Overview of Klyde Warren Park in Dallas, Texas, photo by Payne Wingate in 2019. This 5.2-acre deck park replaces a major section of freeway and connects the cultural districts of downtown. Completed in 2012, it is the recipient of an ASLA Award of Excellence (2017) and ULI Open Space Award (2014).
Overview of Klyde Warren Park in Dallas, Texas, photo by Liane Swanson. One of the most successful deck parks in the country, Klyde Warren Park has welcomed more than 10 million visitors since its opening, and spurred more than $2.5 B in economic development in downtown Dallas. More importantly, the LEED-Gold park has created its own neighborhood, drawing all ages and interests with over 1300 free events annually.
THE PARK HAS RESTORED CONNECTIONS BETWEEN CITY NEIGHBORHOODS AND CREATED A SUCCESSFUL MODEL FOR FREEWAY DECK PARKS.
Klyde Warren Park was created over one of the busiest freeways in Texas. The freeway had severed the city’s two largest cultural districts for many years. Spurred by a study in 2002 that confirmed the feasibility of a deck park over the freeway, leaders of the Dallas business community formed a non-profit foundation responsible for the design, operations and maintenance of the new park. Restoring the connection has transformed the city by bridging the gap and creating a new heart of downtown.
Bisected by the existing Olive Street bridge, the park is organized by a sweeping pedestrian promenade that features a continuous canopy of specimen pond cypress. The promenade draws visitors through the park past a botanical garden, a children’s garden with an interactive water feature, a reading room, and an event lawn. A large public plaza adjacent to Olive Street connects the restaurant terrace, the performance pavilion, and the casual take-out pavilion to the street and features an interactive fountain feature. The groves of trees and arch structures establish a strong architectural rhythm through the park and buffer the interior sapces from the busy adjacent surface streets.
The project contributes to the sense of place that is lacking from the City’s core. The park incorporates most of the metroplex’s most recognizable museums and universities in its programming, and places them in an environment featuring a palette of regionally-appropriate trees, shrubs and ornamental plantings – of which over 50% are native to the North Texas area. The park brings Dallasites together in new ways, with dozens of free activities and amenities on offer, from concerts and lectures to games and fitness classes, all within a five-acre composition.
