Peter Thomas Bowyer
Designer, Builder, Aesthetic Pruner - A Gardener For All Seasons
California Landscape Contractor 712862
Oakland Sister-City Garden
in Fukuoka Japan
A regional landscape:
the natural and built environment of Oakland CA, USA.
Use of Japanese design principles to render a California landscape.
Unique, historical and contemporary elements: bay, bridge, port, Oak woodland, architecture, Redwood
forest, grassland, marsh and the western view.
Emphasizes things that tie a diverse citizenry together—the public
spaces where we live, work and play. 2004-2005
A Cultural-
Anthropological Landscape: The
Torii Landscape at Lakeside Park
A culturally appropriate setting for the Torii
presented to Oakland by the citizens of Fukuoka, Japan.
A Torii marks the boundary and serves as a point of entry to a
sacred space where people feel awe and wonder.
In the begining, the sacred sites included Iwa-kura, stone seats of
the gods; Kami-ike, ponds for worship of ancestral gods from over the
sea; or something else. Ornamental
gardens evolved from these. The Oakland site
includes a pond and a stone seating circle. Flowering Cherries
and Japanese Maples will complete the installation
as viewing
these seasonal marvels continues to inspire people there today..
A Tropical Cruise aboard the SS Mitate
This
concept transforms two problems in a crowded barrio neighborhood into featured
assets, and transports you to a volcanic island archipelago. "Mitatae
means seeing things anew. The beloved cold tub and the unloved neighbor's
garage become background mural and cruise ship. Note the army surplus pick
as ship's anchor. Islands break off a continent checkerboard pattern of
paving squares and turf (a la Shigemori's Tofukuji Hondo and M.C. Escher).
The design pokes fun at other famous gardens as well.
A Japanese-style garden
A
“Yarimizu” dry stream flows from behind hills to a pond with Iris crossed by
a bridge. Paths play counterpoint. Near the front door water drops form ripples
in a broad basin. Elements include landform, rock outcrops, water, tree form
& color. 2004-2005
Oakland Public Library –
Rockridge branch
New
planting design based on viewing the landscape from inside the building.
The Rockridge Branch of the Oakland Public library is a post-modernist
cathedral. Aesthetically pruned Timber Bamboo makes a normally shuttered
2-story cathedral bay window an asset rather than a problem.
Ornamental grasses dance in the wind outside other windows.
Together with horizontally disposed boulders, rounded shrubs and other forms, they unify the landscape with 31 Wisteria
featured on arbor/buttresses. 2004-2005
An outdoor museum: Design improvements at the GSBF Bonsai Garden at Lake Merritt
Dividing
a large bonsai-display into intimate galleries, improving visitor comfort, the
growing environment, presentation and aesthetics. The Golden State Bonsai Federation Collection-North suffered
from an overbearing enclosure wall, sensory overload and unrelenting 
exposure to
the hot sun. New landscape tree
plantings (images 1 & 2) will provide shade for people & bonsai, encourage rest and
contemplation, and link the display to the landscape over the walls. Additionally, design
of a leading line of fragmented pattern paving stones will 
connect huge
exterior
bonsai with the obscured entry gate at far end of driveway.
Its serpentine line meanders sideways on overly axial landscape uniting
disparate surfaces (image 3). 2002-2004
and pending.
A modernist commercial building
Using plants in an
architectural way make this building likeable. Effects a transition to natural
lines & forms at entry. Rather than fighting a block wide 6-story modern
building with a puny naturalistic planting, this design transformed the building
into plant material at the ground level. Nearing the entrance architectural
plants then transform into naturalistic forms of a dry stream flowing up to the
foyer and aesthetically pruned specimen trees fronting the glazed lobby. 2004
Native plants for a creek
restoration
Community
design process with public agency. Advocating
restoration of unique local plants and animals.
Volunteering to lead a community-based design process broke a stalemate
between a neighborhood organization and a public agency over re-engineering an
urban creek. Led to final installation integrating natural landscaping
with engineering. 2003
Three gardens for a live-work building: cottage-style, edible, and meditation retreat.
Live-work landscape meets the
needs of resident teacher and visiting students for gathering space
(cottage-style classroom courtyard) a private space (tea garden) and a direct
connection with creation and sustenance (edible garden at entrance). Entry courtyard features 9 month blooming season with drought
tolerant plants. 1998-1999