ASLA Texas Chapter Merit Award

Formerly a shopping mall, the Westwood Technology Center is transformed into a 24-hour workplace. Two gardens are created at the center – an entry garden and a town center garden. Both spaces are designed to accommodate the needs of workers and visitors and thereby contain various areas for gathering, informal dining, and contemplation.

At the front of the building, a formally paved entry drop-off with two oaks was converted to a garden with benches, flowering plants, ornamental grasses, and a shady grove of birch trees.

The town center garden is designed around a central water feature, where two limestone seat walls intersect a pool of water on either side of a stone cross walk. From the end of each seat wall, water is seen and heard as it spills from a bronze scupper.

At night special festive lighting connected to sculptural supports creates a transparent ceiling that brings the space to life. Used around the clock, the Technology Center garden provides a special place for employees to step away from their computers and relax.