Koichi Kawana

Koichi Kawana (Japanese: 川名孝一, born March 16, 1930 in Hokkaido – 1990) was a post-war Japanese American garden designer, landscape architect and teacher. He designed gardens in San Diego, Los Angeles, Denver, Colorado, Chicago, Illinois, Memphis, Tennessee, and St. Louis, Missouri.^[1] Some of his major works include the Seiwa-en Japanese Garden in the Missouri Botanical Garden, the Hannah Carter Japanese Garden and a dry landscape garden at Sawtelle, Los Angeles. He designed the bonsai collection for the Pavilion of Japanese Art at LACMA in the 90s.

Biography[]

In 1930, Kawana was born in Hokkaido, Japan. He graduated from Yokohama Municipal University in 1951 and got a US citizenship in 1971.^[2] Kawana became a college professor and lecturer for 24 years at UCLA on Japanese art, environmental design, and Japanese landscape/architecture. Dr. Kawana founded his own design practice, Environmental Design Associates, a Los Angeles-based design firm in 1966. Dr. Kawana died on March 16, 1990.

Aside from lecturing at UCLA, Kawana designed gardens at several parks in the United States, mainly having a Japanese style.

Selected works[]

• Redesign of the Hannah Carter Japanese Garden (Shikyo-en), 1969
• Seiwa-en Japanese Garden in Missouri Botanical Garden, 1977
• Sansho-En in the Chicago Botanic Garden, 1972
• Shofu-en, the Garden of Wind and Pines, at Denver Botanic Garden,1979
• Suiho-En, the Garden of Water and Fragrance, at the Donald C. Tillman Water Reclamation Plant, 1984
• Seisui-Tei at the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum, 1985
• Sand and Stone Garden at the Bloedel Reserve, 1987
• Seijaku-En at the Memphis Botanic Garden, redesigned, 1989
• Dry landscape garden in Stoner Park, Sawtelle. 1989
• Pavilion of Japanese Art bonsai collection at LACMA, 1900

References[]