame the garden at either end --- the yellow-ochre tent for active social gatherings, the light-blue temple for private refuge. A shallow pond-table sits in the middle of the piazza. The warmly coloured dry-laid sandstone walls of the planting beds hold the path. Scents of fragrant vines, shrubs and perennials trigger memories of meaningful places, engaging residents as plants grow to fill the garden. See Perspectives 1:2001 and 2:2003 for more extensive descriptions.

The Philosophical Basis
for Designing the Restorative Garden:
To help strengthen physical, mental and spiritual health
in a balanced and harmonious relationship
with the natural and social environment.

--D.A.W.