UPDATED: UT Dallas breaks ground on major landscaping project

Now with actual architectural rendering!

by PegNews wire

provided by neither UTD nor Peter Walker and Partners

Visionary landscape architect Peter Walker's alter ego immersed in his quickly-discarded fever-dream plan for the new, improved grounds of UTD.

On Thursday, Nov. 20 at 2 p.m., there'll be a groundbreaking ceremony adjacent to the McDermott Library on the campus of the University of Texas at Dallas.

The groundbreaking marks the start of a major landscaping project undertaken by the firm of Peter Walker and Partners, who have been contracted to spiff up the ol' UTD grounds in welcoming and user-friendly fashion.

Thanks in part to the beneficence of long-time UTD supporter Mrs. Margaret McDermott, the year-long project (to be carried out in four phases) will start with an overhaul of the perimeter and entrance roads to campus, along with the central plaza (where major pedestrian routes cross paths).

courtesy UTD

Forthcoming phases of the project will feature the planting of thousands of native trees, the construction of a new roundabout drive, a small amphitheater and stage in front of the student union and a greenery-lined waterway running from the School of Management Building to the McDermott Library.

No word yet on whether gondolas will ply the scenic canals of the future, but stay tuned.

UPDATE: thanks to the assistance of Jennifer Huffenberger at UTD, we've been provided with an architectural rendering of what the Phase 1 of the landscaping project will look like when completed, with the trees indicated as pastel green circles and the central canal (I mean, "waterway") showing up as a blue ribbon down the center of the plat.

posted by JM / source: UTD (mostly)