Lurie Garden - Design

Design

The boardwalk and canal bisecting the garden facing north

Kathryn Gustafson, known generally for sculptured parks and lively waterworks and specifically for the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fountain, and Israel, a renowned lighting and set designer, determined the thematic concepts such as the placement of paths, and the shapes of perennial beds. Oudolf, a Dutch master of perennial, designed the flower beds which contain 26,000 perennial plants in 250 varieties native to the prairie. Gustafson and her partners, Jennifer Guthrie and Shannon Nichol, and Israel are Seattle-based. The garden is designed with four primary components: the shoulder hedge, the light plate, the dark plate and the seam boardwalk.

The shoulder hedge frames the garden's north and west sides, and the hedge and armature help to protect the perennials from heavy pedestrian traffic. The 14-foot (4.3 m) armature also provides a permanent pruning guide. In addition to the Carl Sandburg symbolism, the western hedge also forms a topiary referring to greek mythology.

Lurie Garden is bisected by a diagonal boardwalk, which represents the natural Lake Michigan seawall that still bisects Grant Park. The boardwalk divides the garden into two plates, one of which contains muted colors, the other bright colors, while paralleling the line of the old Illinois Central Railroad retaining wall. The dark plate represents the early landscape history of the site, while the light plate represents the landscape of the future. The diagonal plate-dividing seam boardwalk serves as a demarcation between two eras of Chicago's landscape development. It also serves as a reminder of the time when Chicago placed boards over the marshland for pedestrians.

The boardwalk has a 24-inch (61 cm) wide step on one side. The step, which provides seating, leads down to a 5-foot (1.5 m) wide canal, which runs between this step and a limestone wall. The limestone supports the plant beds of the dark plate. The water is invigorated with jets, and visitors are allowed to sit and dangle their feet in the water. It traces the angle of a historic subterranean seawall that remains beneath the site and used to be the boundary between the marshy Lake Michigan shoreline and the city. The boardwalk also crosses over stepped pools that expose a 5-foot (1.5 m) wide seam of water.

The garden initially had a hardwood footbridge that passes over the shallow water in the canal, and that divides the garden diagonally. However, stories in the sixth year of the garden described steel bridges. The entire garden slopes downward to present itself for the new Renzo Piano Modern Wing addition to the Art Institute of Chicago Building. At the foot of the canal opposite the Building the water ends in a pool. Oudolf's lighting accents the hedges, and pathways are lit by in-ground lighting fixtures. There were complaints that the construction of the Nichols Bridgeway clutters the picturesque view of Lurie Gardens and in so doing diminishes its prairie aspect.