A Growing Legacy: FSU College of Medicine Chapman Garden

05/22/2024

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The Chapman Memorial Garden is at the Florida State University College of Medicine and is designed to be an extension of the Thrasher Building. It is named after Jules B. Chapman, M.D., and Annie Lou Chapman, whose foundation provides scholarships to the College of Medicine. The renovated courtyard serves as a welcoming space for students to relax and contemplate the humanistic aspect of practicing medicine. The garden features hardscape plazas, landscaping, irrigation, a water element, and seating to encourage individuals to sit, have lunch, or hold small group meetings.

FSU Facilities Grounds & Landscaping was first approached by College of Medicine staff over six years ago to develop a concept plan to enhance the College’s landscape. Initially, Dennis Bailey, former Senior Associate Vice President for Facilities, suggested that John Beidler, Director of Operations at the College of Medicine, contact Mark Bertolami, Legacy Hall Planning Advisor, to discuss the proposal with Grounds & Landscaping. At the time the College sought a grant from a private organization to expand the reflective area between their two primary buildings.

A few days after this initial suggestion, Anton Sonkin, Associate Director of Grounds & Landscaping, met with Beidler, as well as Robert Watson and Tana Welch, both professors at the College of Medicine, to discuss their wants and needs.

“Mrs. Annie Lou Chapman was a patient of mine, and I am a trustee for the Dr. Jules B. Chapman, M.D. and Annie Lou Chapman Private Foundation,” said Watson. “Mrs. Chapman and I sought ways to help make the care of patients more humanistic. One possible way is to provide a more humanistic environment in which learners and teachers work. The idea of a garden was to provide a place for reflection and relaxation in the learning environment.”

Based on this meeting, Sonkin suggested that they visit the friendship garden that he had previously designed to see if something similar would satisfy their needs. The area, as well as the water feature received positive feedback from the College of Medicine representatives, and they hoped that some of the elements they found appealing in that garden could translate into the space they were considering.

After a few more meetings to discuss the elements further, ideas, including a memorial plaque, a bench to be utilized in the garden, and more, began to emerge as the garden space was conceptualized. Sonkin presented the first concept to Watson and Welch a few months later. While the final design greatly differs from this initial concept, the two images below represent what this first draft entailed, including elements that did not make it to the final design, such as the strong central element that would act as a memorial, a glass bench in the design, entry gates, and a two-sided water feature.

This initial design was cost-prohibitive, as the entry gates, enormous boulders, and the glass bench with lighting placed the concept out of financial reach, although well received. The “bones” were there, there too many elements, many of which were too large. Yet, opportunities still arose to include some of these initial elements once reconceptualized. The plaza’s main water feature was locally sourced. Sonkin coordinated with the Florida Department of Transportation as they were collecting limestone boulders from the construction of 319 for repurposing in the plaza's landscaping.

“One of the boulders caught my eye and I thought that it would make a great water feature. Since the large boulders in the original concept were out of the question, I decided to rethink the concept using this newfound boulder as the central feature,” said Sonkin. “I pressure washed it and set it up on a mocked base of the fountain and tested the water runoff. It seemed to work well and got me thinking of how to lay out the plaza around it.”

After a few months, Sonkin was able to rework the layout with a simplified concept of the stone as the central feature. At this time, the glass bench was still included in the design as well as a few new custom benches, lighting, and decorative pavement.

While this updated concept was also well received, the price was still too costly, so the glass, custom benches, the below seat, fountain lighting, and the entry gates were removed from the concept. As the budget continually reduced due to the amounts of donations, Grounds & Landscaping agreed to donate all the landscape elements needed for the project, as well as irrigation to bring the project into budget. Shortly after, Sonkin received the green light to start construction drawings for the project. A Project Manager was assigned to Planning, Design & Construction, and finally, the initial project process began. The preliminary phases coincided with the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic at the beginning of 2020, which put this project and many others on hold. Despite the setbacks, the project was revived in 2022. A year later, construction began with Kim Ball as the Project Manager and Gaskin Contractors as the General Contractor.

“I could not have asked for a better set of folks to bring my drawings to life,” said Sonkin.

As different Facilities staff members set to work bringing Sonkin’s vision to reality, no detail was overlooked. For example, David MacManus, Assistant Director of Grounds & Landscaping Operations at FSU, set to work on finding the right trees.

“My main contribution was the selection of the spring flowering trees,” said MacManus. “Yoshino Cherry had been suggested, but it does not perform well this far south. I suggested American Fringe Tree but could not find any with enough size for immediate impact. I found Chinese Fringe Trees with enough size and arranged the purchase and delivery of the trees from a wholesale nursery in Georgia”.

The Chapman Garden officially opened with a ribbon-cutting ceremony on May 17th, 2024. “I think the garden is close to the original design with the exception of a few more affordable trees. We just wanted the garden to be a place for students to relax, reflect, and recharge,” said Welch. “In nicer weather, we will provide guided meditation and perhaps some open-air painting/drawing sessions.”

Chapman Garden is a vibrant outdoor space where students can gather or relax in a peaceful, natural environment. It will continue to be a focal point for the College of Medicine community for many generations of students. A special thank you to the Grounds & Landscaping staff that made this project exceptional including David MacManus, Jake Hartung, Heather Talabesky, Philip Gleason, William Covin, Preston Sharpe, Leroy McQuay, Johnny Clark Sr., Willis James, the tree crew, Antonio Jackson and the turf crew, Jason McQueen, Garry Harrison, and the irrigation crew.