There are a number of bridge styles to choose from when creating a Japanese garden. They vary in shape, materials and the way in which they are constructed. In this garden we used a flat single stone slab bridge with no center support. Natural stones that are just the right length, width and thickness can [...]

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Niwa Design Studio applies its knowledge of Japanese garden design principles to a Frank Lloyd Wright home near Still Water,Minnesota.  Niwa’s client, who owned an original Frank Lloyd Wright house plan, hired an architect to help interpret the plan and construct the home on the shores of a Minnesota lake.  The mountain scene entry garden [...]

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The stonework in this project contains many Japanese garden principles.  One of which can be seen in the photo,  of a three stone ishigumi arrangement, which has a primary viewing point from the great room of the house through a sliding glass door. Ishigumi, also known as iwagumi, is the art of installing stones into a [...]

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Our client wanted us to incorporate a Japanese garden theme for the entry yard area of their Lake Minnetonka home. When we first studied the site we decided that the existing Arborvitae hedge separating the front yard from the auto court should stay and that it was also a good starting point for our new garden. So the garage, hedge and the asphalt auto court were the given physical structures of the project. From there we also decided to keep the foundations of existing brick planters flanking the entry steps and use them with an updated look.

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The Japanese stone garden, or Japanese sculpture garden, is a small garden enclosed within a brick sitting wall. When we were hired by the owner of Yorktown Offices in Edina to prepare a landscape maintenance report, we also made suggestions for small improvements which included remodeling the east and west entries. Both of these new entry walks and steps incorporated matching brick sitting wall planters [...]

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This Japanese styled comprehensive landscape design / build project, completed in the fall of 2003 welcomes guests with a lushly planted inner garden. Located on the street side of the house, this garden features several large boulders carefully set in a craftsman like manner creating well a balanced and natural effect [...]

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