Speaking Stones
Richmond Community Center Garden, San Francisco, CA; Stones, pavers, cast concrete, text, bronze plaque, landscaping materials; 30′ x 150′
Speaking Stones is a contemplative garden designed for the Richmond Community Center in San Francisco. The project weaves together landscaping, poetry, and community engagement to create a reflective environment that invites visitors to pause, walk, and connect. Trees, herbs, and carefully chosen paving materials guide visitors along meandering paths, while seat walls and walkways carry lines of poetry etched into stone, cast bronze plaques, and concrete surfaces.
At the heart of the community center’s lobby lies a bronze medallion inscribed with the single word “Hope.” From this central point, concentric circles extend outward into the garden, echoed by curving seat walls and subtle landscape elements. Colored octagons inspired by the Bagwa mirrors of Feng Shui mark the street entrances, each featuring concentric rings of blue pavers.
Throughout the space, poetry—from Rumi to young local students—invites contemplation and interaction. Visitors encounter verses carved into sidewalks, seat walls, and boulders, ranging from reflections on fleeting blossoms and the passage of time to expressions of imagination, joy, and the universal search for hope. By integrating these words into the physical landscape, Speaking Stones fosters a garden where community, nature, and poetry converge.