open space | IDEAS

The Katy Trail is a recent Rails-to-Trails project transforming an abandoned rail corridor into a hugely popular pedestrian-bicycle corridor linking over 20 neighborhoods in Dallas, Texas. As a networked infrastructure, this transformation has responded to an urban populace hungry for access to open space. With a strong design vision unifying its entire 3.5-mile length of… Read more »

With a strong design vision unifying its entire 3.5-mile length of obsolete infrastructure, this urban park has catalyzed an upsurge in local property values and established new venues for civic life at distinctive plazas, outlooks and access points.

As locals like to say…“The trains don’t run here anymore….Dallas does.”

Constructed in 1870, the Katy Railway provided the primary rail connection from Dallas to the East Coast. After termination of service a century later, the rail line deteriorated into a public eyesore that divided Dallas’ core and contributed to urban decay.

Today a portion of that earlier abandoned corridor forms the vibrant Katy Trail: a 3.5-mile pedestrian and bicycle trail system and linear park that links 95 acres of Dallas parklands along the Turtle Creek greenbelt. Running through the most densely developed section of Dallas, this park connects several important districts and links residents to shopping, jobs, entertainment venues and university destinations. It also provides a major recreational destination for the more than 300,000 people who live and work within a mile of the trail and numerous others from across the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex.

Design:

The sheer scale and vast resources spent on network infrastructure present tremendous opportunities to leverage unrealized potential in the urban environment. Katy Trail extends from north downtown Dallas to the University Park neighborhood near Southern Methodist University following the route of the railway and connecting to urban parks. The project includes four major accessible (ADA compliant) entrances, three major connections, ten additional ADA entrances, and seven stair entrances.

A strong design vision unifies all project elements and promotes the central goals of the master plan:

To create a safe and easily accessible trail system,
To celebrate the history and natural environment of the area,
To promote community involvement and stewardship, and
To establish a beautiful urban city park.

Working with the non-profit Friends of Katy Trail and in collaboration with the City of Dallas, SWA started by helping to change public perceptions of the unused, overgrown, and unmaintained rail right-of-way known primarily for gangs and drug dealers. With input from an extensive community outreach process, they established the larger vision of connecting individual City parks into a single linear system. They also extended the city’s original two-mile long, 12-foot wide concrete path to include an additional 1.5 miles and added a 6-foot wide padded running trail for 2.5 miles.

Key Project Elements

The master plan became a built reality through years of study, design and phased implementation.

Knox Henderson Intersection – The first public entrance completed, this project contains two 40-foot square plazas flanking the busy Knox Street intersection. Free-standing native limestone seat walls form the plazas and provide a visual clue to users approaching the road crossing. Detailed pavement, donor benches, interactive art, lighting, plantings of Mexican Plum trees, flowering trees and shrubs, and ornamental grasses enliven the plazas and create a resting place off the trail. The Knox Henderson public plazas became the cornerstones of the trail’s new image and the standard for future entrance designs.

American Airlines Overlook – In 2004, Hillwood Development developed the American Airlines Center and Victory Park at the far south end of the trail. Thanks to their donation, the Friends of Katy Trail were able to complete a portion of the trail from the entertainment venue to the overlook at Reverchon Park. The landscape architect designed Victory Overlook and the trailhead at Lyte Street connecting to Victory Park, a new major residential/entertainment district. Native limestone blocks distinguish the overlook and serve functional needs for retention.

Reverchon Overlook – This access point connects to historic Reverchon Park, which traces its origins to the WPA era. The privately-funded project includes a prominent overlook of native limestone blocks, a large galvanized steel trellis covered with trumpet vine (Campsis radicans), shaded seating, water fountains for both human and canine users, and litter receptacles. The design includes a 750-foot long ADA compliant ramp and a staircase connecting to the 36-acre Reverchon Park below. In the park itself, Briggs Freeman Plaza incorporates two stone benches and stonework replicating the WPA-era relics found nearby. This access ramp also provides easy trail access from nearby Scottish Rite Hospital for Children.

Snyder’s Union /Carlisle Entry – This overlook/entry includes a plaza and access to the trail from Carlisle Street. The dramatic ellipse-shaped plaza and glass observation platform cantilever beyond the rail bed and over the park located some 18 feet below, offering a unique vantage point toward Lee Park and Turtle Creek. The guardrail consists of 24 six-inch thick Korean Sage granite slabs angled at 15 degrees. Opposite the observation platform, the trellis of sandblasted architectural concrete is capped by African Mahogany timbers. Five solid Korean Sage granite benches represent the five-decade marriage and five family members of private donors who funded this most recent project along the Katy Trail.

The Katy Trail rediscovers a hidden and neglected part of Dallas by revitalizing an infrastructural corridor. This regenerative urban park has revitalized local neighborhoods, spurred an increase in retail/ restaurant sales, and improved the vitality of wildlife habitat and mature trees that dominate the scene. A healthy new green ribbon now follows the footprint of Dallas’ historic railway, converting an eyesore to destination for generations to come.

Collapse post

One Response to “Future Infrastructures: Katy Trail”

Johne213

I genuinely enjoy studying on this website, it holds good content. Never fight an inanimate object. by P. J. O’Rourke. fbdeedgkccbk
September 24th, 2014 Reply

Leave a Reply to Johne213

Cancel

Posted by The Katy Trail Team
in Landscape Infrastructure
on 10 January, 2013

1 comment

Share this post
Facebook
Twitter

SWA San Francisco received an Honor Award in the Planning and Analysis Category for ‘Nanhu: Farm Town in the Big City’. An integrated master plan that considers agriculture, villages, waterways and public landscapes “Nanhu will be a hybrid development combining China’s agricultural heritage with its present urban lifestyle. ” Read more at the ASLA award… Read more »

Posted by EllenBurke
in Performance Planning, Urban Agriculture
on 6 September, 2012

Be the first to comment

Share this post
Facebook
Twitter

When dry, the banks of Houston’s Buffalo Bayou offer open air, green meadows and winding waters for crowds of people to enjoy along with gorgeous skyline views of downtown. While primarily designed to accommodate floodwaters, the large meadows that are formed between the lower and upper bayou banks also host thousands of people during festivals… Read more »

Buffalo Bayou has the distinction of being Houston’s main geographical reference point. Upon Houston’s founding, the city grid was formed to respond to Buffalo Bayou’s circuitous route as the shipping corridor in and out of Houston. While cargo boats no longer travel up Buffalo Bayou and into the city, it remains a major corridor for vehicles and a connection between downtown and urban neighborhoods west of Downtown.

As a major urban park space, Buffalo Bayou attracts residents and visitors every day as they jog, walk dogs, sit by the water or picnic along the water’s upper banks. The bayou’s flood water path sits untouched by development, leaving a long linear park within Houston’s core urban fabric.

As SWA creates the park’s second phase from Sabine Street to Shepherd Drive, frequent flood events are a major consideration. However, they are not a deterrent. Despite the normal rise and fall of the bayou’s waters, the park will go on.

Water will always be an attractive feature for city dwellers, whether it’s a muddy winding bayou, a brackish harbor, or a roaring ocean. With this in mind it seems only natural that Buffalo Bayou acts as a key gathering place for Houston. When dry, the banks of the bayou offer open air, green meadows and winding waters for crowds of people to enjoy along with gorgeous skyline views of downtown. The setting is a unique combination of natural and city features within Houston’s sprawling suburban landscape.

The large meadows that are formed between the lower and upper bayou banks host thousands of people during festivals and holiday celebrations. During the first weekend of June one such festival took place on Eleanor Tinsley meadow. Attendance at the Free Press Festival was estimated at 92,000 people over the course of the weekend. Part of the reason this site was chosen is because the upper banks of the bayou form a natural amphitheater for the festival’s three main stages. Luckily, rain stayed away that weekend and the bayou did not wash the music away. Thousands of festival-goers got to enjoy Houston and relish the diversity of people and musical taste resident here.

Collapse post

Leave a Reply to Johne213

Cancel

Posted by Jenny Janis
in Bayou By Us
on 12 July, 2012

Be the first to comment

Share this post
Facebook
Twitter

A hundred years ago, landscape architect Arthur Comey proposed Houston’s first comprehensive city plan. In his plan, Comey envisioned the city’s bayous overlaid with a network of parks and trails. As he wrote, the “bayous and creek valleys readily lend themselves to trails and parks and cannot so advantageously be used for any other purpose.”… Read more »

But in the 1930’s, in response to major floods that engulfed the city, work began clearing, straightening and enlarging the bayous. Flood mitigation projects continued through the 1960s, in some cases eliminating all riparian vegetation and lining the channel with concrete. Construction of thoroughfares and freeways encouraged the spread of the city far beyond Comey’s plan and encroached on lands that might have been intended for bayou parkways.

However in the last 40 years, there has been a proliferation of grassroots organizations and programs to protect and enhance Houston bayous and reduce flooding in environmentally sustainable ways, including the Houston Parks Board, The Bayou Preservation Association, the Buffalo Bayou Partnership, the White Oak Bayou Association, the Brays Bayou Association, the Sims Bayou Coalition, the Cypress Creek Flood Control Coalition and the Greens Bayou Corridor Coalition, among others. These organizations, each with a unique point of view depending on the special circumstances of the bayou they represent, all work to influence the outcomes of the primary government agencies whose projects impact the bayous: the Harris County Flood Control District and the US Army Corps of Engineers.

One particular bayou success story has been that of the Buffalo Bayou Promenade. Sponsored by the Buffalo Bayou Partnership, the 1.2 mile long Buffalo Bayou Promenade is a critical link that connects Buffalo Bayou Park to Houston’s theater district and downtown. Prior to its creation, development had turned its back on this portion of the bayou. Freeway structures blocked light and shed sheets of water off their sides during rain storms. Pedestrians in this portion of the bayou were more than 30′ below the grade of the surrounding streets, out of view and with few access points. Invasive plantings were overgrown and created unsafe walking conditions.

Forward to today. Re-grading of the site helped to improve views into the park while reducing the impact of erosion and improving flood water conveyance. A system of stair and ramp connecting points at each roadway crossing provides safe, convenient and frequent access opportunities and commissioned artwork frames each park portal providing a link between the city’s art district and its historic channel. Buffalo Bayou Promenade is not only a successful park and pedestrian environment but it also provides the city of Houston with highly effective flood control and storm water management.

The success of Buffalo Bayou Promenade is just one story among many of the major change in awareness of the importance of Houston’s bayous. Major works are under way along Brays Bayou, Sims Bayou, Clear Creek, Cypress Creek and White Oak Bayou. These and others are testaments to the persistence of Arthur Comey’s vision and they demonstrate how parks and greenspaces can improve the economy, the environment and the health of the city.

But there is more work to do and there is no better time than the present. Property values throughout Houston will continue to climb and there is now the opportunity to purchase distressed properties along the city’s bayous in the hopes of further revitalizing and expanding Houston’s parks and greenspaces before those properties are sold for development or redevelopment.

The national non-profit organization Redfields to Greenfields hopes to help do just that. Their goal is to acquire adjoining properties along Houston’s major bayous and protect them and convert them from existing industrial or commercial use into greenspace and to help create one continuous greenbelt.

In addition, the Bayou Greenway Initiative – a $480 million effort led by the Houston Parks Board – is working to secure 4,900 acres of new greenspace that will control flooding, provide storm water management and more than 300 miles of continuous hike and bike trails along the bayous.

As a landscape architect and long-time Houston resident, I believe there is tremendous value in preserving, protecting and restoring the city’s bayous. Not only do the city’s bayous provide important natural habitat corridors for plants and wildlife, but Houston’s bayou’s are also an amazing, almost untapped recreational resource for a fast growing urban population and play a vital role in establishing the city’s identity well into its future.

Collapse post

Trackbacks/Pingbacks

Leave a Reply to Johne213

Cancel

Posted by KevinShanley
in Bayou By Us
on 1 May, 2012

Be the first to comment

Share this post
Facebook
Twitter

In the decade since Salt Lake City hosted the Olympic Games, the City has continued its transformation into a very urban place. The strict grid of numbered streets that radiate from Temple Square has been an effective framework for the layers of sophisticated urban design and infrastructure investments. Thanks to one of the most comprehensive transit systems in the country and broad sidewalks that provide real estate for the City’s expanding urban forest, residents and visitors alike have embraced the walkable downtown.

I was in Salt Lake City last week for the grand opening event for our project at City Creek Center, which was a huge hit. 700 new housing units, 1 million square feet of revamped downtown office space, iconic shops and the novel stream that trickles through the new outdoor shopping street have been graciously lauded for the project’s success.

This project juxtaposes the seemingly natural and the very contrived. When we first met with our clients Taubman Centers and City Creek Reserve they talked about resurrecting the original City Creek which once flowed through the site, but has been buried underground since the development of the downtown area. At first we struggled to get beyond the semantics – you can’t restore the creek if there is an underground parking structure in its path – but we understood that they wanted to recreate the experience of the original pristine waterway. We wanted the creek to live up to the idea of a natural creek, but that it be rooted in a contemporary setting –requiring attention to the detailing and emphasis on the urban context.

As it turns out, the man-made City Creek is now the largest flowing watercourse built on structure in the U.S., and it is also one of the most technical designs that SWA has undertaken in its 50-year history. We used local trade professionals and sources whenever possible including rock work by Outside the Lines and Kepco+, raw material from Utah’s Brown’s Canyon near Park City, and quarried by Delta Stone Co. Some 600 boulders were used for the creek, promenade seating areas and other aspects including the 17-foot cascade that takes the creek down from the upper level to the street level.

Where we had to supplement the locally cut stone, we relied completely on technology. Rock cut in Minnesota arrived and fit together perfectly with the rocks that were cut in China. I would argue that this landscape was just as technically precise as the architecture that surrounds it.

And the architecture is a fantastic complement. ZGF designed the residential towers. Local architecture firm, FFKR led the office design and Callison Architects in partnership with Hobbs + Black designed the retail center itself.
But, to me, the real story is on the street.

The context of the site goes beyond the immediate architecture. As a streetscape, the project heavily relies on its interaction with the city around it. The urban design challenge was in converting the supersize, vehicular Salt Lake City grid to a comfortable dimension for residents, office workers, shoppers and passersby. By giving boundaries to the city’s 22-foot-wide sidewalks and punctuating them with moments of garden nodes and places to sit, we were able to infill empty space with urban space. The new proportion not only has to relate to the surrounding architecture and infrastructure, but it is the cornerstone to creating an urban atmosphere that connects the meaning of the site and the project itself to the character of the city.

I like to think we were successful. Do you?

Weigh in on our Facebook page.

Collapse post

Leave a Reply to Johne213

Cancel

Posted by ReneBihan
in Landscape is the Answer
on 17 April, 2012

Be the first to comment

Share this post
Facebook
Twitter

The Atlanta Connector will remain the City’s most significant and visible infrastructural corridor for the foreseeable future, so any transformation has to embrace the Connector as an integral part of the City of Atlanta. This project aims–not to make the Connector disappear–but to use the Connector as a transformative piece of the City’s open space… Read more »

This transformation strategy will use a melding of art, landscape, engineering and urban design to create layers of interest to the fabric of the Connector, affecting how the city is perceived and ultimately how it functions. Further, the transformation of the Atlanta Connector will recalibrate the national conversation on the role of infrastructure in our cities and towns, putting Atlanta on the forefront of urban design issues centered on redefining infrastructure as public space

Background

Over the last decade and a half Downtown and Midtown Atlanta have become models for urban redevelopment. Thousands of new housing units; millions of square feet in new office space; expansion of educational and cultural facilities; and over $50 million in transportation improvements, public safety initiatives, and environmental enhancements have reshaped Atlanta’s urban core into a vibrant, walkable, cosmopolitan center. The condition of the Connector stands in stark contrast to our improved urban centers. The project involved visioning for the 5-mile stretch of highway from the I-75/I-85 merge on the north end of Midtown Atlanta to the I-20 interchange near Turner Field south of Downtown Atlanta. This vast expanse of pavement carries 300,000 vehicles per day, and is marked by aging infrastructure, concrete retaining walls, and limited landscaping and maintenance.

The Problem

In its current state, the Connector creates a decidedly negative environment for the City of Atlanta, damaging both the visitor’s opinion of the City and its urban fabric. This in turn affects connectivity, transit ridership, tourism, and ultimately tax revenues and jobs in the urban core. As the Connector was built and rebuilt over the last 60 years it has slowly taken on a character that is divorced from the aspirations of the City of Atlanta. The well tended streetscapes, parks, and urban fabric of Downtown and Midtown Atlanta is absent from the visual fabric of the Connector. The academic institutions that line the Connector (Georgia Tech, Georgia State, Emory, and SCAD) have turned their backs on what could be Atlanta’s front door. A “DMZ” like zone of parking garages, vacant lands, and service drives has sprung up between the Connector and the City that it was intended to service.

The Strategy

The Vision

The vision advocated in this document is that of freeway moving through a green and lush landscape punctuated by art and urban incursions into the fabric of the freeway corridor. The Connector is embraced and cared for as an integral part of Atlanta’s open space system and people move freely along and across it. Dramatic gateways crafted from the landscape announce arrival into the City and serve as a marker of a special place along a travelers journey. Lighting is used to extend the effects of the transformation creating a shift in attitude from day to night. The complete composition becomes a stately museum space full of wonder and opportunity, serving as a showcase of Atlanta’s unique place in the world.

Design Elements

The core strategies that will be employed along the length of the Connector involve greening, light, art, and ultimately, urban design interventions across and along the Connector. These strategies are used to modulate and recalibrate the existing infrastructural surfaces of the freeway in a manner that adds depth and meaning to Connector experience, and by default, the visual (and ultimately physical) experience of the City.

Greening strategies form the foundation of the transformation. The permeable spaces along the Connector’s margins and within its immense interchanges will hold a vibrant, robust and legible urban forest canopy. Urban forests will be crafted to create gateways at the north and south entries into Atlanta’s urban core. These forests will follow threads of unused open space into the heart of the City, enhancing views, hiding vacant properties, and forming a medium through which the City is viewed. Where space or safety considerations limit the inclusion of forests, vertical greening strategies will be employed to continue the thematic greening of the Connector and the City. While these greening strategies will have nascent effect on regional sustainability and clean air initiatives, they are not seen as offsetting the intensely negative effects of the 300,000 vehicles per day that use the Connector. At best they will be a window into the regional appreciation of sustainable design practices and a point of departure for reducing and discussing the effect of heat island, storm water, and air quality on the City.

Inserted into the verdant green fabric of the Connector are art and light elements purposely crafted to interact with, and activate the surfaces of the Connector. The art of the Connector will transcend traditional labels with all elements, greening, lighting and art, working together to create the Museum of Freeway Art (MOFA) – a first-order art tourism destination whose mission is to transform the Atlanta Connector, and the national appreciation of art and freeway. The museum is created by co-opting the complex spatial character of the Connector as a museum space crafted with both the high-speed traveler and the neighborhood viewer in mind. Retaining walls, bridges, tunnels, and the furnishings of the Connector becomes a framework of museum walls and spaces. Super graphic murals, lighting effects, slow motion video, and sculpture will be used to highlight the natural and cultural history of Atlanta. Like its sister museums and cultural foundations in Atlanta, MOFA will have a permanent collection, rotating collections, membership, a board of directors, a national level curator, and a museum shop. By refocusing the conversation about the Connector from that of freeway to a museum space, a much richer, intensive and transformative design solution can be achieved.

Over time, new urban spaces will be created above and along the Connector that seek to take advantage of the Connector. Urban parks, promenades, trails, pedestrian bridges, and development projects are envisioned as a series of urban insertions that ripple through the City fabric as new connections are made and old ones are reinvigorated.

The Result

As the Connector is transformed from negative to positive, the public realm, private properties, and institutions along its margins will realize the positive attributes of the new culture growing within this new found public space. The end result of the transformed Connector will be an Atlanta that is outwardly welcoming to freeway users; the City will see increased walk-ability, access to transit, and stronger neighborhoods; visitors will learn something new about the City, its aspirations, and its place in the world. The economic incentives behind the project include increased tax base as properties along the Connector are repurposed or developed as vibrant mixed use districts, which in turn promotes urban living and an influx of creative class residents from around the greater Atlanta region.

Process

During a six-month period between May and October 2011, Midtown Alliance and CAP/ADID oversaw a planning process utilizing local planning professionals and a nationally renowned landscape architecture and urban design firm. The planning process benefitted from valuable monthly input from two advisory groups and from a series of public involvement events and opportunities. A Leadership Team of high-level decision makers worked in tandem with a Creative Team of local design professionals to provide strategic advice on design and implementation. Additionally, outreach efforts included numerous interviews with key stakeholders, a public workshop, social media outreach, and an online survey. The consultant’s scope of work involved attending monthly meetings with the leadership team, creative team, stakeholders, and the general public. Ideas and design concepts were generated and vetted with these groups over the 6 month design process. Consensus building among the myriad stakeholders was at the heart of the project so that the goal of an implementable series of projects could be documented.

The final document produced for this project included detailed inventory and analysis of the Connector, and adjacent properties. The design work and recommendations were built upon this data and informed by the public and stakeholder involvement process. In addition to the grand vision outlined in the plan, the consultant also created detailed design guidelines and cost estimates aimed at early win projects that could be quickly funded and implemented. Early implementation is underway with local philanthropic organizations joining forces to fund projects.

Collapse post

Leave a Reply to Johne213

Cancel

Posted by The Atlanta Connector Team
in Landscape Infrastructure
on 9 February, 2012

Be the first to comment

Share this post
Facebook
Twitter

Posts Tagged: open space

Future Infrastructures: Katy Trail

Key Project Elements

One Response to “Future Infrastructures: Katy Trail”

Johne213

Leave a Reply to Johne213

ASLA 2012 Professional Award for Agriculture Plan

Leave a Reply to Johne213

Meet Me at the Bayou

Leave a Reply to Johne213

Persistent Vision for the Bayous

Trackbacks/Pingbacks

Leave a Reply to Johne213

Future Infrastructures: Atlanta Connector

The Result

Leave a Reply to Johne213