Northshore magazine showcases the best that the North Shore of Boston, MA has to offer.
Issue link: https://read.uberflip.com/i/380056
Landscape ne 138 nshoremag.com October 2014 the Asiatic department at Amherst Col- lege; the Peace Bell Garden for the United Nations Visitor Centre in New York; and the renovation of gardens once belonging to Marjorie Merriweather Post—heir- ess to the Post cereal fortune—at the renowned Hillwood Estate, Museum, and Gardens in Washington, D.C. Currently, projects in Sweden and London keep them busy overseas. On the North Shore, almost all of their work is residential, though they have put in a number of heal- ing gardens for area hospitals. No matter the site, stonework figu es largely into ZEN's landscapes. "New En- glanders have a romantic passion for stone walls," notes White. "Most people don't know why, they just know they love that look." They are, of course, easily found in rural farm settings, but they have begun to appear more and more in contemporary suburban developments and even in cities, where buildings are complemented by a modern applica- tion of fields one. "It's interesting that we have such a passion for stone walls," notes White. "They don't really have a long history here. Thoreau and Frost wrote about them and [now] we are all attached to them." To appeal to that innate sentiment, ZEN distributes stone throughout a landscape in any number of ways—as furniture, for structure, to define space and function. "We love to have [people] put their hands on the boulders instead of hiding them in the beds," says White. They have been known to place enormous boulders next to formal dining rooms "to lighten things up." White and his team believe "there's kind of a spirit there," and it can be a playful spirit. For clients with young kids, they suggest using boulders to invite game playing. Often, those clients express concerns around safety. White responds by saying, "These are elements of play. [Children] can learn a lot about Mindful Matters: From a private residence in Rockport to the Lahey Clinic in Peabody, ZEN injects all projects with the same respect. Photographs courtesy of ZEN Associates, Inc. (top); courtesy of Gregg Shupe/ZEN Associates, Inc. (middle); by Michael Basu (bottom)