Championing
Lubbock’s New Look
W ri t t e n b y : L a ura G ut s c h k e p h o t o s b y : a rt i e l i m m er
M
ichael
Chad Davis’s (B.S. in landscape architecture ‘94)
handiwork in Lubbock and other cities is like
public art without a signature.
Whether the medium is very utilitarian, such as
retaining walls for Lubbock’s Loop 289 overpasses, or aesthetic, such as a 60-acre multi-use public
park and sports complex in El Paso, Davis has the
same goal: incorporate landscape designs that are
attractive, sustainable and water conscious.
“Water is probably driving my career more
than anything else,” Davis said.
The Lubbock native is a corporate associate for
Lubbock-based PSC, an engineering, architecture
and planning firm founded in 1945 with additional offices in El Paso, Midland, Amarillo and
Odessa. His responsibilities include project management, marketing, client relations and heading
up a seven-person (all Texas Tech alums) landscape architecture studio.
Following graduation, Davis spent time with
small firms in Anchorage, Houston and San
Antonio. He returned to Lubbock in 1997 and
worked for the design-build company of Tom’s
Tree Place, the City of Lubbock and Texas Tech as
the campus landscape architect. He joined PSC in
2001 as its first in-house landscape architect.
Davis says he is blessed to have returned to his
hometown to work professionally at a time when
city officials, developers, business owners and residents are embracing visually appealing landscaping, streetscapes, pedestrian pathways and public
spaces in residential and commercial endeavors.
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“It’s amazing to see the change in Lubbock.
When I was a student, there were not a lot of
examples of what we were studying in school.”
Davis said. “We realized that we settled for too
little for too long. People are excited to see what
is possible.”
opportunities I
“Thehave
now didn’t
exist 10 years ago.
”
He enjoys working on team projects and being
with a large firm – employing about 200 people
– that handles diverse public and private projects.
“The opportunities I have now didn’t exist 10
years ago,” Davis said. “The diversity of work is fun.”
Davis joined the firm at an opportune time.
PSC has been involved in several major developments in the city in recent years, including
the Overton Park project, the largest privately
financed urban redevelopment project in the
United States. About 320 historic acres near the
Texas Tech campus are being redesigned into a
multi-use planned community with single- and
multi-family housing, shopping centers and public spaces.
“I have peers in other parts of the country
who wonder what I’m doing in Lubbock. There’s
just something about this opportunity to work
with this community, to make a difference, that
is such a unique experience,” Davis said.
they created an endowment at each university.
Each school’s development officers could manage the endowment so that it generated interest
that could be awarded annually as scholarships.
Davis launched a strategic plan within the association to raise $75,000 in seven to eight years
– enough to fund $25,000 ASLA scholarship endowments at Texas Tech, Texas A&M University
and University of Texas at Arlington. The 700member group reached the goal in five years, and
now Davis hopes the group builds on its success.
“The endowments now pay out on an annual
basis, and we continue to raise money. I want
to see the endowment at each university reach
$100,000,” Davis said.
Meet Chad Davis
Paying It Forward
Davis’s career was nurtured in part by the
American Society of Landscape Architects. During his junior year, he was the student representative to the national ASLA board and worked
as a summer intern at the ASLA headquarters in
Washington D.C. Also, the Texas Chapter of the
ASLA awarded Davis a scholarship.
In return, Davis has laid the groundwork for more
undergraduates to enjoy similar financial assistance.
When he served as president-elect, president and past president of the state chapter
from 1998 to 2001, Davis learned that the group
raised about $6,000 annually to fund a $1,000
scholarship at each of the state’s three certified
landscape architecture programs – including the
one at Texas Tech. About 50 percent of the money raised was necessary to cover expenses.
Based on advice from Bill Wehner, development officer during Texas Tech’s Horizon Campaign that raised more than $500 million for the
university’s endowment, Davis learned that the
ASLA could avoid many scholarship expenses if
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Awards/Honors: Highlights include ASLA Award
of Merit, 1993; TTU Department of Landscape
Architecture Award for Service, 1992, and Leadership, 1993, 1994; University of Alaska, Anchorage, Entry Design Competition, first place,
1994; and Texas Chapter ASLA Kay Tiller Service
Award, 2003 and 2005.
Family: Davis is single and enjoys family get-togethers. His childhood home and parents are
still recovering from serving as a test subjects for
drought-tolerant landscape designs.
Free-Time: When he built a house in 2005, Davis
practiced what he preaches about the importance of landscaping that is conscience of West
Texas’s limited water resources. His front yard
featured Turffalo brand buffalo grass developed
by Texas Tech researchers, and his xeriscaped
backyard was grass-free. The landscaping
helped cinch a deal with a client who insisted on
having a business meeting at Davis’s home.
Resume and Project Highlights
The wait for a project to go from paper to reality is often difficult for a new landscape architect.
“Early in my career it was hard to be patient
because you wouldn’t see your work built out for
so long,” Davis said.
Now in his 13th year as a professional, Davis
can see much that originally started out only as
a vision.
1994 - Land Design North, Anchorage, Alaska
Davis, the youngest of four children, fulfilled
a personal goal to be on his own as far from
home as practically possible and move to Alaska
two weeks after graduation.
Many of his early projects related to tourism,
including cross-country skiing trails and stream
bank restoration in public areas.
“I worked with hydrologists and biologists on
stream projects where we were trying to get people to water’s edge without destroying the habitat,” Davis said.
He eventually realized that he wanted to return
to Texas to be closer to his family. He moved to
Houston to join a small landscape architecture firm
that he soon found out was struggling financially.
1996 – Rialto Studios, San Antonio
The landscape architecture firm hired Davis
shortly after it had been contracted to assist in
planning the expansion of the Henry B. Gonzales Convention Center. The project included
extending the city’s famed Riverwalk through
the center and rehabbing the landscaping along
that section of the Riverwalk and the nearby Lila
Cockrell Theatre. While with the firm, Davis began learning project manager duties on some assignments and started interfacing with clients.
1997 – Tom’s Tree Place, Lubbock
Davis accepted a years-earlier offer from friend
Alex Scarborough at Tom’s Tree Place to work
with the family-run, design-build company.
“It was one of the best experiences as a professional. After all those lines I had drawn, I had
to then go out with a crew and make it happen,”
Davis said.
1999 – City of Lubbock, Lubbock
Davis flexed his client-relation skills when he
joined the City of Lubbock to design new parks
under a proposed parks master plan because his
duties included championing a bond package
to fund the endeavor. Davis hosted many public
forums and was involved in negotiating with developers to earmark good land in new subdivisions for public parks.
Davis said working on the public projects
was very rewarding, especially when voters approved a $16 million bond package to construct
six new parks.
Other projects included:
• South Loop 289 intersection improvements –
Davis represented the city’s interests in working with the Lubbock TxDOT District Office
project that affected the loop’s overpasses
over University, Indiana and Quaker avenues
and Slide Road. He worked with the design
team to incorporate decorative retaining wall
systems and other aesthetic treatments.
2000 – Texas Tech University, Lubbock
While with the City of Lubbock, Davis was
involved with the Texas Tech University Campus Caregivers, a campus beautification group
headed by Debbie Montford under the umbrella
of the Horizon Campaign. His work with the
committee opened the door to being hired as the
campus landscape architect.
“It was an amazing time. There were several
new projects just starting, and I worked with different architects and designers to make sure the
integrity of the campus’s Spanish renaissance architectural influence was maintained,” Davis said.
At one point he was overseeing 26 projects on
the university’s Lubbock, Amarillo, Odessa and
El Paso campuses.
2001 – PSC, Lubbock
After a year with the university, Davis ventured out on his own for a while, partnering
with a landscape architect in Amarillo. Then in
2001, he was asked to join PSC.
Some of the projects Davis has been involved in:
• El Paso Northeast Park Master Plan – Davis
is the project manager in developing the
60-acre regional park that will include 10
athletic fields. Reclaimed water from the
El Paso Northeast Regional Treatment Plan
will be used for irrigation, and “wildscaping” will attract local wildlife and serve as a
xeriscape demonstration area.
• Lake Alan Henry Sam Wahl Recreation Area, Garza County – Located at the reservoir
that serves as the City of Lubbock’s longterm water supply, the 580-acre recreation
area includes vehicular circulation, pedestrian circulation, trails, day lodge, campgrounds, boat ramps, a marina and day-use
facilities. Davis served as project manager
and landscape architect.
• Covenant Medical Center, Lubbock, 19th
Street streetscape and valet entry enhancement – The $1 million project, of which Davis was manager, included accessible sidewalks, decorative paving, custom-designed
“woven” aluminum screens, landscape
planting and enhanced pedestrian lighting.
• Overton Park, Lubbock – Davis has been
involved in several phases of this project
since its inception, including design guidelines for landscape and public space improvements, site planning and hardscape,
landscaping and irrigation plans on a series
of projects throughout the District. Most
notable is the Glenna Goodacre Boulevard
project with its 140 live oak trees lining a
central pedestrian promenade.
• Downtown Enhancements, Andrews – The
City of Andrews is embarking on an ambitious long-range plan to update its downtown area with improved streetscapes, including accessible sidewalks, landscape
plantings, decorative pavement, enhanced
street lighting and site furnishings. Davis’s
services have included concept development, planning studies, coordination with
TxDOT and probable cost opinions.
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