Uplift, 2010
Ellen S. Clark Hope Plaza
Washington University School Of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri

Landscape Architect: Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates Inc.
Lighting Design: Tillett Lighting Design Associates
Photography: William Zbaren, Davey Rocco, Tim Merritt, Ngoc Minh Ngo

I wanted to create the effect of floating, surrounded by a pool of water lilies. I utilized a significant grade change from one side of the pool to the opposite side to create a circular body of water that you could step onto at grade. As one walks around the pool, the pool transforms into a cantilevered bowl with water lilies floating in it.

The plaza is part of the BJC Institute of Health at Washington University School of Medicine, where many of the patients who visit have difficult and hard-to-treat illnesses. I wanted to create a quiet, peaceful refuge and offer a simple bowl of flowers at the center of the garden. As you walk out on the floating concrete circle you are surrounded by Emily Dickinson’s poem “Hope.”

The wife of the client who sponsored the park was gravely ill, and this place is dedicated in her name. The choice of the light pattern was kept secret until the dedication, when it was revealed that it was the constellation pattern over St. Louis on her birthdate. The trees, grasses, and plants that inhabit the plaza are native to the St. Louis area and were chosen in partnership with the Missouri Botanical Garden.