The Tower Garden: A Garden of Reflection

As the return to nature group suggests, it’s all about the landscape architecture! This feature of a college campus pleasantly differentiates the university from the hectic city that may surround it. One might wonder however, if the landscape is truly “without walls” as Verlyn Klinkenborg suggests (721), how is the difference between campus and city established? Trees, bluffs, or hedges - like in Forster’s short story “The Other Side of the Hedge” – could be used to provide the boundary. But then another question arises: to what extent must the boundary serve? The last goal of a campus landscape architect is to turn the campus into a “place [that is] but a prison” (Forster 731). While boundaries are at times comforting, it is important to remember that they are restricting certain emotions and feelings rather than a person. A college student could enter or exit the campus with a head full of confusion and unwanted thoughts and leave them at the boundary. Landscape architecture is in this sense a means to contain emotion for various purposes. However, landscape architecture can also be a means to let emotion out.

The Tower Memorial Garden is an example of landscape architecture used for recharging, renewal, and retreat. Revisited in 2003, the landscaping plan “preserves current uses of the site while providing a fitting tribute to the victims and others affected by the shootings” (725). Visitors travel in a path of about 75 paces that takes them through the stages of loss, healing, and transformation. Places around the garden act as touchstones to bring out various emotions on this journey of emotional discovery, each are “link[s] in the chain of development” (Forster 732). The circle brings everything back from start to finish. While the path emphasizes the transformation and healing process, even after this stage people affected by tragedy have still suffered a loss. Even though better equipped to handle that loss, its presence still exists nonetheless. Here is where the garden’s “remember” stage comes into play. The circle, as seen in arches from Rome to Austin, is extremely strong. It makes sense then that the circle metaphor be applied to circumstances like the Tower Garden; the site needs a path that can shoulder the burden of the emotions it is presenting. The “remember” stage is the most important of all stops on the garden’s path because it completes the circle; one is not supposed to reach the healing stage and be completely fine. It is more a journey of emotional self-discovery that the place teaches. The final destination varies for every unique person, but all can build a relationship or sense of place with the features of the Tower Memorial Garden.