Honor Awards PROFESSIONAL

AT THE DISCRETION OF THE JURY, UP TO 20% OF THE

PROFESSIONAL ENTRIES MAY RECEIVE HONOR AWARDS

Preston Parkway

MESA Design Group

DESIGN CONSTRUCTED | RESIDENTIAL

The landscape architecture of Preston Parkway exudes a sense of modern luxury, with powerful lines and clean geometric forms that boldly answer to the architecture of the home. The project reveals the Landscape Architect’s ability to preserve and respect majestic trees while demonstrating an elegant composition of residential landscape architecture.

MKT MIXED-USE DESIGN CONSTRUCTED | COMMERCIAL SWA Group

The MKT mixed-use development repurposes a 200,000 square foot 1970’s era industrial office park into a vibrant, trail-oriented entertainment destination. Located in Houston’s hip Heights neighborhood, MKT’s frontage along the highly used Heights Hike and Bike Trail provides a community anchoring destination that merges the public and private realm, establishes an indooroutdoor connection and promotes active transportation in the heart of car-centric Houston.

The adaptive reuse nature of the project provides dramatic contributions to carbon reduction goals. Its location along two city-wide bike paths further adds to the project’s sustainability goals by reducing the dependency on automobiles. This goal is further articulated through a parking strategy that under-parks the retail outlets. An emphasis is placed on materials that are locally sourced and recycled. Existing stormwater infrastructure is expanded upon to increase detention effects, and planted with native groundcovers to increase habitat value.

Riversouth

dwg.

DESIGN CONSTRUCTED | COMMERCIAL

Located just south of Austin’s Lady Bird Lake, this office tower thoughtfully responds to its constraints to transform an underutilized, triangular site into a sustainable standard for adjacent future development. The design team demonstrated a commitment to environmental responsibility, from treating and storing all stormwater on site to drastically increasing biodiversity and the urban forest. All condensate and roof rain water is captured for reuse in irrigation, allowing for a roof garden that provides social and solitary spaces set within a lush, woodland-inspired oasis. The terrace’s diverse planting, investment in shade trees, warm material palette, and emphasis on detail, create an alluring refuge from the urban environment.

KATHERINE G. MCGOVERN CANOPY WALK AT HIGH ISLAND

SWA Group

DESIGN CONSTRUCTED | PUBLIC

At the heart of this project is the need to reframe perspectives on conservation and stewardship in the age of climate change. Using a “Bird’s Eye Perspective” the designers expressed these values in the resulting Kathrine G. McGovern Canopy Walk. Originating from a restored 1920’s oil pumphouse, the 20-foot high boardwalk traces the habitats of various bird species along their mid to upper canopy transects. After rising between a maze of tree tops through the “eyes of a warbler,” the 700-foot-long flight terminates at two internationally renowned ponds. Previously inaccessible, creative design affords connectivity to one of nature’s greatest phenomenons.

Here, tens of thousands of birds nest, rest, and raise their young for life’s future challenges, including the inevitable flight across the adjacent Gulf of Mexico. By forging a deeper connection to place, experience facilitates a culture of care through enhanced birdability.

Midland Centennial Park

Ten Eyck Landscape Architects

DESIGN CONSTRUCTED | PUBLIC

Anchored by the new Bush Convention Center, Centennial Park transforms two blocks in downtown Midland into the city’s central public civic space. Inspired by our client’s need for this space to accommodate all citizens for major events and the gridded land patterns of downtown Midland, the park provides a green heart for the city. Sustainable, LID design solutions were utilized, including native and adapted plants, vegetated rain swales, harvested water for irrigation, and sub-surface soil cells. A dog park, play area, interactive water feature, and weekend outdoor markets under the Oak allees ensure repeat visits by locals. The large event lawn becomes a destination for performances, holidays, and sports games, ensuring Centennial Park is a vibrant part of Midland for generations to come.

South Oak Cliff Renaissance Park

Studio Outside

DESIGN CONSTRUCTED | PUBLIC

Once a thriving neighborhood, for decades the South Oak Cliff community in Dallas has been overlooked for park investment and access to nature. South Oak Cliff Renaissance Park is the first completed project of the Five Mile Creek Urban Greenbelt Master Plan and an important step in providing equitable access. Linking the Cedar Crest Regional Trail to South Oak Cliff High School, this 1.8-acre park is focused on neighborhood and environmental health. This project transforms an overgrown and littered site into a place of natural respite. Today the park is a beacon of the community’s Renaissance. The site formalizes physical connections, increases views & safety, and strengthens the neighborhood’s physical and environmental health. The Community’s prioritized active elements of the park (basketball, BBQ, playground, & outdoor classroom) parallel a central spine that also engages the ecological restoration of the creek corridor.

South Texas Ecotourism Center

DESIGN UNREALIZED | PUBLIC Design Workshop

The opening of the South Texas Ecotourism Center fulfills nearly a decade of collaboration between Cameron County, Commissioner David Garza, representatives from the neighboring town of Laguna Vista, and the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service to build a central gateway where locals and visitors alike can begin to discover the Coastal Rio Grande Valley’s incredible biodiversity, rich cultural heritage, and diverse ecotourism opportunities. The site’s 10 acres presented a rare development opportunity situated both along a busy regional thoroughfare but also surrounded by the vast wetlands and prairies including some of the world’s most specialized and endangered ecosystems. From this unique vantage point, the South Texas Ecotourism Center has been able to highlight the special place of its immediate surroundings and inspire visitors to learn more broadly about the larger region and participate in building its more resilient future.

GASMER - INDUSTRIAL TO PARK REDEVELOPMENT

Lionheart

DESIGN UNREALIZED | PUBLIC

The 28.8-acre Gasmer Drive Redevelopment Property, formerly owned by Shell Oil, is ripe with potential for creating a new kind of destination for the community and indeed the greater Houston region. The master plan embraces all facets of the site, weaving the site’s history, contemporary arts, programming, culturally rich and diverse community, ecology, and stormwater detention together to tell a new story about urban transformation. Rather than wipe away the past, the master plan tells a deeper story about how we can repair our landscapes while not rejecting the memories. With creative programming of the pavilion and other events, we will create pathways for empathy, joy, and celebration of our human connections to each other.

Airline Highway Community Park Master Plan

TBG Partners

PLANNING + ANALYSIS

Unlike any park in southern Louisiana, the future Airline Highway Community Park is a 120-acre park that emphasizes green infrastructure practices and design for resilience and sustainability. The project team developed a master plan for Airline Highway Community Park that will not only implement stormwater management practices to help mitigate flood damage to adjacent properties in the watershed but provide the community and parish with a unique world class park with diversification of amenities. Established through a series of community engagement events, the initial park programming amenities include athletic fields, native meadows, picnic pavilions, a splash pad, adventure playground, amphitheater, kayak launch and hiking and nature trails.

Tree Condition

Many different factors contribute to the health of a tree, such as irrigation, growing space, maintenance, solar aspect, and species selection. The goal of this diagram and others, is to understand the relationship of these factors to better inform decisions moving forward.

While an analysis of the irrigation system is outside of this Master Plan’s scope of work, inconsistent irrigation methods and broken equipment were observed during site visits. If the irrigation system is not functioning optimally, it could be a primary reason trees are not thriving.

All trees indicated as dead or dying are recommended to be removed as soon as possible.

Note: The species indicated in this diagram are based on the online ArcGIS map created by the City’s arborist Brent Pearson.

BULB-OUT HARDSCAPE

DESCRIPTION

Trees are planted within the new bulb-out extension. Depending on the size of the bulbout, the number of trees can range from one to many. A tree grate and permeable pavers are used to provide additional space for seating and/or tables. If existing surface flows are directed towards the bulb-out location, additional stormwater strategies such as a curb inlets can be implemented to capture, use, and store, the stormwater runoff.

WHERE SHOULD THIS BE USED?

• New bulb-outs that are adjacent to high pedestrian activity such as cafes, or areas which could benefit from additional seating.

• Expanded seating opportunities

• May capture and store stormwater runoff

• Reduces soil compaction

• Increases soil aeration

•