Design Workshop Wins Eight ASLA Colorado Design Awards

16 Dec 2009

Denver, CO – Design Workshop was presented with eight awards from ASLA Colorado during a special ceremony on October 28th, 2009 at the Spire for their annual Design Awards competition. The awards jury was comprised of members of the Florida Chapter of ASLA.

ASLA Colorado's annual awards competition showcases outstanding projects completed by members. Entries are judged for creativity and sustainability in the categories of professional, residential, planning and urban design. Projects include new communities, urban and historical cityscapes, streetscapes and land stewardship designations.

Receiving the highest honor, the President's Award for Excellence for Planning, was Callaway Gardens Land Management Strategy. Only two projects out of all selected winners are honored with the President's Award of Excellence by a unanimous vote of the jurors. This award showcases an outstanding contribution in the advancement of the Landscape Architectural profession.

“After operating for more than 55 years and hosting millions of bird watchers, swimmers, golfers and garden enthusiasts, Callaway Gardens felt the impact of changing recreation and market trends, economic downturns, aged facilities, and regional competition,” said Glenn Walters, partner and principal of Design Workshop.

“One of the primary outcomes of this investigation was to create a series of new communities that reinforce the notion of 'gardens' and through deliberate open space planning and garden themes, strengthen the relationship between the existing Gardens, the Preserve area, and the Resort.”

A maximum of three Honor Awards are possible per category, and Design Workshop took two of them for Residential Design: Red Butte Ranch Guesthouse and The Residence at Wildcat Ridge. The Streamside Garden project received a Residential Design Merit Award. The projects, all located in the Aspen/Snowmass area, highlight the firm's ability to create unique outdoor living environments through a diversity of design styles. Each residence will be further highlighted in Design Workshop's second garden publication, Garden Legacy, set for publication in May 2010.

Denargo Market, a 32-acre redevelopment north of downtown Denver, took home an Honor Award for Planning. The goal of the project was to integrate the River, provide an active market area and create opportunities to integrate local art. The presence of the Platte River is evident in the parks while work from River North artists is revealed within the public spaces. The 28th Street market area centers the development while providing an active hub for the neighborhood. The public spaces energize the development, the neighborhood and the city.

Pima Community College Northwest Campus received an Honor Award for Design. The college landscape was an opportunity to develop a campus around a series of constructed outdoor desert rooms, highlighting its sensitive location in the Sonoran Desert. The result is a dramatic new campus for more than 4,000 students to invest in their future with a quality, affordable education. The campus landscape creates a unique experience, immersing students in an outdoor environment that captures the natural qualities of the surrounding desert.

Avon West Town Center: Lake Street and Avon Station won a Merit Design award. The first two catalyst projects of a $30 million Avon West Town Center Investment Plan identified by the Avon West Town Center Redevelopment Plan included Avon Station and Lake Street, both designed by Design Workshop. The identified goals of these projects were to improve the civic infrastructure through urban design by creating a true sense of place, strengthening connections within and beyond the community, encouraging safe pedestrian and vehicular interaction, and providing public investment in the West Town Center District to further promote private redevelopment.

UMore Park, a 5,000-acre former Brownfield site located 25 miles southeast of the Twin Cities and owned by the University of Minnesota that will be transformed into a sustainable new community, won a Merit Planning award.