TERRA SANCTA RETREAT CENTER & ELEMENTARY SCHOOL

Terra Sancta is Latin for Holy Ground . . . the Black Hills have long been sacred to Native Americans. The daily prayers and good works of the Benedictine Sisters of St Martin Monastery blessed this place for more than 50 years.

Completed after five years of planning, design, and construction. Our team provided a series of design concepts for this project to assist the building committee with their vision for how the landscape would interact with nature and the functionality of the campus. Two courtyards were also incorporated into the landscape design. One of the courtyards, located within the school provided a recreation space for pre-school age children and other courtyard, for contemplation is located within the retreat center named after saint Kateri Tekawitha. Working with the design team and Fr. Steve Biegler, our design staff completed the landscape design that included irrigation design, stormwater treatment areas, playground design, grading and layout for the campus design. The landscape design involved indigenous landscape plantings along the roadway network, parking and pedestrian pathways.

Surrounded by beautiful walking trails, the landscape design is low impact with minimal disturbance to the existing terrain, tall evergreens, abundant wildlife, and unique sense of beauty and peace that the Black Hills of South Dakota are known for.