Original Landscape Concepts

Highland Park Landscape Architect

Working within the architectural standards of Dallas's most exacting residential neighborhood.

Highland Park is its own town. It's incorporated, has its own school district, town code, and architectural review process. You've got to understand both the written rules and the unwritten ones. Respect the architectural fabric. Lots are smaller than Preston Hollow. Review is more rigorous. The design quality bar is higher.

What's specific to Highland Park

Architectural review. The town requires review for any structural addition, which includes pool decks, pavilions, walls, and significant hardscape. The process is meaningful. A wrong package wastes weeks of your time. We've worked enough Highland Park projects since the early 2000s to know what passes.

Lot size. Most Highland Park lots run quarter-acre to half-acre in size. This fundamentally changes pool placement options. The estate pools you'd build in Preston Hollow rarely fit here. A courtyard pool, plunge pool, or thoughtfully scaled main pool works much better. Nothing that overwhelms the lot.

Architecture. Mediterranean, Tudor, English Cotswold, Georgian, French eclectic. The town leans pretty traditional in its tastes. Landscape vocabulary is more constrained because of that. Modern work exists but often doesn't read well with the neighborhood aesthetic.

Trees. This neighborhood has the densest mature canopy in Dallas. The same protection rules apply. We design around the trees that truly matter, not through them.

Setbacks and easements. Highland Park enforces these quite tightly. Pool placement, pavilion siting, and hardscape edges all get checked at survey. We work to setbacks before we even start drawing.

Selected Highland Park work

We've built portfolios across Highland Park proper, the Village, and both the Lakeside Drive and Beverly Drive corridor over the past two decades. Most projects integrate pool, hardscape, and garden elements. Few are single-discipline projects.

Typical project scope

Highland Park projects often lean toward renovation work. Replacing dated pools. Redesigning hardscape that's settled. Refreshing plantings that've matured past their prime. Integrating outdoor living elements. We do new builds too. Renovations make up the larger category by volume.

Permitting and review

Plan six to twelve weeks of pre-construction time for this process. We submit prepared packages that usually means first-review approval instead of resubmission cycles.

Frequently Asked Questions

Will Highland Park approve modern pool design?

Often yes. Review checks coherence, not preventing modernism. We've done it successfully.

Can you renovate 1970s or 1980s pools?

Yes. That's most of our work. Replaster, retile, redesign deck, add features. Restructure within original location.

How much does review add to the timeline?

Four to ten weeks. We plan for this from the start.

Do you work with the home's architect?

Often. Landscape and architecture are integrated here. We coordinate directly.

Get in Touch

We look forward to discussing the unique landscape design/build criteria for a project in Highland Park.

50+ years combined experience · ASLA-credentialed designers · In-house build crew · Houzz 4.9★

Call (972) 380-1659 or fill out the form below — we'll be in touch within 1 business day.