Fair Park is the 277-acre home to the Texas State Fair, a variety of cultural institutions, and is registered as a National Historic Landmark. In 2020, Fair Park issued a revision to its masterplan that included both a 14-acre Community Park and a parking garage required to capture displaced surface parking. The site for the parking garage sits on land that was once part of a predominantly African American community. In 1969, the land was appropriated through eminent domain to make room for surface parking for the Texas State Fair.
As a result, 300 families were displaced from their homes. The impact of these decisions is still felt today. The initiation of the Community Park, and the garage, try to right the wrongs of the past. To compliment the uses of the park, the garage site will focus on partnership programming associated with large park events to enhance the guest experience. Given the sensitivity of the site, the issue was clear: how do you design a five-story concrete parking garage that is contextually sensitive? The approach makes the garage an extension of the Community Park, lengthening it to the top of the garage, turning the building’s height into an asset.
Taking advantage of the garage’s height brings a new public space to Dallas, a town unfamiliar with dramatic topography. The 47-foot ascent to the top allows for unique opportunities to engage the space in a way that traditional parks do not. The garage draws inspiration from natural forms to soften the unnatural ones. The limestone cuestas common to this ecoregion supply inspiration for shape while the rich colors and texture from the neighboring community drive a vibrant material palette. Nature is also integrated in a way that it transforms this parking garage into a landscape that feels like it belongs.