TBG projects win ULI Austin Impact Awards
We are thrilled to announce that two TBG projects have been honored with the 2024 ULI Austin Impact Awards! These awards recognize recognize and celebrate projects and people throughout Greater Austin that exemplify ULI’s mission: to shape the future of the built environment for transformative impact in communities worldwide.
Best Project Design – Texas Children’s Hospital North Austin Campus
As part of Texas Children’s Hospital’s plan to expand healthcare access and specialized care in Austin and Central Texas, a new state-of-the-art hospital serves children and women under one roof in North Austin. As a key component of their expansion strategy, Texas Children’s participated in the Austin Green Building Council to ensure the design, construction, and sustainment of a healthy facility. The project site drained to an ephemeral stream within a designated Critical Water Quality Zone in Austin.
In addition to providing full landscape architecture services, TBG was tasked with designing restorative improvements to the stream in collaboration with engineers, ecologists, and Austin Watershed Protection. The solution consisted of channel restoration paired with a retention wet pond that provided flood mitigation and enhanced water quality for runoff from the hospital’s development. This pond serves as retention for the area’s scant rainfall and captures mechanical condensate to fill the pond which provides 87% of the overall permanent irrigation on-site. Inspired by organic forms found in Central Texas ecology, a curvilinear paseo connected the hospital and parking garage, serving as a unifying element to create, organize, and separate spaces for respite.
Most Influential Project – Travis County Civil and Family Court Facility
Much more than a courthouse, this new downtown facility was envisioned as an iconic, publicly accessible civic venue that safely accommodates a wide variety of users and provides connections to nature in the city.
Located on a full city block, the facility provides multipurpose public space for recreation as well as dining and gathering, in addition to a grand, elevated arrival at 17th and Guadalupe. The landscape design accommodates a roughly 22-foot grade change across the site as well as relocating and transplanting an existing heritage live oak on 17th Street. The scope included a series of roof plazas and private terraces for judges, rain gardens at grade and on terraces, and harvesting of air-conditioning condensate for water features.