George Garvin Brown Garden

Louisville, Kentucky

For over twenty years, the Center for Interfaith Relations in Louisville, Kentucky has hosted the “Festival of Faiths”, the world’s largest annual interfaith gathering. Along with the creation of their Interfaith Museum, CIF supports a school and adjacent soup kitchen. CIF and a private benefactor commissioned Shadley Associates to create a vision for a new garden which will provide a community cloister and a public space for contemplation and personal refreshment. Similar to the mission of the CIF, the design of the new garden is based on religious spirituality, tolerance, inclusiveness and multiculturalism.

Completed in November of 2005, the George Garvin Brown Garden is an urban oasis, with its design based on the theme of water as a symbol of Louisville's origins as a river town and as a universal metaphor for the interfaith mission of CIF, as water relates to genesis and the origins of life. The Garden includes two major fountains, not only to provide inspiration but also for relief from Louisville’s sweltering summer heat, which are enjoyed from the many benches, movable chairs and granite seatwalls. The garden’s lush plantings with many trees provide seasonal interest and shade.

Working with six subconsultants, Shadley Associates led the team in the development of the design and construction documents, and led the construction review of this major public space in downtown Louisville. The garden was designed and constructed with many benefactors, including the Brown-Forman Corporation, Shadley Associates and Realm Construction, and many public and private individuals and corporations in Louisville who support the CHF’s mission of religious tolerance and diversity. The project received a Design Honor Award from the Kentucky Chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects in March, 2007, and a Design Merit Award from the Boston Society of Landscape Architects in Spring, 2009.

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