AIAS Freedom By Design architecture students create community garden for reflection, meditation

Patricio, Melissa A.

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Hope Blooms at Student-Designed Community Garden

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Roger Williams UniversityDOCS@RWUFeatured News Story The Week at Roger10-27-2014Hope Blooms at Student-Designed CommunityGardenMelissa A. PatricioRoger Williams UniversityFollow this and additional works at: https://docs.rwu.edu/weekatroger_featured_newsPart of the Higher Education CommonsThis News Article is brought to you for free and open access by the The Week at Roger at DOCS@RWU. It has been accepted for inclusion in FeaturedNews Story by an authorized administrator of DOCS@RWU. For more information, please contact mwu@rwu.edu.Recommended CitationPatricio, Melissa A., "Hope Blooms at Student-Designed Community Garden" (2014). Featured News Story. 439.https://docs.rwu.edu/weekatroger_featured_news/439 News ArchiveHope Blooms at Student-Designed CommunityGardenAIAS Freedom By Design architecture students create community garden forre ection, meditationDirector of Parks and Recreation Walter Burke stands in the Gardenof Hope with Freedom By Design students Image Credit: AndreaHansenOctober 27, 2014 Melissa A. PatricioBRISTOL, R.I. – More than 100 people from the Bristol and Roger Williams University communitiescame together on Oct. 24 for the o cial unveiling of the Gloria Gemma Breast Cancer ResourceFoundation Garden of Hope at the new Bristol Community Center. It was a bit of a bittersweetcelebration as the garden opened to the public for the  rst time on what would have been Bristolresident Laurie Cordeiro’s 53rd birthday. Cordeiro, who was diagnosed with triple-negative breastcancer in 2009, conceived the garden as a place of re ection and meditation for those a ected bythe disease that would eventually take her life.The event, which hosted the Hope Bus and an art exhibit featuring Rhode Island artist Mary JaneBegin’s journey through breast cancer, brought both laughter and tears to the crowd, whichwandered the garden in awe. It is a hopeful addition to the East Bay, advocates noted, which hasone of the highest rates of breast cancer in Rhode Island.“This is the  rst municipal Garden of Hope for breast cancer survivors and women who have gonethrough the process of healing and are in need of community support,” said Bristol Director of Parksand Recreation Walter Burke. The garden, he says, is the community’s way of saying, “We love you,we care about you, we support you.”Since 2012, Burke has worked with Roger Williams School ofArchitecture, Art and Historic Preservation students to design and buildthe garden. More than 80 students participated over two years, withthe RWU chapter of the AIAS (American Institute of ArchitectureStudents) Freedom By Design group leading the charge.“They designed it,” Burke told the crowd, including state senatorWalter Felag and state representative Ray Gallison, Bristol TownAdministrator Tony Texeira and members of Cordeiro’s family. “It wasinteresting to see the transition the kids went through. This is lifechanging. I saw nonchalant kids become passionate. I saw love andcommitment.”The garden, which RWU AIAS President Clayton Daher ’16 notes was a collective e orts across theSAAHP design community as well as local partners like DaPonte’s Landscaping Service andAmerican Tree Works, features a ribbon-shaped walkway around a pink dogwood tree dedicated toCordeiro’s memory. The student designers aimed to create a “hugging” feeling, by planting theshrubbery close to the ribbon path, and building a white cedar retaining wall to create a sense ofembrace. The ribbon even has a subtle pink glow – a nod to Cordeiro and her warrior sisters, madewith pink pebbles, crushed red glass and seashells to add a touch of sparkle.“We wanted it to be more than just a space for breast cancer survivors, but for everyone a ected bythe disease,” Daher said. “Men, women and children all su er from cancer, and we wanted for themto have a peaceful, tranquil setting to re ect in.”It was an emotional experience from start-to- nish, said Gabriela Santostefano, Freedom By Designdirector at RWU: “Everyone has some connection to breast cancer.” For Santostefano, the projecthit particularly close to home – her mother battled breast cancer when Santostefano was a child.“So much of the community has been part of this project, through donations, through love, throughsupport,” Daher said of what he calls the largest Freedom By Design project ever executed in theU.S. “To have something so encompassing for the entire community – that’s amazing.”Perhaps as amazing as the blooming pink rhododendrons – planted, but not schedule to peak untilnext spring – just in time for the celebration of life that Cordeiro hoped for.“People will know a er the Hope Garden is put in who Gloria Gemma is, and I’m hoping they’ll dome honor by not letting it die out,” Cordeiro said in a video (below) recorded before her passing.“I’ve only started something, and it’s up to everyone else to make it into what it’s supposed to be –and to make it bigger. And the more people we help, they’ll live longer lives and hopefully there willbe a cure for this down the road. But it starts o  with people caring about another person.”Laurie Cordeiro

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Hope Blooms at Student-Designed Community Garden

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