Garland Downtown Square, Garland, Texas - Targetti
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Garland Downtown Square, Garland, Texas

The redevelopment of Garland Downtown Square reimagined the city’s historic downtown core as a multifunctional public space intended for community events, entertainment, and daily public use. The landscape architecture was designed by Studio Outside Landscape Architecture and lighting design by Essential Design Light Studio.

The project introduced flexible gathering lawns, pedestrian-oriented plazas, interactive water features, shaded seating areas, children’s play environments, and event spaces that connect the square to the surrounding historic district.

The lighting approach crafted by Essential Light Design Studio focused on creating a strong nighttime identity for the square through integrated architectural lighting, illuminated gateway elements, landscape accent lighting, and programmable feature lighting for public events and evening activity.

The completed project has received recognition from several regional design organizations, including the Texas Chapter of ASLA and the Texas Downtown Association.

Lighting Design: Essential Light Design Studio

Design Team: Studio Outside Landscape Architecture | Architexas

Photos: Essential Light Design Studio / Wade Griffith Photography

Awards:

2025 Texas ASLA Merit Award | Best Public Improvement – Over 50K Population, Texas Downtown Association | Best Promotion – Over 50K Population, Texas Downtown Association

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The lighting design was created by Essential Light Design Studio in collaboration with Architexas and Studio Outside. The lighting strategy emphasized atmosphere, movement, and nighttime identity through:

- Integrated architectural lighting within the pavilion structures.
- Accent lighting for landscape and gathering spaces.
- Color-changing illuminated prism gateway features.
- Layered ambient lighting to support nighttime activation and events.

The lighting helped extend the usability of the square after dark while reinforcing the project’s identity as a destination public space.
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The lighting helped to dynamically extend the usability of the park after dark, reinforcing the square as an updated major public destination.
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Jill Klores FIES, CLD, IALD, LC Founder and Partner, Essential Light Design Studio
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These linear area lighting fixtures are customized with an extension that includes the JUPITER MINI PROJECTOR at the very end of the pole extension.

Essential Light Design Studio’s Jill Klores and Robert Mapes, in collaboration with Architexas’ John Allender and Alexis McKinney, designed a custom, slender illuminated promenade pole that serves as both a functional lighting element and a distinctive architectural feature within the park.

The JUPITER MINI PROJECTOR’s were delivered to the pole manufacturer for seamless integration into the custom-fabricated outrigger assembly, which also incorporates the linear luminaire. This integrated design provides the directional illumination required for the promenade while maintaining a clean, cohesive aesthetic. Each JUPITER MINI PROJECTOR is individually adjustable, allowing for precise aiming and optimized coverage of the pedestrian pathway to ensure consistent coverage and visual comfort.

 

To achieve the target average illuminance of approximately 2 footcandles across the promenade, the linear luminaire alone could not provide sufficient light, and increasing its output would have introduced excessive glare. Instead, we integrated five to seven 3000K JUPITER MINI PROJECTOR's into each Structura pole. By incorporating the projectors within the pole's extended outrigger, we achieved the uniform light distribution required for the promenade while maintaining visual comfort. Each projector was aimed no more than 30 degrees from vertical to minimize glare and provide consistent illumination across the pedestrian path.
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Robert Mapes, MIES, Senior Lighting Designer, Essential Light Design Studio
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The Observation Tower serves as a signature destination within the park, offering elevated views of the landscape, playground, and surrounding streetscape. Accessed by a sculptural wooden spiral stair, this upper platform is illuminated by JUPITER MINI PROJECTOR’s discreetly integrated into the canopy support beams. Their placement provides the code-required illumination for both the stair component and the observation platform while preserving the tower’s clean architectural expression.
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Additional JUPITER MINI PROJECTOR’s are mounted at the base of the angled support arms to uplight the playful canopy panels, evoking the abstract form of a tree canopy and reinforcing the tower’s sculptural presence after dark.
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Throughout the park, JUPITER MINI PROJECTOR's are also used to illuminate the trees, highlighting their canopies while strategically providing supplemental downlight to adjacent pedestrian pathways where additional illumination is required.

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