Located in Houston’s Texas Medical Center, this leading medical facility entails a campus of three large buildings separated by public streets. Basement parking areas and research facilities extend underground beyond the buildings, resulting in a landscape that is substantially a roof garden at street level. White Oak Studio landscape architects have completed all of the landscape development of three major projects in 1990, 2002 and 2007-9, using native trees, azaleas, ornamental grasses, earth forms and landscape lighting to unify the separate sites into a coherent identifiable campus. Two major pieces of public art were integrated into the landscape, ‘Sail Park’ in collaboration with architect Charles Tapley, and a giant mosaic lizard by Fletcher Mackay. A wonderful playground and rooftop courtyards and landscaped balconies are used to bring natural elements further into the experience of hospital patients.

This enclosed garden was created as a sacred space outside the sanctuary at Pines Presbyterian Church – a space for prayer and for honoring loved ones. Niches for inurnment are incorporated into four wall panels and low granite curbs. A brick and ornamental iron fence enclose the space while plantings of small flowering trees and native shrubs integrate with existing mature trees. A calming gurgle of water wells up from the hand-carved granite fountain onto native cobblestones.

The capacity of a garden for nurturing the human spirit has been recognized for centuries. The commission to design a cemetery garden requires the understanding that the ultimate client is unknown to the designer – family and friends of the person being honored. WOS created a garden with perimeter walls and planting that offer enclosure and privacy; a traditional configuration using familiar materials that instill a sense of comfort, and a central fountain covered by an arching rose arbor.

The Kinkaid School is a private K-12 institution in the Memorial area of Houston. White Oak Studio completed major outdoor gathering spaces including the North Courtyard, the Lower School Playground, and The Quadrangle. As the primary outdoor plaza on campus, the Quadrangle offers a variety of spaces from shady private seating to open public performance space and includes a water feature crafted from Texas limestone as the focal point.