George W. Bush Presidential Library - Dallas, Texas

The George W. Bush Presidential Center, located on a prominent 23-acre site on the Southern Methodist University Campus in Dallas, has a goal of being one of the most restorative landscapes in the nation.

Visitors to the Center experience a native Texas landscape in a 15-acre urban park, which serves as a commitment to environmental conservation and restoration. A network of paths takes visitors through restored Texas environments such as Blackland Prairie, Post Oak Savannah, and Cross Timbers Forest. The highly-disturbed, 25-acre urban site required complete ecological restoration. Under a mosaic of vegetated ecological zones, Jeffrey L. Bruce & Company provided soil recommendations based on self-sustaining biological processes. Integrated water harvesting will provide over 60 percent of the water needs for the landscape by capturing runoff, rainwater, condensate, and cooling tower process water. Water quality is maintained by routing harvested water through bioswales and wetland polishing cells, which contain an elaborate palette of native vegetation.

JBC’s innovative water management strategy for this LEED Platinum certificated facility utilizes leading-edge “smart” irrigation technology that is automated and regulated through both soil moisture sensing, and real-time evapotranspiration (Eto) rates. The system contains a 400,000 gallon underground open cell cistern, which when full, discharges polished water into a groundwater infiltration system.

Jeffrey L. Bruce & Company is responsible for water resource management, irrigation engineering, subsurface drainage and agronomic soil recommendations.

 

Collaborators 

  • Robert A.M. Stern Architects LLP | New York, NY

  • Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates | Boston, MA

  • Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center | Austin, TX

Site Features 

  • Weather-based irrigation sensors

  • Reclaimed water for irrigation system

  • Soil moisture sensors

  • High-performance turf

  • Structural soils

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