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ASLA Virtual Reality: Klyde Warren Park

Virtual Reality Videos: Klyde Warren Park, Dallas, Texas | Brooklyn Bridge Park, Brooklyn, NY | Underpass Park, Toronto, Ontario

ASLA 2017 Professional General Design Award of Excellence. Klyde Warren Park / Thomas McConnell

Experience Virtual Reality! Immerse yourself in Klyde Warren Park in Dallas, which won the ASLA 2017 Professional Award of Excellence.

Explore this unique park built over a highway, guided by landscape architect James Burnett, FASLA, president of OJB Landscape Architecture.

Created using GoPro Odyssey on Google Jump, this video demonstrates the latest VR cinematic technology! 

Viewing Options

Option 1: Watch a 360 Video on YouTube

If you are on your phone reading this page, simply click on this URL and watch it in your YouTube mobile app: https://youtu.be/DEohYK5a3-c (please note that this video will not work in your mobile browser)

Be sure to turn around while watching so you can see all angles of the park!

Or if you are on a desktop computer, go to https://youtu.be/DEohYK5a3-c using your Chrome browser.

Go to Settings and set quality to 2160s. 

Use the sphere icon to navigate through the park! Note: the 360 video will not work in Firefox or Internet Explorer.



Option 2: Watch a 3D 360 Video on Samsung Gear VR

If you own a Samsung Gear VR headset and compatible Samsung phone, go to Samsung Gear via the Oculus App and search for "Klyde Warren Park" or "ASLA" to find our video.

Producer: American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA)
Production Company: DimensionGate, Toronto
Director: Ian Tuason
Director of Photography: Ryan Swift Joyner
Narrator: James Burnett, FASLA, president, OJB Landscape Architecture
Post Production: Ryan Swift Joyner

Thank you to Michael Gaffney, Vice President of Operations, Woodall Rogers Park Foundation, and his team for making this all come together. At OJB Landscape Architecture, we appreciate the kind assistance of James Burnett, FASLA; Adrianne Cruz; and Victoria Lorenz.   

Klyde Warren Park VR / ASLA

Klyde Warren Park VR / ASLA

Why Klyde Warren Park?

ASLA selected Klyde Warren Park because it won the ASLA 2017 Professional Award of Excellence. Less than 1 percent of all award submissions receive this honor.

Our esteemed jury, made up of leaders in the field, described Klyde Warren Park this way: “It has totally re-energized the downtown core. People are moving in; it’s great for business; it’s open 24 hours a day.”

The award also highlights Klyde Warren Park because it’s a prominent example of how to heal the damage made by transportation infrastructure to our downtowns. Capping highways, freeways, or wide avenues with green space closes the "gashes in our landscape," as James Burnett, FASLA, explains in his narration, helping bring communities back together. More than one million people a year now visit Klyde Warren, making it one of Dallas' most popular spaces. In this regard, Dallas shows the way forward for the rest of the world’s cities.

Why Virtual Reality?

We are increasingly in an image and video-driven world. With video, you can pack in even more information about a work of landscape architecture, much more than you can in simply a photo or text. With video, you can get a sense of the sight, sound, and “feel” of a place. You can see people interacting with the design, bringing it to life. Virtual reality takes video to the next level: as you move your phone or VR headset, you control your experience in the landscape. It more closely mimics the experience of exploring a place in person. In part, it recreates that sense of discovery one gets in real life.

Why did ASLA make this VR film?

We are always looking for more effective ways to promote the value of landscape architecture to society. Virtual reality has proven to be a powerful tool for explaining how the places people love – like Klyde Warren Park – are designed experiences. Virtual reality allows us to educate the public about landscape design in a more compelling way.

We have multiple goals with the video: We hope to use the video to promote the potential of virtual reality among the landscape architecture community, which totals approximately 25,000 design professionals in the U.S. and Canada. We also hope to use the video to explain the incredible value of landscape architecture to the public, and the ability of landscape architects to turn an detraction into a beloved community park.

We also hope community groups or local advocates can make use of it for their own goals. Communities can come together to build the case for covering freeways and re-connecting to their neighbors and nature and then raise the funds to make it happen. As Burnett explains, the park was built with a combination of public and private funds and is now 100 percent maintained by a non-profit. We hope it can become an advocacy tool.

Why should landscape architects use VR?

Virtual Reality is a powerful tool for landscape architects, architects, planners, and developers – really anyone involved in designing our built and natural environments. In the example of Klyde Warren Park: many will never have the opportunity to visit the park in person, but with our video, they can get a good sense of what’s it like to be there.

For landscape architecture firms, this is an excellent way to really show clients that a place they’ve designed works – that people enjoy hanging out there, that kids love playing there, that people are drawn to events there.