Tenshin-en Gate at the MFA

[Jack_Ervin.]

Chris,
I had stated a couple weeks ago about a trip to a Japanese garden in Ft. Worth. Well I did make the visit and was pleased with the garden but the carpentry of the buildings was of western framing with a Japanese style exterior. I was hoping to see first hand what we were doing but was disappointed. Any here is a photo of the entry gate from a distance. I took some photos of the framing of other buildings through the garden but didn't want to wast the space here. I will include some if you want.
Regards,
Jack

[Chris Hall]

Thanks for sharing Jack.

[Chris Hall]

I met with people at the MFA to discuss the gate yesterday, and the meeting seemed to go well. We'll see what happens...

[Chris Hall]

A realize I have forgotten to update this thread in a while. I ended up submitting a detailed, 10-page proposal to the MFA for a new gate. Then they dropped the ball, not collating all the garden-related proposals (I was the only one making a proposal for the gate, and there was a lot more to the overall project to rebuild the garden) in time for a trip to Japan to visit the funding entity. Now they have several new gallery installations going on and everyone is so busy with that -- so the garden re-do has been placed on the back-burner. I'm hoping something will get rolling again by Spring. They'll have to do something about the garden soon enough, that much I'm sure of. I'll keep y'all apprised of developments.

[Chris Hall]

Well, at last something has moved. I received a note from the MFA today that the funding proposal for the garden revamping has been collated and submitted to the funding source in Japan. I am not sure when I will hear the final determination, however it will probably occur in the next 4~6 weeks I would imagine. I will be very excited if the project does happen, regardless of scope - as it would be a chance to build a completely authentic Japanese structure, not the sort of job that seems to come along very often.

[Mathieu]

I wish you all the best with this job and hopefully you can land it.
I also hope that you don't have to sign some disclosure contract so we can read all about it on your blog.
May the gods of fortune be with you. ---beckoning maneki neko---

[Chris Hall]

I also hope that you don't have to sign some disclosure contract so we can read all about it on your blog.

Me too! Actually, I can't imagine they would have a problem with it, since they are a public institution and it is a publicly-accessible garden.

It seems that once the funding is sorted out, there will be a meeting or three to determine how it will be allocated on the various projects. I'm not fond of meetings generally.

[Chris Hall]

It's looking good

[Yxoc]

Wishing all the best for a positive outcome. No doubt a project that all here would be eager to follow along and see come to fruition.

Derek

[Chris Hall]

I just heard from the MFA this morning. While the news is still unofficial, they received funding from Japan for the gate and garden project, so

OMG! Finally, a ship came into harbor. I have been trying to get a project like this for years, and pursued this one quite hard, starting several years back where my attempts to contact the museum in regards to the condition of their current gate went nowhere.

The director of grounds and facilities maintenance at the museum was so excited that she called me at 7:00am to let me know the news. They received all the funding they asked for, so it looks like I will be building a full-on Japanese roofed gate over fall and winter, with the new gate to be installed in Spring after the last frost. The gate will either be a yakuimon or a hira-karamon type. I imagine we'll be having several meetings to sort that out in the next few weeks. I would be thrilled to do either, but maybe I'm a little more enraptured with the hira-karamon type so fingers are definitely crossed in that direction.

Nice thing here is that there will be no non-disclosure agreements to deal with, so I should be free to blog about the design and construction. I'm delighted as well to have the chance to build a piece of traditional Japanese architecture which will be publicly accessible and viewable.

It's also nice to have work lined up for a good number of months ahead. Whew!

I feel like running down the street yelling deliriously, however I think I'll contain myself, and settle for pinching myself and staring into space. Maybe it's time for a cup of tea...