Parks/Open Space
Houston Arboretum & Nature Center
Houston, Texas
Houston and the adjacent Gulf Coast area were hit with two extreme weather events over 36 months. In 2008, the area was struck by Hurricane Ike, and in 2011, Texas recorded its worst drought on record. The 155-acre Houston Arboretum and Nature Center (HANC) was hit hard and lost many mature trees. The Design Workshop team discovered that the underlying soil was much more conducive to supporting native prairie than woodland, so the new master plan called for restoring indigenous grasses more tolerant of weather extremes. HANC is now a resilient landscape, a refuge for native plants and animals, and a model for other regions facing similar environmental threats.
Services Provided: Park Master Planning, Park Programming, Landscape Architecture, Wayfinding, Signage & Interpretive Design, Public Outreach, Cost Estimating, Permitting, Construction Observation
Awards
- Honor Award, Analysis & Planning, ASLA National
- Award of Excellence in Design, ASLA Texas
- Parks & Natural Areas Award, Honorable Mention, Houston-Galveston Area Council (H-GAC)
- Award of Excellence, Boston Society of Landscape Architects
- Project Planning Award, APA Texas
- Landscape Architecture Award, Longlist, Dezeen Awards
- Development of Distinction, ULI Houston
- General Design, Shortlist, World Landscape Architecture (WLA) Awards
- Merit Award, World Landscape Architecture
Client
Houston Arboretum & Nature Center
Collaborators
Reed|Hilderbrand, Ladybird Johnson Wildflower Center, Walter P. Moore, SWCA Environmental Consultants, Dr. Todd Watson, ETM Associates, Frayre Engineering & Consulting, PLLC, HydroGeo Designs LLC, Jeffrey L. Bruce & Company, LLC, E&C Engineers & Consultants, Inc., Lake Flato Architects, Forney Construction, Brightview Landscape Development, Garza Site Development