Scorched earth. Dry creek beds. Karst. Limestone. Weathering Steel. Bee brush. Mesquite. Cedar Elm. Persimmon. Live Oaks. Cactus. Bluebonnets. Black Angus. Armadillos. Chiggers. Missions. Acequias. Cisterns. Brackenridge. The Alamo. San Fernando. Mi Tierra. Liberty Bar. Pearl Brewery. HEB. The River Walk. Fiesta. So many new things to us, yet unique to San Antonio, that create a blur of memories from the last twelve years we have spent getting to know this city and landscape. We came to Texas from New England, as outsiders, hired to design a new park for the seventh largest city in the United States. We worked first on a Master Plan for 311 acres of overgrown farmland for a growing population in eager need of more parks. Eventually, with the help of an incredible team, we executed four phases of construction, the final being the long-awaited land bridge.

The concept for Hardberger Park from the onset was very simple: cultivated wild. Take cues from the surrounding historic context of agrarian missions and natural environs, and carve new and restored landscapes for the city, carefully embedding each one within the wildness of the site that we needed to preserve and enhance. Twenty-five percent of the park is programmed as landscape rooms for passive recreation and play, with miles of trails looping through seventy-five percent of preserved scrub and native woodland and restored oak savanna. From the onset, the park was envisioned as a laboratory for learning about the landscape of southwest Texas.

Place-making is in our design disposition and we have a reverence for the land. Yet, the most important thing we did for this project was really listen and learn from our collaborators and get to know the people and the region. By immersing ourselves in the culture, the history, and the environment of this special place, we were able to create a world class park that we believe is distinctly San Antonio. This concept of cultivated wild is by no means novel, but the way it is executed is so site specific and relevant to this place, it could never exist anywhere else.

Hardberger Park is as it should be, a place for people, and a place for wildness in the city.