Bosques of Live Oaks that will be pleached form the outdoor spaces. Photo courtesy of MND & Partners, Inc.

Outdoor “rooms” for sculpture, a comfortable feeling in an outdoor area right next to a sixty-story building and a client who was willing to accept the cost of what he wanted to achieve, added up to the award-winning design which MND & Partners, Inc. of Dallas planned for Trammel Crow Center (formerly LTV Center) in Dallas.

Carefully selected trees bring life to the Crow Center in Dallas, as seen in the August, 1988 issue of LASM Photo by Haden Cowdrey.

“Our idea was not to actually copy the classical form, but to learn the garden concepts that were developed during that era and adapt them to a contemporary scene in the Arts District, an area that incorporates the Art Museum, the Symphony Hall and other cultural areas along Flora Street just north of Downtown Dallas,” H. Rowland Jackson, senior vice president and designer for the long established Dallas landscape architectural and planning firm, said in describing the project.

Sprays of colorful flowers in containers bordered by clipped hedges provide classical references to the gardens. Photo courtesy of MND & Partners, Inc.

“We chose an almost classical use of plant materials and garden designs with bosques of trees that are to be “pleached” (shirred like he French Renaissance Garden trees) into geometric shapes,” Jackson continued. “We chose live oaks because of their texture and the fact that the shiring could easily be done.”

Smaller sculptural pieces set in flat planes of grass in special garden areas. Photo courtesy of MND & Partners, Inc.

“The client, Harlan Crow, envisioned the area to be a sort of botanical garden so we used bronze plaques to identify the plants and to explain their history and the uniqueness of that ?EUR??,,????'??particular plant to the entire area,” Jackson said.

Outdoor rooms formed by berms that screen the traffic on Ross Avenue and with bosques of Live Oak trees. Photo courtesy of MND & Partners, Inc.

Earth berms surrounding the “rooms” were prismatic in form and covered with ivy and Asian Jasmine to block the views from the automobiles from the street. They also provided room for the root balls of the trees. Careful selection of the trees was necessary to make sure the final pleached tree was the right size in relation to the individual sculpture in each of the “rooms.” Dwarf Yupon hedges, low ground covers in geometric forms and simple sprays of flowers, such as Periwinkle, Caladiums and Chrysanthemums were used. The classical use of water in the garden begins with delicate sprays as a water source, terminating in a grand “water stair” at the Flora Street entrance.

Another look at the flowers and hedges designed into the scheme.

Trammell Crow Center was the first private venture within the Arts District and responded very well to the District’s Master Plan Design Guidelines. The project’s urban design goal was to set a quality example for future private developments and, according to the experts, it achieved more than its goal.

Small bronze identification plaques not only identify special plants, but they tell something about the history and uniqueness of the plants. Photo by MND & Partners Inc.

Last year, when a number of prominent landscape architects from throughout the country toured the site while in Dallas for a meeting, the consensus was that it was one of the most innovative and well conceived designs they had seen. The design has won local, regional and national awards for both the landscape architect and the landscape contractor, Haden Cowdrey.

Congratulations to MND & Partners and the other design team members for this outstanding example of innovative design.

The Landscape of the Month is produced by LASN and sponsored by Nightscaping, who donates $50.00 to the Landscape Architecture Foundation (LAF) for each feature. Please contact LASN editorial staff before submitting materials for consideration.