By transforming a concrete campus footprint into The Silent Stone Garden, this project aligns with SDG 3 to give anxious Middle Schoolers a nature-filled sanctuary that calms the nervous system so students return to class focused and ready to learn.
Design Manifesto
Halve It Component
My design focuses heavily on the Wellness pillar of our schools framework.
Wellness means looking after our whole selves, not just making sure we aren't sick. For us students as we transition through adolescence it's really important we take care of ourselves through wellness which makes us feel calm, have high energy levels and make sure we feel like we belong and feel safe. Our wellness is important so we can have a healthy and happy fulfilling middle school year. Wellness helps strengthen your brain and reduces academic stress so we can have a positive learning journey through school.
Sustainable Development Goal
SDG 3: Good Health and Wellbeing
The Silent stone Zen Garden meets SDG 3 (Good Health and Well-Being) because it makes you feel really calm and reminds you to take a deep breath. It gives us a place to wind down and quiet our nervous systems. This contributes to the Good Health and Wellbeing of Living School students. It provides a space that is dedicated to Good Health and Wellbeing which is really important, as spending time in nature stimulates the brain and gets you into the positive learning mindset.
School Context:
If you have seen the Middle School Brown and Jolly building, it's amazing, although there is one big problem: there are zero play spaces for children to get their energy out and calm down before getting back into class. Sitting in an uncomfortable chair at an uncomfortable desk with an uncomfortable itch to go outside and do something will not be tolerated. The privilege to go outside and have some zen time in the Silent Stone is the solution. Our current campus is a grey white building with flat areas and no gardens, that does not stimulate the brain.
Gardens are a key for learning development confidence and wellbeing and staring at a basketball hoop in a car park isn't gonna cut it.
Roughly 87% of people said they felt calmer after visiting a Zen garden. Imagine having this level of students returning to class with this level of calm brains switched on and ready for learning.
Ancient China
Zen Gardens were first made in Japan many years ago. They are special gardens with rocks, sand, and a couple of plants that are in there to create a calm feeling. Zen Gardens are linked to ancient China because many ideas of Buddhism came from Chinese Buddhism. Chinese culture, art and beliefs influenced Japan, helping inspire Zen Gardens. A Zen Garden is a place where you can meditate to calm your nervous system.
The Zen Garden will show the harmony of yin and yang through the balance of the elements. For example, there will be rough things, soft things, round things, straight things, alive things and dead things. This is how yin and yang can be shown in a Zen Garden.
The zen garden is Wu Wie which means ´go with the flow’ . A Zen Garden is a place where you can relax and just be present, in nature.
Hundertwasser
A Zen Garden is usually made with curved lines and peaceful patterns that help people feel calm. Hundertwasser's ideas are that he loved curved lines and rounded shapes, also Hundertwasser's style is the calm and peaceful colourful designs just like a Zen Garden. As Hundertwasser declared, “straight lines were the true tool of the devil.” He explains that straight lines cause anger and stress, in a Zen Garden, there are usually no straight lines and Zen Gardens make you feel calmer and have lower stress levels. One of the main components of the Zen Garden is the rake and the sand. The idea is that you rake curved lines which meets Hundertwasser's rule of no straight lines.
The Problem
How might we design a Zen Garden that supports students to calm their nervous systems and lower anxiety levels to feel mentally calm?
Our Sustainable Solution
The idea for a Zen Garden is to have a space where students can come and relax their nervous systems and connect with nature. Zen Gardens help with mental health and switch on our brains so we can get ready to learn.
What will this Zen Garden look like?
Ideally, the Zen Garden will be about 4m x 2.5m in size, located in the Carrington Street car park. When you first see the Zen Garden, it is lined with recycled timber around the edges to keep the garden together.
The Zen Garden will have white, clean sand and two rakes for students to move the sand around and create spiral-like patterns. There will hopefully be a small pond where you can listen to the calming sounds of the water and maybe even have some small koi fish in there swimming around. We would also have students who take turns tidying the area, feeding the fish, watering the plants, making sure the sand stays in the garden, and organising the rocks to maintain a clean space. The garden will also have some plants like bamboo around to add greenery and aesthetics, it will also have stacks of rocks in corners and all around to represent the zen in a zen garden. We will also need some flowers to invite bees over to the garden and add a smell to the space.
When surveyed, 38% of Middle School students indicated that they wanted a Zen Garden as a wellness aspect in their play spaces. This is the largest response of any of the solutions presented. This Zen Garden would act as a way to keep us in the present while safeguarding our wellbeing for the future.