IN GOOD TASTE

ATasteful Place, the Dallas Arboretum and Botanical Garden’s latest development, is either the city’s most brilliant educational attraction with stunning views of downtown Dallas or another development reducing the lake’s natural area.

In any case, couples flock here to take engagement photos. The building is architecturally significant and the farmto-table program is revolutionary.

The structure, designed by architect RUSSELL BUCHANAN (right), and the garden, designed by Chuck McDaniel, are design triumphs, according to Mark Lamster, architecture critic for The Dallas Morning News. The pavilion, a glass box with floor-to-ceiling windows, was described by Lamster as an exceptional work of modern public architecture. “Above, a roof of wooden slats conceals recessed lighting, and angles up like the wings of an airplane on the exterior of the structure, creating a broad overhang that shields a generous patio from the sun and the elements,” Lamster says.

A 1980’s master plan for the arboretum, which included a sculpted-hedge maze, a sixstory conservatory, dormitories for research students and an observation tower with views of downtown, received protests from neighbors, as did a plan to build an overflow parking lot at Winfrey Point in 2012. But the newest development received mostly glowing reviews.

A Tasteful Place, a $12 million development and 3.5-acre display garden, is on trend with the farm-to-table movement, emphasizing growing food locally and eating healthful ingredients. More than just something pretty to look at, the development is a working garden that produces vegetables and herbs for guests along with a cutting-edge culinary program.