Garden Design Concept

Spiritual and physical cycles are two of the most powerful forces in our lives. They are intimately connected to each other and are fundamentally united by life and death. The Memory Garden brings these cycles together to remember the lives of others and to reflect on our own beautifully fragile lives.

The use of this part of the grounds of Pebble Hill Presbyterian Church seeks to unite ideas of life, death, and remembrance. The Memory Garden design operates on several levels. It provides an intimate, dignified and familiar place for remembering loved ones--a place where the living can remember and reflect on the lives of those who have passed before them. It seeks to use the cycles of natural order as a vehicle for exploring our own spiritual cycles.

The Garden is structured around a sequenced path and destination space. It moves you through a garden composed of three areas: Grief, Life, and Remembrance. The first subspace, Grief, is a place to complete the life cycle by interring the remains of loved ones. The second subspace, Life, provides open views to the surrounding landscape that includes the beauty of plants and flowers, as a reminder of the possibilities remaining in this life. The final destination of the Garden, Remembrance, is a sunken outdoor room, secluded and serene, as a place to remember the journey of life and death. It includes elements of the previous two spaces and introduces new elements to clearly delineate it as a place apart.
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Symbolic elements abound in the Memory Garden. The path itself is suggestive of a stream in both form and materiality, evoking associations with life-giving water. This concept has recently been replicated in the stones that flow from the Cross to the pool. Rocks are some of the ultimate symbols of eternal strength and their changing form throughout the Garden tell a subtle narrative. The sunken circular room speaks of cycles, perfection, and completion. The sunken room is also enveloped by the earth, a means to be mindful of those who have been remembered here. Finally, the addition of the pool and water feature serves as a reminder of the reference in the Bible to Living Water, depicting the spiritual refreshment that comes from one's faith in Christ.