The Landscape Experience

Visitors to the George W. Bush Presidential Center will experience a distinctive native Texas landscape in a 15-acre urban park made available to SMU students and surrounding communities. Designed by award-winning landscape architect Michael Van Valkenburgh, the grounds of the Bush Center will reflect the longstanding commitment to environmental conservation and restoration that President and Mrs. Bush have demonstrated on their ranch in Crawford, Texas for over ten years.

The landscape around the Bush Center will be an attraction in and of itself, with seasonable displays in the wildflower meadow, large tree-shaded lawns for sitting, picnicking or playing, numerous gardens and courtyards, tall grass prairie with seasonal wildflowers, and savannah and woodland clearings that provide a range of native habitat for butterflies, birds and other wildlife species.

Landscape spaces directly adjacent to the building, including the Ceremonial Courtyard, the Texas Rose Garden, and the South Terrace, provide outdoor programming spaces for the Presidential Center. The larger grounds feature a network of paths that traverse native Texas environments such as Blackland Prairie, Post Oak Savannah and Cross Timbers Forest.

The landscaped areas in and around the building will also function as an urban park developed to engage a broad range of users, including library and special event visitors, SMU students, faculty and staff, and the University Park community.