Master of landscape architecture students design “hypernatural” meadow, amping up complexities & beauty of nature
A graduate student design competition at UC Berkeley yields a new meadow at Blake Garden that celebrates the botanical abundance of California and heightens our experience of the natural landscape.
Can a planted garden seem more “real” than nature itself? A new “hypernatural” meadow designed by Master of Landscape Architecture students for UC Berkeley’s Blake Garden, the experiential learning lab for the Department of Landscape Architecture & Environmental Planning, explores this possibility.
The meadow, installed in the spring, is based on the winning submissions to the 2026 Thomas Church Memorial Design Competition by teams of Master of Landscape Architecture students. The annual competition honors landscape architect Thomas D. Church (1902–1978), a UC Berkeley alum and professor and a founder of the modern California-style garden.
“A hypernatural meadow for Blake Garden,” the theme for the 2026 competition, was set by Associate Professor Richard L. Hindle. The project brief called for a planting design that mimics nature, yet amplifies its complexities, juxtaposition, and contradictions in order to heighten human experience.
“The competition was intended to challenge our perception of nature, explore human agency in novel ecosystems, and foreground contemporary planting design aesthetics in a post–wild world,” said Hindle.
Associate Professor Richard L. Hindle
Participating Master of Landscape Architecture students, working in teams, were tasked with devising plant assemblages that celebrate the botanical abundance of California and expand the botanical collections of Blake Garden. Designs were to offer novel compositions that evoked the three-dimensional structure of archetypal meadows and embodied the exuberant display — floral, foliar, textural, or chromatic — of the Mediterranean biome.
“The express intent of Blake Garden, ever since it was bequeathed to the department, has been to provide a laboratory for design experimentation, as opposed to the biogeographical plant collections that are the focus of other botanical gardens. This hypernatural meadow takes full advantage of Blake Garden’s mission to showcase the transformative potential of the designed landscape and unique plant combinations,” said Hindle.
The competition was judged by Bradley Cantrell, Commonwealth Professor of Landscape Architecture at the University of Virginia; Christian Moore, planting designer and landscape architect at Hoerr Schaudt Landscape Architects; and Blake Garden horticulturalists Timothy Cole and Kendra Hauser. Criteria included the quality of visual representation, clarity of the design idea, and the feasibility of implementation.
Jurors noted that the winning proposals (see below) successfully addressed issues of suitability for existing soil conditions and sun exposure; drought tolerance; color, texture, and height variation; multiseason visual interest; and spatial organization and hierarchy. Each of the four winning teams was awarded $2,000.
“Our Master of Landscape Architecture students rose to the challenge of this real-world project, building practical skills and translating theory into designed spaces and new plant combinations,” said Hindle.
Through collaborative coursework, elements of the winning designs were combined into one planting scheme, developed to professional standards for construction, and then installed during the spring 2026 semester. As it grows and changes through the seasons, the meadow will vividly demonstrate how a hypernatural approach can prompt Blake Garden visitors to see nature in a new light.
See the meadow for yourself as it continues to mature. Blake Garden is open to the public Tuesdays to Fridays , 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Before you go, check the garden’s Instagram for the latest info on closures (possible due to university holidays, inclement weather, departmental events, etc.).
Winning Designs
Hypernature in Bloom
Caris Park, Peak Bamroongsuk, Kevin Camacho
Special Recognition for Plant Palette Development
Hypernature in Bloom is conceived as a living system that highlights existing natural processes such as soil, water, pollination, and succession, while supporting local wildlife and reinforcing Blake Garden’s role as an ecological refuge. The meadow serves as both habitat and pedagogical landscape, inviting visitors to observe, understand, and engage with the rhythms of a Mediterranean ecosystem in an urbanized context.
Into the Bluish Dream
Aileen Jing, Yuchen Xiong, Liuliu Yao
Special Recognition for Visual Representation
Into the Bluish Dream translates Claude Monet’s Water Lilies into a sun-adapted meadow: a cool blue-violet field and muted greens form the main wash, with small flashes of yellow and white as highlights. Scented plants such as lavender and rosemary heighten a sense of “hyper-nature” as visitors move through the meadow. The planting can mature while preserving its bluish, dreamlike character.
Articulated Meadow
Erin Cain, Laura Rothman, Emily Cain
Special Recognition for Feasibility
“We define hypernatural as (hyper)local, native, diverse. Hypernatural must also exist in contrast. The opposite of natural is modified and ordered.” Articulated Meadow emphasizes the qualities of native Mediterranean meadows and reinforces the variations in plant architecture. The plants chosen for this design fall into three shape categories: hard structural, flowy movement, and soft structural. They are then further categorized by the period of their showy blooming.
Skyscape Meadow
Max Frieda, Maddie Page, Annalise Ritter
Special Recognition for Comprehensive Design
Skyscape Meadow translates the iconic character of the San Francisco Bay Area into planted form. Soft grasses and pale blooms represent the fog that shrouds the bay, while piercing spires of succulents, thistles, and vibrant flowers break through just as buildings and bridges do.
