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Plans to expand the Portland Japanese Garden continue to move forward.

has been chosen as the architect of record for the project. The firm will join , a Japan-based landscape design firm, in designing the expansion, which will include a cultural and education center, a gift store and a tea house.

In addition to the two firms, a top-notch team of independent landscape architects has been hired to help, including former garden curators Hoichi Kurisu and Hachiro Sakakibara.

鈥淭he strategy for the landscape design portion of the project is a split design,鈥� said Ingrid Arnett, communications manager for the garden. 鈥淗oichi Kurisu is the foremost designer of Japanese gardens in North America. Hachiro Sakakibara is the foremost Japanese garden designer in Japan. Their participation is of great significance to the garden as a nod to the past and the present.鈥�

The project will enter the schematic design phase at the end of January 2013, Arnett said. By next fall, design plans should be close to complete.

The expansion will build on the work of original designer Takuma Tono, who designed the Washington Park attraction between 1963 and 1967.