Texas Capitol Complex Master Plan Honored by ASLA

The American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) has recognized the Texas Capitol Complex Master Plan with a 2017 Honor Award. The awards honor the best in landscape architecture from around the globe, and an esteemed jury of nine landscape architects recognized seven projects this year.

Completed in conjunction with Sasaki, Texas Capitol Complex Master Plan celebrates the Texas State Capitol with civic spaces, shaded pedestrian friendly streets and connections to the surrounding community.​

The 40-block area encompassing the Texas Capitol Complex is the most prominent element of the state’s real estate portfolio. It is home to 10,000 state employees as well as several historic buildings and is visited by over a million people per year. The master plan re-envisions this district by centralizing all state agencies into a concentrated area united by the Texas Mall, a grand park-like pedestrian promenade along the existing North Congress Avenue corridor. The document lays out a strategic vision, identifies long-term goals, and outlines an implementation strategy for the construction of new state-owned office buildings and grounds within the Capitol Complex.

"This master plan is an incredibly admirable effort of the part of the State of Texas," notes Larry Speck. "It will transform state government’s presence in downtown Austin and will provide a place where citizens from across the state can come to experience and appreciate both the heritage and the current character of Texas culture and government. It also sets out a blueprint for creating a much more functional and economical home for many state agencies that are currently scattered all over the city."

The Texas Capitol Complex Master Plan will be featured in Landscape Architecture Magazine and will be honored at the awards presentation ceremony during the ASLA Annual Meeting and EXPO in Los Angeles, October 20-23, 2017.