UTA Two-Steps In Award-Winning Style at Texas/ASLA Annual Meeting by Kay Tiller, Executive Regional Editor An exciting program geared to "Texas Vernacular Landscape" brought one of the largest crowds in some time to the 1996 Texas Chapter ASLA Annual Meeting in Dallas in mid-March, according to Julia Baltser, Annual Meeting Chair. Not only did the Annual Awards Banquet on Friday evening draw a large number of Landscape Architects and their clients, but Saturday's program featuring noted Texas Landscape Architects and speakers from other disciplines was extremely well attended. "Jim Carillo, the 1996 Program Chair, should certainly be congratulated on his choices for the program," Texas Chapter president Rosanna Brown said, adding that the student participation was also the most welcome. At the 1996 Meeting, all three of the Texas Landscape Architecture schools -- Texas A & M University, Texas Tech University, and The University of Texas at Arlington -- were represented. (The Chapter furnishes ASLA student chapters with booths, just like the commercial exhibitors have, to show off their work and to promote their programs.) Highlighting the entire meeting was the presence of National ASLA President, Vince Bellafiori. ----- Winners of the awards presented at the 1996 Texas Chapter/ASLA Annual Meeting in Dallas went to landscape architectural firms from throughout Texas with projects around the world in the 1996 Texas Chapter/American Society of Landscape Architects Awards program. In three of the four categories of awards, Awards of Excellence were presented. In the Communications category, The Lewis T. May Studio of Page Southerland Page of Houston received the Award for Excellence for "A Design Guide for Sites, Buildings and Interiors - The Tennessee Valley Authority," Knoxville, Tennessee; in the Planning and Analysis category, Sasaki Associates' Dallas office won for the Lawry (Air Force Base) Redevelopment Plan in Denver, Colorado; and in the Design/Constructed category, J. Robert Anderson of Austin took the honor for his design at The National Wildflower Research Center. Other winning entries in the Communications category included a Merit Award to Professor Gary O. Robinette and his landscape architectural students at The University of Texas at Arlington (UTA) for "A Graphic Depiction of Texas Ecological Communities" and Hellmuth Obata Kassabaum, Inc.'s Houston office for "Fuga Island Environmental Suitability Analysis" (Fuga is a 10,000 hectare unmapped island in the northern Philippines which HOK's client visualizes as a strategically located new town project in the Pacific Rim); and also The Lewis T. May Studio of Page Southerland Page for "The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston Vision Probe and Communication Plan." In addition to the Award of Excellence in the Planning and Analysis category, two Honor Awards were presented to Bender Wells Clark Design of San Antonio for their "Mission Trails Planning Study" for the City of San Antonio and to The Lewis T. May Studio of Page Southerland Page for "The University of Monterrey Campus Landscape Master Plan" in Monterrey, Mexico, while two Merit Awards were presented to Talley/Dawson of Dallas for "Texas Scottish Rite Hospital for Children" in Dallas and to Carter & Burgess' Dallas office for the ?EUR??,,????'??Hot Springs Creek Greenway" in Hot Springs, Arkansas. Only two Merit Awards were chosen by the judges in the Unrealized Projects category: again Gary O. Robinette and his graduate students at UTA were recognized for their work on the "Dallas County Plaza Conceptual Design" and Hellmuth Obata Kassabaum's Dallas office was honored for "A Proposal for a New Urban Promenade - The Katy Hike and Bike Trail" in Dallas. The Design Constructed category received the most Awards with four Merit Awards, an Honor Award, and the Award of Excellence mentioned above. Receiving the Honor Award was the Dallas office of Sasaki Associates, Inc. for "GTE Telephone Operations Headquarters - Las Colinas, Irving, Texas." Merit Awards went to Clark Condon Associates, Inc. of Houston for the "BMC Software Headquarters in Houston"; to The SWA Group in Houston for Hidiv Beldesi, a project in Kanlica, Istanbul, Turkey; to McDugald Steele of Houston for their design of the gardens at KTRK-TV Channel 13 Headquarters in Houston; and John S. Troy, Landscape Architect of San Antonio for his design at the Bloom/Swartzman Residence in the Texas Hill Country. The Louisiana ASLA Chapter judged the 1996 awards, according to Chris Crawford, 1996 Texas Chapter Awards chairman. Photo TK: Pictured at the Awards program at the Texas/ASLA Annual Meeting with professor and mentor Gary Robinette, UTA students took two awards, showing the profession why UTA graduates consistently make their mark in the profession. Photos of the National Wildflower Center: Indian paintbrush and Texas bluebonnets blanket the wildflower meadow adjacent to the National Wildflower Research Center for which TX/ASLA presented J. Robert Anderson with their Award of Excellence in the Design/Constructed category. Maximillian sunflowers provide a colorful backdrop for this seating area at the National Wildflower Research Center. Balck daisies and prickly pear grow at the base of this Hill country limestone wall at the National Wildflower Research Center. Photos courtesy of J. Robert Anderson, ASLA.