The American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) has announced winners for the 2015 Professional Awards.  The design for Phil Hardberger Park in San Antonio, Texas, was among the winners, earning an Honor Award for Stephen Stimson Associates Landscape Architects. The ASLA Awards Jury acknowledged the project for its “cultivated wild.”

“Over the last seven years, this Park has become an integration of the rich cultural history of San Antonio, blended with the diverse and resilient ecologies that are native to the region. The Park dedicates 75% of the 311 acre site to preservation and restoration of this native landscape while seamlessly embedding 25% as low-impact recreation. Engaging state-of-the-art green infrastructure and a restored, diverse landscape, the Park has become a living laboratory for urban ecology, healthy living, and sustainability in south Texas.” -ASLA Awards Jury, ASLA.org

Trails play an important role in this design to balance preservation and access to the native landscape.  As a result, Stabilized Decomposed Granite was the trail material of choice.

The ASLA Awards Jury discussed the importance of the trail system further:  “Over six miles of trails, constructed primarily of native decomposed granite with an organic stabilizer weave carefully throughout the woodlands and connect the new program spaces on both parcels. Boardwalks were created where trails cross watercourses, and the trail system respects existing large stands of heritage live oaks, persimmon and cedar elm, preserving these ecological communities in ‘trail and tree encounters.’”

To read the entire project narrative by the ASLA Awards Jury, click here.