The city of Round Rock, Texas celebrated its one-hundredth incorporation birthday with the opening of Centennial Plaza. Paver walkways (Pavestone) bisect the plaza forming an elongated cross that creates hard edged triangular spaces accented by heat mitigating planting beds of Mexican feather, Gulf Muhly, dwarf fountain "Hamelin' and Bicolor iris. Cathedral' live oaks, Mexican (Monterey) white oaks, Chinquapin oaks, 95-gallon Shumard oaks and cedar elms are placed in individual tree wells.

Round Rock, Texas (pop. 109,821) is about 15 miles north of Austin in what Texans call the hill country. The first records of European pioneers to these parts dates back to the 1830s, a time when Tonkawa and Comanche Indian tribes and Mexicans inhabited the area. The Round Rock city fathers explain the first white settlement was called Brushy, the name given to a nearby creek where the community settled. Brushy opened a post office in 1851, but in 1854 post office officials realized there was already a Brushy, Texas. The settlement was thus renamed Round Rock in 1854 after the distinctive anvil-shaped rock in the middle of Brushy Creek. After the Civil War, Round Rock became a "feeder trail" to the famous cattle-driving Chisholm Trail.

The Bermudagrass lawn is flanked by five "Austin White' limestone veneered masonry pillars each adorned with signage acknowledging one of the five pillars of the Round Rock community: Heritage, Education, Health, Technology and Leisure. The plaza comes alive after sunset with fixtures lighting the pillars, the shelter, walkways and plaza perimeter. Color-changing LEDs wash the building façades (right), and LED fixtures (Fountain People) illuminate the water wall at the end of the central walkway.

The city evolved from cattle to producing lime, brooms and in 1928, cheese. Round Rock did not incorporate until Dec. 21, 1912. In more modern times, Michael Dell founded Dell Inc., here in 1984. TECO-Westinghouse, Dresser and Hospira also established homes in Round Rock.

The walkway consists of cast stone colored pavers in a herringbone pattern with perimeter buff-colored pavers in a stack bond pattern, consistent with the city's downtown streetscape standards. The pavers are set on a reinforced concrete bed, with joints locked with polymeric sand to facilitate drainage. The overall site drops nearly 12 feet. Gulf Muhly, Mexican Feather Grass and Dwarf Fountain Grass frame the hardscape.

Round Rock, which lies within Williamson County, has been one of the fastest growing counties in the U.S., since 2000. It's been voted one of the best small cities to live in, and is looking to address that growth by approving a $58 million, five-year transportation plan.

The city fathers decided to celebrate Round Rock's centennial on April 27, 2013, in conjunction with the dedication of the aptly named Centennial Plaza in the southwest downtown area. Round Rock Parks and Recreation Department hired local landscape architects Baker-Aicklen and Associates to assist in the planning, conceptual design, construction documents, permitting and bidding and construction observation services for Centennial Plaza.

The Centennial Plaza pavement provides ample room for craft and food vendors, plus space for professional and amateur chalk artists to showcase their creations during Round Rock's annual Chalk Walk.

The theme for the plaza is community events: to support music performances, street festivals and theatrical presentation throughout the year. The plaza design is flexible and intimate for daily users, accommodates public art, and even provides a vantage point for viewing a Mexican Free-tailed bat colony under an Interstate Highway 35 bridge just west of the site.

The plaza site was physically and aesthetically challenging. It was situated between the Allen Baca Senior Center and the McConico Building, a city office building. There was a sloping side street, parking lot and amphitheater, with the overall site dropped nearly 12 feet. The elevation change created an accessibility challenge in connecting public facilities, while trying to maximize festival space and performance areas. Existing rock, cast stone, brick building veneers and brick paver sidewalks had to be considered and incorporated into the design. The plaza design also needed to accommodate two future projects: a policy center and below-grade parking garage.

Baker-Aicklen facilitated an open house and design charrette with local businesses, residents and city staff to generate concepts. The final design, themed "Rows to Rails," is a plaza space representative of the urbanization of the area from an agrarian community to a city catering to high tech and medical industries, while providing higher education and quality of life for its residents.

Like the other columns on site, the larger Centennial Plaza entry column is veneered in limestone, with engraved and painted cast stone panels. The 1912 date on the column refers to the year Round Rock incorporated. White settlement occurred as early as 1831. They call it "Brushy" then, but in 1854, post office officials realized there was already a Brushy, Texas, and the name changed to Round Rock after a prominent anvil-shaped rock in Brushy Creek. A digital multiplex system (DMX) controls the LEDs that light the column. Antique street lamps, the standard downtown street fixture, are shielded.

Pillars
The concrete plaza has a central sloping lawn of manicured common Bermudagrass, flanked by five Austin white limestone veneered masonry pillars adorned with signage acknowledging the five pillars of the Round Rock community: Heritage, Education, Health, Technology and Leisure.

Walkway
A Pavestone concrete paver walkway is carried into the plaza from the street right-of-way, drawing pedestrian's attention to a water wall at the opposite end of the plaza. The walkway consists of cast stone colored pavers in a herringbone pattern with perimeter buff-colored pavers in a stack bond pattern, consistent with the city's downtown streetscape standards. Pavers are set on a reinforced concrete bed, with joints locked with polymeric sand to facilitate drainage.

The custom shelter (ICON Shelter Systems), a stage area, has an "Austin White' limestone veneer, and a tongue and groove triangular roof deck. The seatwall is the same limestone and capped with cast stone. Custom aluminum anti-skateboard grind minders are placed within the cap joints for a clean and contemporary look.

Main Stage
Entering the plaza, the paver walkway drops 18 inches in elevation from the street level across the center of the plaza to the main stage area, which has a triangular custom shade structure (Icon Shelter Systems). The seat walls here are veneered with Austin white limestone and capped with six-inch dry cast limestone manufactured by Cast Limestone Products of Texas.

The stage area serves as a pavilion when not used for performances. The landscape architects worked with The Playwell Group and ICON to designed the triangular shaped shelter with three columns heights, pitched toward the southwest to maximize the shade value. The shelter columns and back stage wall are veneered with limestone and cast stone caps. The back of the wall houses the main electric transformer and panel for the plaza stage, vendor outlets, and shelter and plaza lighting. The shelter's roof has a tongue and groove deck with multi-rib panels to absorb sound and match the existing amphitheater stage.

The expansive plaza is five-inch thick reinforced concrete interspersed with three-foot bands of integral colored concrete. The colored concrete was placed using cold joints and doweled to adjacent standard concrete to prevent heaving. The result is a clean and consistent joint between pavements.

Water Wall
Leaving the main stage area the paver walkway changes elevation back street level and terminates at a large water wall that overlooks the existing amphitheater. The four-sided 14-foot tall rock veneered column is designed with angled faces that allow for dynamic water movement down the wall to a catch basin. The water wall helps masks traffic noise from Interstate 35. The fountain components were designed and manufactured by Fountain People-Texas. The water feature sits nine feet above the adjacent amphitheater, supported by a rock veneered structural wall with integrated stairway and accessible ramp. The top of the wall is capped with cast stone. Cable railing (Feeney Inc.) provides pedestrian safety. The overlook also is good gathering area for viewing a large colony of Mexican free-tailed bats. Note: This bat species is native to the Americas, and the official "state bat" of Oklahoma and Texas. The freetail bat is also the icon for Barcardi rum, and for Freetail Brewing Company in San Antonio, a city with an estimated 30 million of the bats. Why this bat for Barcardi? The bats efficiently eat the insects that destroy sugar cane.

The central lawn and main stage area are surrounded by a five-inch thick reinforced concrete main plaza walk with space to accommodate more than 30 vendors and plenty of pedestrian circulation. The large monotonous walk is broken up with three-foot wide colored concrete bands using integral color (Chem Systems Inc.). The concrete bands, combined with strategically placed landscape beds, are reminiscent of the crop rows that once dominated the region. The integral colored concrete was placed using cold joints and doweled to adjacent standard concrete to prevent heaving. The result is a clean and consistent joint between pavements.

The walkway terminates at the water wall and transitions into an amphitheater overlook. The structural wall has a limestone veneer, capped cast stone and cable railing for safety. A concrete ribbon of curb steps and an accessible ramp descend to a Bermuda sod amphitheater used for viewing theater performances. The overlook view is to a wooded area and Lake Creek, an area that is habitat to a large colony of Mexican free-tailed bats.

From dusk to dawn the plaza hardscape is highlighted by Allscape and Philips/Gardco lighting strategically placed to create a safe and inviting gathering area for year round events. Color changing Lumenpulse LED lighting controlled by a DMX controller (ETC Mosaic) provides accent lighting for the existing building façades and plaza structures. Along the adjacent street, Antique street lamps, the standard downtown street fixture, are shielded so as not to distract from the ambience created by the plaza lighting. ERT Lighting and Spectrum Lighting assisted with the photometric design and specifications for this project.

To mitigate the heat island effect of the plaza pavement, 36-inch box "Cathedral' live oak, Mexican (Monterey) white oak, Chinquapin oak and cedar elms (all supplied by Glen Flora Farms), and 95-gallon Shumard oaks (Better Trees of Texas) provide seasonal shade. Native grasses"?uMexican feather, Gulf Muhly, dwarf fountain "Hamelin' and Bicolor iris (Native Texas Nursery) are massed within tree wells and strategically placed landscape beds resembling crop rows complete the plaza theme. Common bermuda turf areas are irrigated with Hunter MP rotator heads and beds, with Rainbird drip irrigation components.

Team (Consultants/Contractors)
Owner: City of Round Rock Parks and Recreation Dept.
Landscape Architect: Baker-Aicklen & Associates, Round Rock
Structural Engineer: Engineering 360, Round Rock
Electrical Engineer: Feuls
Lighting Consultant: RT Lighting; Spectrum Lighting
Shelter Consultant: The PlayWell Group
Fountain: Fountain People, San Marcos, Texas
General Contractor: Patin Construction
Mason: Tomek Construction Services
Electrician: Allen's Electric

Materials/Vendors
Plaza Lights: Allscapes
Dry Cast Stone: Cast Limestone Products of Texas
Intergral Colored Concrete: Chem Systems Inc., Houston
Light Controllers: ETC Mosaic
Cable Rail: Feeney, Inc., Oakland, Calif
Fountain Pump System: Fountain People, San Marcos, Texas
Trees:
Better Trees of Texas, Temple
Glen Flora Farms, Glen Flora, Texas
Stage Shelter: Icon Shelter Systems, Holland, Mich.
Plaza Lights:
Lumenpulse
Philips Gardco
Grasses: Native Texas Nursery, Austin
Pavers: Pavestone
Austin white limestone veneer: Salado Quarries, Texas
Antique Street Lamps: Texas Street Lights