Therapeutic Landscapes: Evidence-Based Design

Clare Cooper Marcus

“When I retired from full-time teaching in 1994, I was almost immediately diagnosed with cancer […] I had never looked at or thought about hospital design until this point. […] In 1999 Marni Barnes and I co-authored/edited the book Healing Gardens: Therapeutic Benefits and Design Recommendations, which has become something of a bible in the field and won awards […] Since 2003 I have been a faculty member for a course on healthcare garden design offered annually by the School of Chicago Botanic Garden. Two MLA graduates from LAEP—Marni Barnes (MLA ’94) and Naomi Sachs (MLA ’99)—also teach this course, which attracts landscape architect professionals from across the United States and abroad. My recent work in the field is the completion of a second book on the topic—Therapeutic Landscapes: Evidence-Based Design of Healing Gardens and Restorative Outdoor Space (2013) co-authored with Naomi Sachs. I feel very privileged that in my “retirement” I have found a new and exciting area that I feel passionate about, and where I can continue to contribute to the field of landscape architecture.”

--Clare Cooper Marcus, Landscape at Berkeley: The First 100 Years, 2013, p. 106-7