The new Austin-Bergstrom International Airport (ABIA) opened in May 1999 on the site of the former Bergstrom Air Force Base. The construction was a massive undertaking of the City of Austin. From the early phases of the design the City made a commitment to having the project be complete on time and within the budget, and for the project to be a showcase for all things "Austin".

 

Landscape Architect's role in developing/implementing the project.

ABIA was awarded as a joint design project to three separate L. A. Design Firms. Each firm was given a portion of the site and a budget. The task was to coordinate the design so that the finished product was seamless, and the design concept consistent throughout. This was accomplished through a series of design charettes that included members of all three teams, Airport Advisory Board members, and other pertinent disciplines (Airport Security, FM, etc.). At the end of the Design Development Phase formal presentations including graphics and text descriptions were made to the Airport Board for approval of the design intent.

The L. A. teams were responsible for preparation of Construction Drawings for bid and contracting. All drawings were done to the City's very strict standards for drafting in AutoCAD format. This posed some substantial challenges for the representation of naturalistic rock formations and features that are more easily detailed by hand. Many photographs, hand sketches and drawings were scanned and imported into AutoCAD to convey the character intended.

Extensive construction phase services included approvals of submittals for soil, rocks and mulches, and in some cases going to visit quarries to approve selection of specimen boulders. During the construction of waterfalls, rockscapes, grading, drainage, and paving, the LA teams were on site to answer questions and approve placement of boulders. Due to limited availability of native plant material, there was much time spent in the field substituting and relocating plant materials as they became available.

 

Successful resolution of the project's program.

The Colorado River flows in a west to east direction through the region. It is the dominant landscape feature of the area, and so became the unifying feature of the design. A schematic section was cut along an east to west line from Bastrop to Marble Falls. Along that line the Colorado River flows through five very distinct zones. From east to west they include the lost pines near Bastrop, the blackland prairies that occur east of Austin, the urban landscape of Downtown Austin, The limestone "Hill Country" immediately west, and the granite uplift that provided all the red granite for the construction of the Capitol building in Austin. It was agreed by the design teams that these area designations would be used to provide the unifying theme for the individual design groups to perform their work. Although the airport site was located in a former blackland prairie, the teams decided to demonstrate the wide variety of plants, rock, and topography that occurred in the entire geographic area that the Airport served.

 

Of the five zones discussed the one most associated with Austin is the Limestone Hill Country west of the City. For this reason the zone was chosen for the Airport Entry Feature fountain. The entry feature consists of a rock-faced fountain carrying the signage, and terminating in a "Hill Country" stone creek that greets visitors to the airport. The scale of the fountain and plantings are designed to be seen from the passing automobile and as the visitor enters the Airport.

The Terminal Plaza and landscaping was done in a similar 'Hill Country' theme at a pedestrian scale. It features limestone boulder walls, fountains, and pools, but with more detail and a lower water flow as an interpretation of the typical intermittent streams and canyons found in the Hill Country. In keeping with City requirements all fountains were designed to remain attractive even when turned off and drained during periods of city mandated water conservation.

The access road to the terminal posed one of the greatest challenges both to the concept and the budget. This was by far the largest area to be landscaped. The existing soil type was heavy black prairie clay. Any soil modification would be very expensive. The roadside plantings were done in simple broad sweeps of native tree clusters and prairie grass massings that could tolerate the soil in an attempt to calm the landscape down as the visitor enters the hectic traffic patterns of a busy airport terminal. All lawn areas were seeded with a low growing native grass mix.

 

The central part of the airport is dominated by a 72-acre parking lot with close to 8,000 parking spaces. The airport planners designed the parking with minimal landscape islands to prevent water infiltration to the subbase materials. Parking Lot islands only occurred at Shuttle bus stops. The square footage of landscape that would normally be scattered throughout a parking lot of this size was consolidated into one strip 60' wide by 1800' long that split the massive parking lot down the middle on axis with the terminal. This strip became known as the Parking Lot Spine. It was designed as a raised ridge to block the view across the expanse of cars. The Spine was separated into 4 zones based on the rock types and landforms that occurred along the Colorado River. They are: Sandstone Zone that is modeled after the lost pines region of Bastrop; Limestone Zone that occurs in the Edwards Plateau; Granite Zone that mimics the Llano/Marble Falls region, and the

Urban Zone that represents downtown Austin.

 

Impact and significance of the project on the local community and surroundings

The use of water conserving plants and grasses, and the reduced mowing required is anticipated to save the City of Austin significantly on maintenance costs and water usage. The installation of a high-tech irrigation system capable of adapting to use of reclaimed water from the runoff from the massive parking and runways will save additional money.

The Parking Lot Spine landscape has been designed to be a public demonstration garden for the varied ecosystems of Central Texas. It is envisioned that school classes visit on field trips to learn about the rocks, plants and ecosystems of the area.

The impact of this unique landscape project goes far beyond providing a pleasant backdrop for the many travelers into and out of Austin. The concept of a very large scale native planting is being tested in the venue of public opinion. Reactions have been understandably mixed. But whether it is loved or hated, the project has brought attention to the use of natives, and to the future of landscaping in an area that will certainly have to learn to deal with restricted water use.

 

Special or unique solutions to unusual problems or budgetary constraints

The Airport site was literally crisscrossed with utilities including fiber optic communication cables, water lines, storm lines, and major electric lines, mostly located in landscape areas. Water features had to be raised up or moved to avoid underground lines, and trees were located to avoid underground utilities and not block security cameras.

The project was being funded through a combination of federal and local public finds. This placed additional constraints on the designers concerning the bidding documents. In addition to a tight schedule, the project had to be within a very strict budget. A series of prioritized alternates were devised to allow the client to obtain a low base bid, and then add alternates until the available funds were spent. Since the bid packages overlapped design teams, the teams collaborated to produce a single set of specifications to govern the construction.

The concept of an all-native planting of this scale caused a major problem with plant availability. The native plant industry is still in its infancy and this project far outstripped the ability of local growers. Due to its funding the City could not legally contract grow the material. The designers hired an outside consultant to act as a liaison between the airport and the growers. A list of available materials was complied along with a wish list of plants to be grown so growers could begin to produce the needed materials. The result was better availability than would have been acquired, plus a large database was generated on native plants for future use.