Yesterday, I got a chance to visit the month-old Continental Avenue Bridge, Dallas' most recent highway-to-walkway park conversion and one small piece of a larger vision for the Trinity River floodplain in the coming years. A couple of Studio Outsiders were competing for the Dallas Major-League Bocce championship title at literally the highest level of competition in their sport in the DFW area, so Charlie and I decided to come cheer them on and see a new landscape project while we were at it.

Designed by Wallace Roberts and Todd, the formerly four-lane vehicular bridge is now a linear pedestrian plaza, dotted with active and passive areas for chess, water play, play structures, relaxation, bicycling, running, and of course bocce ball.

From WRT:

“[We] helped guide the preparation of multiple concepts for the bridge, leading to a preferred design consisting of a raised promenade flanked by bicycle and transit lanes. The promenade contains tilted planes, green walls, movable seating, and special lighting in support of vendors as well as gatherings and performances.”

The park not only serves as a great pedestrian amenity close to downtown, but also as a great place to view and explore the Trinity River Basin including levee trails and the Calatrava Bridge. As you'll see below, it's also a perfect place to watch incoming storms!

Ellen and Allison laser focused on winning the 'ship - and YES, they made the finals.

Bocce is a sport of precision. No messing around.

The Continental Bridge runs just parallel to the often polarizing but undeniably striking Calatrava bridge.

p.s. - apparently Allison and Ellen's team have also won a "regional" championship in oak cliff and proudly display their trophy at work. So here it is, in all its glory. May we all be half as successful as you guys at one point in our lives.

Last Friday, the first park in Billingsley Company's mixed-use Cypress Waters development in north Dallas was officially opened with a ribbon cutting ceremony. Salazar Park, named after former city council member Steve Salazar, is a Studio Outside project meant to primarily serve the corporate tenants in three adjacent office buildings designed by Omniplan Architects.

The sun filtered through the newly-planted ginkgo trees as crowds of people found shade under low-branching live oak trees and three custom-designed park pavilions, one of which sheltered the band playing the event. The park is long and linear, providing a wide open space on one side and a small, enclosed grove of trees and pavilions on the other. The open space and lawn serves as a flexible event space, and also as a gallery of sorts for a wide variety of brightly-colored sculptural benches placed throughout the park.

As tenants start to move into the three-story buildings flanking the park, the maturing trees and shaded pavilions will provide a great place for outdoor meetings or lunches. A decomposed granite path surrounding the park provides a nice track for taking a leisurely morning walk.

There are two more parks to be built along Cypress Waters Blvd just north of Salazar Park and they are similar in scale. These open spaces will provide a recreational and green link between the office and corporate developments and the multifamily and mixed-use areas in Cypress Waters' Town Center. Additionally, a wide hike and bike trail connects the office, retail, multifamily, and mixed use developments to an extensive trail system surrounding North Lake, the largest and most important natural feature on the site.

Salazar Park, as the first open space along the entry sequence, is a welcoming green space that signals the beginning of a balance between buildings and landscape that the entire Cypress Waters development embodies.