"Centennial District" is a celebration of the past, present, and future of the City of Irving, Texas, a vibrant community in the heart of the metroplex region between Dallas and Fort Worth. The city's open space master plan envisioned three continuous parks to compliment the Irving City Hall and Civic Center Complex. The three sites create an open space landmark along Delaware creek that reinforces the significance of the existing municipal district and connects it with the surrounding community via the creek trail corridor. Centennial Park and Millennium Fountain are now completed and the third site (a Veterans Memorial Park) is presently completing phase I construction.

The district is designed to capitalize on four fundamental opportunities for the city:

1. Recognize and enhance the ecosystem of Delaware Creek's waterway, woodland, and wetlands by sensitively working with the native conditions and existing site assets to create a park rooted in the essence of its natural environment.

2. Build upon existing trails by providing an important segment connecting the civic center district with neighborhoods, schools, and parks already on the trail network.

3. Provide a passive recreational and educational venue that interprets the layered heritage of the City of Irving (both past and future).

4. Commemorate and enhance the district as the civic soul of the city with an open space system dedicated to the natural, social, and cultural heritage of Irving while creating a spatial landmark for the civic center.

The three parks honor the city founders while projecting an inspiring gaze toward the future of "Irving, Texas: Where the People Make the Difference":

Millennium Fountain, located on a traffic median across from city hall, celebrates Irving's passage into the 21" century and points toward a prosperous future. The fountain provides a gateway for the civic center. Two historic stone columns at the western apex of the triangular site create a portal to the district and reference the old county courthouse. The columns rest on a circumscribed "X" plaza that recalls the railroad crossing signal from the former Rock Island train depot that was the original stimulus for the development of Irving. The true landmark is a fountain and eight pairs of architectural columns which reference classic sun dials that mark the passage of time. Rough stone bands encase the polished stone as a subtle acknowledgement of history influencing the future. Shadow patterns among recessed bands and stone panels define the progressive transition between rough and smooth, old and new, past and future.

Centennial Park chronicles the first 100 years in the history of Irving directly south of Millennium Fountain. Bronze sculptures of town founders and surveyors Schulze & Brown gesture from the arrival plaza across the creek to a shaded woodland and survey rod at Founder's Plaza. Low circular walls in Founder's Plaza house interpretive panels that portray a timeline of Irving's growth, development, and milestones. A dogtrot cabin sits on the west bank of the creek and provides an interactive historic link to the lifestyle of the early settlers. The landscape architect worked with the city to site a large park pavilion. The pavilion includes a tower with light spike that points skyward, recalling the image of Millennium Fountain pointing toward the future. The pavilion is an investment in the future history of the district as an open-air venue for civic declarations, inaugurations, weddings, and other public events. An important environmental overlay to Centennial Park is the replanting of native grass species that recall the pre-development prairie landscape. A pedestrian trail meanders through the mature woodland and banks along the creek, inviting guests to enjoy a variety of environmental settings.

Veterans Memorial Park is located directly north of Millennium Fountain and acknowledges the contribution of Irving residents who paid the ultimate price in the support of freedom. The park will include the Fountain of Hope, River of Freedom, World Map of Confrontation, and Wall of Reflection. The memorial is directly outside of the Irving Central Library which will support the park with additional exhibits and lectures. The landscape architect prepared the final site design for each of the three parks and has stayed with the project through construction field administration. The three parks convey a harmony of materials, furnishings, lighting, signage, and other thematic elements of continuity that reinforce the "district" identity across the large acreage of civic and public open space.