Public or private or big or small, regardless of the type of client, all clients want a project that works. Practical considerations of client desires and needs, coupled with the realities of budget and constructablity, create challenges best solved with in-depth functional planning. The projects included here, some from professional experience and others from a studio setting, demonstrate schematic and conceptual design based on function to create projects that work.

Projects

White Rock

Lake Spillway

Park

Lake Lewisville

USACE

Headquarters

North Bark Park

White Rock Lake Spillway Park

Torrential rains and the toppling of the spillway training wall at White Rock Lake in the spring of 2006 created an opportunity for the City of Dallas Park and Recreation department to improve park facilities in the area. Once construction is complete, safety will be enhanced due to an adjustment of the training wall location, parking expanded and improved, seating provided and separate bicycle and pedestrian facilties will provide for needs of multiple user groups. As the designer on the project, I created a concept plan for the park which took into account previous master plans, public input and functional solutions designed to provide for safety and harmony between user groups.

Spillway Park

Site Photos - 2010

Column and Wall Concept

Parking Improvements

Surplus land provided by Dallas Water Utilities was set aside to be a dog park serving the North Dallas community.

wildlife. Surrounded by separate areas for large dogs, small dogs and water play, a main plaza was designed to

sparked by community requests for an agility training and tournament area.

North Bark Park

Pavilion by Beck Architecture

Existing Site Conditions

Schematic Master Plan

Lake Lewisville USACE Headquarters

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers needed a master plan for the Lake Lewisville headquarters. The challenge of their needs were to provide security, in addition to allowing for public access and education. The site was shared with the Lake Lewisville Environmental Learning Association (LLELA) and living quarters for Lake Lewisville Park Rangers.

Site Analysis

Concept Plan

Schematic Master Plan

Conceptualizing three-dimensional spaces provides important understanding of those spaces during early stages of design. Buidling small scale models of projects or project elements allows the designer to literally see how the design will work and make modifi cations to improve the design. Studio classes allowed for such experimentation and design development.

Models

Designs that function and bring life to spaces are only useful once built. Without a way to communicate your ideas to the client so that they understand and can visualize the value of the design, it will never be built. Renderings are one tool at our disposal to communicate what we envision, to those who it will serve. Hand renderings are effective communication tools that function well on their own, but can also be enhanced by computer software packages such as Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop. Even “low-tech” aids such as photographs can be utilized to add demension and variety to rendering techniques.

Rendering