Feature Story

October 2017

Dallas Park Recognized With ASLA Award

By Deborah L. Vence

Klyde Warren Park, a 5.2-acre urban park in Dallas designed by OJB Landscape Architecture (OJB), recently earned the Award of Excellence for General Design from the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA).

The park reconnects the city's downtown cultural district with the neighborhoods located to the north. Designed to reflect the district through its modern design, the park has bridged the eight-lane Woodall Rodgers Freeway, which had been a barrier between the downtown and uptown areas.

Klyde Warren Park was constructed over one of the busiest freeways in Texas. For many years, Woodall Rodgers Freeway severed downtown Dallas' central business and arts districts, and the uptown neighborhood to the north. Restoring the connection has transformed the city by bridging the gap and creating a new heart of downtown.

Features of the park, which was built with public and private funds, include a flexible, pedestrian-oriented design, children's park, great lawn, restaurant, performance pavilion, fountain plaza, a games area, a dog park and botanical garden. Environmental improvements include the sequestration of carbon dioxide through native plants and trees, temperature reductions from shade-producing trees and canopies, and water conservation through the subgrade reservoir's collection of stormwater.

The park has had a major impact on the community, too, featuring daily free programming including family activities, fitness classes, educational programs and musical performances. The park also provides a host of amenities that can be used whenever the park is open, such as board games and newspapers.

The economic benefits provided by Klyde Warren Park include park operations and maintenance savings. With the use of a high-efficiency LED lighting system and fixtures with solar panels, the park also saves about 94,000 kilowatts of electricity each year compared to traditional lighting.

Since its opening, the park has welcomed more than a million visitors annually and has become the most popular public open space in central Dallas.

The landscape architect was the lead designer for the project and set the tone for all site design decisions in collaboration with the architect, lighting designer, fountain designer and other specialty subconsultants.

The ASLA awards recognize the best of landscape architecture in the general design, analysis and planning, communications, research, and residential design categories from the United States and around the world. The ASLA, based in Washington, D.C., is the professional association for landscape architects in the United States that represents more than 15,000 members.