Henry C. Beck Park, Dallas, Texas: Four Rooms with a View

By Leslie McGuire, managing editor

An evening social event in the Henry C. Beck, vest pocket park is accentuated by night lighting and conversation. The rooms provide the ability for social gathering and mingling just as a residential home would provide and its soothing atmosphere won it the 2006 General Design Award of Honor from the ASLA. The only lighting of the waterfall is a single light placed at its base, which is at the intersection of the concrete room dividers, the runnel edge and waterfall, and the zero edge pool and collection basin.
Images courtesy of Tom Jenkins

The Henry C. Beck, Jr. Park, built in 2004, is a vest-pocket, infill park. It is a private project for public use in the tradition of Zion and Breen’s Paley Park in its size and intimacy. This park is a retrofit to the 1965 modern, white, marble-clad building and is a tribute to Henry C. Beck, Jr., one of Dallas’ great and innovative contractors. Bush-hammered concrete, found in Beck Park, is an example of his contribution to the building world.

Perimeter downlights in existing oaks are mercury vapor fixtures while the uplights on the October Glory maples are metal halide fixtures.

The placement of the park is significant as a link between two sections of downtown Dallas: the developing Arts District and the business section. It responds to its neighbors, the Edward Larabee Barnes/Dan Kiley Dallas Museum of Art and a more traditional luxury hotel. It adds vitality to major thoroughfares at its edges and also serves as a foyer to the building proper and the individual building tenants at the ground level and first floor. The building has developed a “coolness” factor since it houses the Fashion Industry Gallery, a hip and well-heeled restaurant, and the highly-respected Beck Construction firm. The sloped site was an asset since it allowed the landscape architect to respond to each level intimately: intrigue at the edges, calm in the center and action from the upper-level building views. Henry C. Beck, Jr. Park successfully, simultaneously and safely provides relaxation, play, sound, shade, a meeting spot, a runway and a free space to enjoy lunch.

Both of the two Pennsylvania bluestone staircases leading in from Ross and Akard Street have bronze handrails and bush-hammered concrete perimeter walls. They are lit with Greenlee downlights placed in the existing large oak trees. For these, DAS Fixtures were used with metal halide lights.

Four Distinct Proportional Rooms

The design plan creates four rooms, and each of these four areas is set off with the big architectural concrete walls with the center being the fountain and the waterfall and runnel. The rooms are divided into different sizes that are proportional to each other by length and width and they are all lit basically the same way. Within the three larger rooms they planted additional trees—October Glory maples with English ivy at the base of the walls. The smallest room doesn’t have any trees planted because of the overhang of the existing large live oaks. There is only the one fountain display. The runnel bringing the water to the fall is on top of a wall sloped downhill towards the fountain. That wall is the tallest of the four walls and the runnel empties into the fountain.

The view from the Southwest corner shows the architectural concrete walls, the Pennsylvania bluestone access ramp, October Glory maples and one of the four courts or rooms. The higher wall is the path of the runnel with its two-foot by six-foot joint pattern and tie-holds.

A Lot of Atmosphere in a Small Space

The size of the whole park 185 feet by 135 feet. The whole lighting design plan is fairly simple with halide yellow in the center while the perimeter is softer moonlight mercury vapor. At the base of the fall is a light, which is the only light for the water feature. There is no lighting on the runnel itself or on any of the walls either. Pebbles form the bottom of the upper tier of the fountain adjacent to the plaza level. It is the more reflective section and is only six-inches deep. The center portion is 18-inches below that, with a ballast of Pennsylvania bluestone. The water circulates down through the bluestone pebbles to the third tier, which is a basin where it re-circulates. The plumbing picks up the water, runs it through the filters and then back up to the runnel. In the top tier you see through the water to the round rocks below. The reflecting pool is on the outer perimeter and reflects the lighting at night and the glorious red of the maples during the day.

“Intrigue at the edges, calm in the center and action from the upper-level building views.”

Each of the rooms serves a purpose. The largest is equipped with tables and chairs to eat lunch and is also large enough so that in the evening you can set up a bar or an outdoor grill for functions. The other rooms are set up for circulation or as conversation rooms to read in, have quiet time or for smaller functions. The events are for the most part company functions or entertainment gatherings for the surrounding businesses, museums or hotels.

The fountain has three sections. The waterfall pours from the runnel into the 18-inch deep center pool which is surrounded by a 6-inch deep reflecting pool. The center pool flows into a recirculating basin where the plumbing picks it up, runs it through filters then back up to the runnel.

Magnetic Lighting Effects

As lighting for the October Glory maple trees in the plaza, they used Greenlee BAS fixtures that are small and are mounted to the trunk of the tree at the first branching of the tree. There is only per tree and all are mounted on the same side of the tree. That light is incandescent and shines upward into the trees. The trees are 12 feet high on center and they provide enough glow or light for the plaza and courtyards. They are metal halides and those are the only lights for inside the plaza. All the ballast and electrical boxes are below grade junction boxes and ballast, which are located under the gravel so they could be located in the plaza itself. The runnel is not lit, however the existing, overhanging live oaks are lighted which adds a soft moonlit glow from the perimeter of the park. The only lights in the interior of the park are in the trees and the light on the fountain water display.

The Beck park site plan shows the two major downtown streets whose orientation is mirrored by the park’s concrete walls and surrounding buildings. Many existing oak trees remain on the site.

The two areas of staircases, one coming in off Ross and one off Akard street, have additional lighting. Those fixtures are Greenlee downlights placed in the existing large oak trees. For those they used DAS fixtures with metal halide lights.

“The whole lighting design plan is fairly simple. The perimeter is lit with softer moonlight mercury vapor lights with warm yellow metal halide in the center, drawing the eye in.”—Jeff Turner, Mesa design group

In addition to the lights further up and higher up in the existing trees they installed more Greenlee lights that are mercury vapor lights. The whole idea was that within the plaza they’d used the warm tones of metal halide which worked well with the red color of the trees. The perimeter outside the plaza, however, was lit differently. They wanted to create a softer moonlight effect around the perimeter so when you looked into the park at night your eye would go directly into the park rather than just around the edge.

The copper runnel at the top of the East/West concrete wall is deliberately aligned with the window voids of the building facade, which is visible in the distance. Mercury vapor fixtures in one of the existing oak trees overhanging the runnel provides additional light.

Challenges

One of the biggest challenges with the lighting was to provide enough light in the evening hours to encourage participation and activities as well as security. Because of the transient population that comes through the area in downtown, they wanted to discourage sleeping and bathing in the fountain. People can now use it for functions because the lights stay on all night. They come on with a timer and go off via photo cel. Now, they also have 24 hour security to keep the homeless out. The lighting allows the security agents to see down into the park, as well.

Holistically, the park is beautifully uncluttered, and in its detailing, “Beck Park” is a fine tribute to Mr. Beck who successfully and consistently integrated the industrial and the aesthetic. The execution of the concrete work, overseen by the landscape architect, architect and structural engineer, is perfectly smooth, crisp and tight at its own joints and at the connections to other materials. There are actually very few materials used in the park and these include water, concrete with a smooth and bush-hammered finish (bush-hammered concrete, found in Beck Park, is an example of Beck’s contribution to the building world), Pennsylvania bluestone both as slabs and crushed, aggregate, bronze at the railings and simple integrated wood seats.

The largest of the rooms is surrounded by a two-foot by two-foot concrete bench, sloped, bush-hammered retaining walls and the concrete room dividers. The floor is Verde green aggregate and allows for air and water exchange for the trees.

Simple, Elegant Plantings

The plant choices and placement are also intentionally spare and specific: turf at the sloped lawns under the existing large live oaks; English Ivy at the base of walls; and an incredible mass of October Glory Maples concentrated at the interior court. The maples benefit from a sub and surface drainage system, and the aggregate surface allows a free exchange of water and oxygen to the root zone. Moveable café tables, chairs and trashcans are placed outside each morning.

The park not only creates of island of soothing sanity, it won the 2006 General Design Award of Honor from the ASLA. The Professional Awards Jury commented, “A very good plan with spectacular execution. The landscape architect has added interesting detailing and use of plants.”

Design Contributors

Startling shadows are cast at the intersecting planes of the concrete walls and the cut-outs in those walls frame planned views into the surrounding areas. The shadows in the West side room are additionally stark with the uplighting of the trees and within the fountain.

• Landscape Designer: Spindrift Al SwaidiLandscape Architects: MESA, Jeff Turner and Tary ArterburnLighting Consultant/Contractor: Illuminations (by Greenlee)Architectural Consultant: Max Levy, Architect
• Structural Engineer: Thornton-Tomasetti Engineers