The Quintet

A naturalistic landscape designed to to unify a residential development.

Location: Portland, Oregon
Size: 17 acres
Year: 1990 – 1992

Conceived as a high-end condominium development, the Quintet prioritized beautiful, environmentally sound landscape design and the preservation of existing wetlands.

Kurisu's vision was to create a powerful sense of place and "home" with a landscape that felt personal and intimate, despite the large scale of the development.

The landscape design includes several waterfalls and carefully selected plantings throughout the location such as Japanese maples and azaleas, to ensure color and beauty year-round.

Environmentally sensitive treatment of existing wetlands incorporated them into the master landscape design as soothing, naturalistic views.

stream with trees and reeds at The Quintet

In 1992, the project received a National Landscape Design award, presented at the White House in Washington, D.C. by First Lady Barbara Bush.

To learn more visit the Quintet website.

Nature has been rearranged and enhanced to create a better aesthetic. The atmosphere of peace and beauty here reminds one of a word coined several years ago by Harvard University professor of science E.O. Wilson. The word is 'biophilia,' which means 'the natural affiliation humans have for natural environments.' In an accelerating and sometimes confusing high-tech age, an age of busyness and little time for reflection, it's this human affiliation for nature that Hoichi Kurisu wants to reflect and elicit.

Brad Knickerbocker, The Christian Science Monitor, 1994
With modern condominiums rising in the background, Kurisu's restored wetlands offer repose and tranquility.

Brad Knickerbocker, The Christian Science Monitor, 1994

Healing Gardens

Our Japanese-style healing gardens are designed with an intention for restoration on the deepest levels. We incorporate the ancient philosophies and techniques of Japanese garden design to reawaken the connection between people and nature – between ourselves and the larger, timeless cycles of change and regeneration.