A design charette for the future University of Idaho healing garden will take place this Friday from 2 to 5 p.m.
The charette, a discussion about how the healing garden should be designed, will host UI students and faculty to begin planning the healing garden. Reservations for the charette closed Monday.
The healing garden will be a place of remembrance for all UI students who died while enrolled at the university. A specific memorial for the four students killed last November – Ethan Chapin, Kaylee Goncalves, Xana Kernodle, and Madison Mogen – will be inside the garden, according to a UI news release.
A committee was formed to lay the groundwork for the project. The committee has already raised $216,000 for the healing garden. However, the committee is looking to raise much more than that to reach the vision and impact hoped for the garden and subsequent memorial. Donations can still be made at the Vandal Healing and Memorial Garden website.
The committee has worked directly with UI Landscape Architecture and Architecture students to create a vision for the garden. Students enrolled in those programs have been working on design proposals this semester. The committee also sent out “A Call for Inspiration” earlier this year to aid Landscape Architecture and Architecture students in their designs, the release said.
Proposals from those students will be accepted through the end of the year. Friday’s design charette invited UI students to work directly with Landscape Architecture and Architecture students to help create and advance the vision for the garden. Seating has been limited to 200 people, 125 of which are designated for student participation, the release said.
“Working together, we will bring the Vandal Healing Garden and Memorial to life, creating a lasting space to remember our lost Vandals,” Blaine Eckles, the dean of students, said in the release.
Joanna Hayes can be reached at [email protected]