Turtle Creek carves a deep ravine through a Dallas suburb where the mosquitoes are as big as horses and the houses are larger than life. Amidst the elaborate manicured landscapes sat an abandoned historic pumphouse with large reservoirs that once supplied the neighborhood’s water.
Hot paved expanses and concrete volumes were transformed with a new flow of arts events and everyday play. The design process was one of restraint with each decision being, as the client requested, light on the site. Simple means allowed the patina of the past to remain while a limited palette of found materials and wild Texas natives recolonize the water works.
Private Client; Cunningham Architects; MESA Group, landscape architects; Kate Orff, project landscape architect; Meg Webster, artist
Suburbia Transformed Award, The James Rose Center, 2014
Design Honor Award, American Society Landscape Architects, 2007
Design Merit Award, American Society Landscape Architects, Texas Chapter, 2006
Marc Kristal, “Turtle Creek Waterworks.” Re:Crafted: Interpretations of Craft In Contemporary Architecture and Interiors, (New York: Monacelli, 2010), 132-139.