Garcia Design, Inc.

10/11/2021

Donald Austin ’52, a leading educator at Texas A&M and a founder of EDAW, one of the world’s leading landscape architecture and planning firms, passed away Oct. 6 at age 90.

A funeral mass is scheduled at 11:30 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 16 at St. Joseph Catholic Church, 600 E. 26th St., in Bryan.

tx.ag/austin52

Texas A&M Landscape Architecture & Urban Planning Department

09/17/2021

The George Washington Carver Museum, Cultural & Geneology Center Master Plan -
This project started and ended during the pandemic. The master plan team toured the site together and afterward all interactions were online. It was a pleasure (but sometimes hectic) working with Smith & Company Architects and Perkins & Will on this project. Many thanks to Yan Long for her wonderful illustrations that helped the client and the City of Austin visualize the potential to create an educational, sustainable, cultural landscape in East Austin with a seamless transition between indoor and outdoor public spaces. Some of the new outdoor areas include a Juneteenth Plaza, a lawn performance space with a stage, outdoor classrooms, and community gardens. The full master plan document is available online.

08/16/2021

SANCHEZ ELEMENTARY SCHOOL MODERNIZATION, AUSTIN, TEXAS
The school campus was closed in the spring of 2019 for repairs and modernization. The nearly 50-year-old campus in central East Austin is in the shadows of the downtown Austin skyline. The original school dedication plaque lists three people that have served as mayors of Austin and Roberto C. Garcia was personally acquainted with Gus Garcia and Roy Butler.
We started reimagining the campus in the spring of 2019 as part of a collaborative team effort with McKinney York Architects. We made changes and improvements to the organization & quality of the outdoor environment. The bleak and dreary play spaces and maze of fences have been replaced with a bright green colorful environment with plenty of shade, wide sidewalks, seating areas, new outdoor learning environments, and plenty of space to safely congregate or spread out. The decision to invest in outdoor environments in 2019 will prove to be of great benefit in safely returning children to school during the current pandemic public health crisis. We wish all the students, parents, teachers, and staff a safe & joyful return to their school re-opening on August 17, 2021.

02/06/2021

RAINEY STREET GIS SUBSTATION-COMING SOON
This project is part of the Repower Downtown Austin program to increase reliability and keep up with increased demand. The site is in the southeast area of downtown and contains several ancient live oak trees. The gas insulated switchgear (GIS) technology significantly reduces the land area required for electric facilities and so we were able to accommodate the trees and the substation in a crowded downtown area. The building and security wall feature dynamic blue fins that give a sense of motion. The public areas contain redesigned parking, wide sidewalks with shade trees, benches, wild natural landscapes, rain gardens, lighting, electric vehicle chargers, and a low water use irrigation system. After almost 2 years of planning, design, and community outreach meetings the construction bidding begins this month and construction completion is scheduled for late 2022. Garcia Design, Inc. collaborated with Stanley Consultants, Carter Design Associates, Civil Land Group, CDP Public Relations, and various departments at Austin Energy.

01/05/2021

Montopolis Recreation & Community Center Landscape Master Plan, Austin, Texas

This project was completed in fall of 2020 and reflects the cultural & environmental evolution of the community. The plan includes water conservation methods including use of native wildflowers instead of turf grasses, low water use vegetation, and areas of gravel. The north end contains a large rain garden that removes pollution from the rainwater running off the parking lot and building roof. Existing large trees were preserved and were a key component in the placement of the new building. The east entrance contains a square garden enclosed by a circle of Mexican beach pebbles and the west entrance contains a circular garden enclosed by a square field of Mexican beach pebbles. Both entrances contain a paving pattern design of pre-Columbian numerical symbols embedded in the concrete sidewalks and places to sit and socialize. Overhead utility lines and poles were removed as much as possible in order line the street edges with tree shaded sidewalks. The public art team, under the guidance of principal artist Fidencio Duran produced iconic artworks that inhabit the center inside and outside like guardians of history, nature & culture. This project was done in collaboration with McKinney York Architects.

01/05/2021

Austin SHINES Project-Soft Opening
The Austin Sustainable & Holistic Integration of Energy Storage and Solar Photovoltaics project at the Mueller Redevelopment District opened in the 4th Quarter of 2020. The demonstration project consists of the newest technology in batteries for electric energy storage. The batteries are within a secured circular enclosure designed to blend into the landscape. The street side of the project includes a pedestrian friendly trail-head plaza with educational signs, seating area and views into the battery area. The entire site is within a low water use designed native landscape irrigated with reclaimed water. The site was previously a parking lot for the old airport. Garcia Design, Inc. was the project landscape architect.

11/30/2018

AUSTIN COMMUNITY COLLEGE- EASTVIEW CAMPUS 1998-1999
The Eastview Campus was Garcia Design, Inc.’s first higher education campus landscape project in Austin, Texas. The project architect was Phil Reed of CKN Architects. CKN has since split to create two new firms. The first phase of the campus was built in 1998-1999. The landscape has reached its approximate mid-life expectancy for an urban environment and the heavy use that most college campuses endure. The project is mostly unchanged from the original design and the trees are starting to mature. The design features three distinct spaces including the public face along Webberville Rd., a shaded paved courtyard, and an open lawn area all connected by a very clear and simple sidewalk network. Cars & parking were kept on the perimeter and designed as several small interconnected parking lots. The courtyard features a grove of lacebark elm trees, clay brick pavers, and limestone blocks. The Webberville Road frontage contains three tree groves to break down the long length of the building and to provide the appearance of natural landscape & architecture harmony. Before construction of the campus, the site was mostly an illegal landfill with construction rubble containing piles of soil, tree brush cuttings, pieces of concrete, asphalt, and household trash. We worked with the neighborhood to get the zoning changed and then designed a campus environment that transformed the environment, served student walking and driving habits, accommodated bus commuters, provided clear/safe sight lines, provided a high-quality pedestrian environment, and protected the integrity of an existing diverse East Austin neighborhood. Construction of the Eastview Campus truly was a community effort that will hopefully endure and provide a path to upward mobility.

11/16/2018

11/16/2018

ST. CATHERINE OF SIENNA, AUSTIN, TX
The new parish hall for St. Catherine of Sienna opened in summer of 2018. Garcia Design, Inc. prepared a landscape restoration plan and designed a new courtyard to connect the existing sanctuary building with the new parish hall. The new 30,000 square foot hall contains a coffee shop, banquet/event spaces, meeting rooms, child care rooms, a playground, classrooms, and a commercial kitchen. The challenge for the landscape architect was to integrate the design within the existing majestic oaks and to improve pedestrian circulation. The new courtyard is a simple, durable, classical homage to St. Catherine who is typically depicted with white lilies. The geometry of the new paving unifies the existing and new architecture. The courtyard plan includes a small round bed of lilies at the entry and a paved court with four Anacacho Orchid trees which will bloom white all summer. Other features include long simple shaded sidewalks and an innovative stormwater filtering system.

09/25/2018

Shlomo Aronson was born in Haifa, Israel, on November 27, 1936. He was lured to California, in part by an article in National Geographic that touted life in Berkeley and its proximity to the Pacific Ocean. Accepted to the University of California, Berkeley, he initially enrolled in the School of Arc...