Landscape architect Thomas Woltz, 45, is the owner and principal of Nelson Byrd Woltz, the firm that has been selected to create a long-range master plan for Memorial Park.
In both national and international projects — from the Flight 93 National Memorial in Shanksville, Pa., to a 3,000-acre sheep farm in New Zealand — the firm has earned a reputation for creating sustainable landscapes that walk the line between active use and preservation.
Woltz’s “proven experience in restoration ecology” got him the job in Houston, said Christopher Knapp, who led Memorial Park Conservancy’s committee to choose a design team for the park’s next chapter.
The project, which could cost upward of $100 million and take as long as two decades to complete, is part of a long-range initiative by the Conservancy, Houston Parks and Recreation Department and the Uptown Houston Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone. Funding will come largely from the Uptown tax zone and fund-raising efforts by the Conservancy.
Woltz said he will approach the redesign of the 1,500-acre Memorial Park, the city’s largest urban-center park, the same way he approaches all his projects: by listening to the place and to the people who use it and manage it.
The photo gallery above shows images of the park and other landscape designs from Nelson Byrd Woltz, which has offices in New York City, San Francisco and Charlottesville, Va.
Read more about the plan on HoustonChronicle.com