The Meditation Garden at the historic Christ Church Cathedral in Lexington, KY was created after a major addition of a Fellowship Hall that closed the gap between the Cathedral and the Helm classroom building on the East end. A garden wall was constructed along Market Street fully enclosing the courtyard space. The Meditation Garden was designed as an ellipse pattern similar to two intersecting Ichthys symbols. At the center is a Sputum Fidei (or Shield of the Trinity.) The shield is further expressed by the three linked circles revealing both its geometry and spirituality. This project also included the addition of two columbaria along the cathedral side.
View of the new garden wall along Market St.
Entrance to the Meditation Garden from Market Street. At the far end of the garden is a new enclosed corridor around the old chapel leading to the new Fellowship Hall. The design mimics the old exterior of the chapel which is preserved on the interior, To the immediate right is a mechanical enclosure for new condensers added to the existing cathedral during the addition. The brick walkway has an ice-melt system to keep the path from the gate to the fellowship hall clear in the winter.
The layout of the garden hardscape. During construction I had to spend an afternoon with the contractor building a life sized "pin and string" rig to layout the geometry for the brickwork using the dimensions in this drawing to locate foci and mark the path.
View back towards the garden wall and gate.
View of the garden interior at the East end. The old chapel is visible inside the new arched windows enclosing the path from Nave to Fellowship Hall.
View of the Sputum Fidei (or Shield of the Trinity) at the center with the Cathedral and a columbarium behind.
