JAPANESE ZEN GARDEN
A glass-enclosed Japanese Zen Garden, open to the sky, is the focal point and serene organizing element of 288 Water Street’s entrance, lobby and lounge. Inspired by dry landscape gardens known as karensansui, it aims to create a meditative state of mind in onlookers. Boulders, representing mountains, were hand-selected for their form, shape, and color from a Pennsylvania quarry, and placed in an asymmetrically balanced arrangement that is at once peaceful and dynamic. Fine gravel, representing water, surrounds the boulders and is carefully raked into ripples and waves.