Commissioned by the Dallas Parks Department, this new shade structure bridges the gap between two groups of trees at a natural gathering place in the park. The composition of steel components abstract and mimic the surrounding trees to produce similar dappled shade.
In Dallas, Texas, the Department of Parks and Recreation is working to replace several decaying, minimal 1960s shelters in the surrounding metropolitan public parks. Sandwiched between a community soccer field and playground, this simple pavilion embraces a passive, natural cooling system that becomes one with the spatial design.
Built over the existing Woodall Rodgers Freeway, this 5.2-acre park serves as an important pedestrian connection between the Central Business District, Uptown and the burgeoning Arts District in downtown Dallas, Texas. Bisected by the existing Olive Street bridge, the park is organized by a sweeping pedestrian promenade that features a continuous canopy of specimen Pond Cypress.
The Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge is a very special project for me. Not only is it a signature component of the City of Dallas’ urban revitalization efforts, but it is also the first vehicular bridge I have built in the United States.
After I was commissioned to design the bridge, I toured Dallas and noticed that the Trinity River basin was littered with industrial buildings, electrical lines and proposed new toll roads. I saw this as a lost opportunity for the City, since the river basin had the potential to be of defining importance to Dallas’ future development. The image below of my initial Master plan model dates to my first involvement with the City’s rejuvenation project in 1999. My concept of linking the City’s two river banks by a series of dramatic bridges and boardwalks across a flooded lakeside environment, sought to revitalize this under-used resource in the heart of the city, and create a recreational facility as important to Dallas as Central Park is to New York City.
Location: Located in downtown Dallas, between Continental Avenue and Union Pacific Railroad Bridges the structure will cross the Trinity River Corridor linking West Dallas/North Oak Cliff with the downtown area.
Client: City of Dallas
Program: In January 2002 Dallas City Council awarded a design contract to Santiago Calatrava for the creation of a “signature bridge” across the Trinity River.
The Margot and Bill Winspear Opera House is one of the four venues that comprises the AT&T Performing Arts Center, a new center for music, theatre and dance in downtown Dallas that opens on October 12, 2009. The Winspear Opera House provides a new home for The Dallas Opera, Texas Ballet Theater, Broadway productions and numerous other performing arts organizations and touring productions that serve Dallas and the surrounding areas.
The Dallas Theater Center (DTC) is known for its innovative work, the result of its leadership’s constant experimentation and the provisional nature of its long-time home. DTC was housed in the Arts District Theater, a dilapidated metal shed that freed its resident companies from the limitations imposed by a fixed-stage configuration and the need to avoid harming expensive interior finishes. The directors who worked there constantly challenged the traditional conventions of theater and often reconfigured the form of the stage to fit their artistic visions. As a result, the Arts District Theater was renowned as the most flexible theater in America. The costs of constantly reconfiguring its stage, however, became a financial burden and eventually DTC permanently fixed its stage into a “thrust-cenium.”
The Bridge Homeless Assistance Center was conceived to engage and regenerate our most disenfranchised members of the community and improve the social equity of the City of Dallas. The result is a campus with buildings arranged around a series of landscaped courtyards that are designed to promote a sense of safety, a place where personal connections can be made and relationships developed. The Bridge is the largest homeless shelter to receive LEED Silver certification.
Name of Project: The Bridge Homeless Assistance Center
Location: Dallas, Texas
Area: 75,000 SF
Awards: AIA National HUD/Secretary Award (2009), AIA National Housing Award (2009), American Architecture Award by Chicago Athenaeum (2009), Celebrating Leadership in Development Excellence (CLIDE) Award for Special Development (2009), Excellence in Design Awards, Environmental Design + Construction Magazine (2009), Divine Detail Award for Art Glass by AIA San Antonio (2008), Dallas’ Topping Out First Place Award (2010), (Re)Branding Homelessness Best Architectural Entry (2010)
Bounded by a strip mall, apartment complex, and residential neighborhood (and including an existing YMCA gymnasium), the site for this new branch library presented significant contextual opportunities. The design centers on addressing each context, as well as the library’s programming needs, through directing and screening views and considering varied levels of scale.
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