Thirsty San Antonio yards get a makeover: WaterSaver Community

In San Antonio, recent strong population growth coupled with a steady warming trend has put pressure on finite local resources. Water utilities and districts have stepped up public outreach in innovative ways. In 2022, San Antonio Botanical Garden (SABOT) teamed with San Antonio Water System (SAWS), San Antonio River Authority (SARA), engaging landscape designers MP Studio and Alamo Architects on the WaterSaver Community to create the WaterSaver Community exhibit. The new exhibit replaced WaterSaver Lane, creating an expanded permanent showcase for water conservation – and new gathering spot and teaching tool in the Garden.

Debuting at San Antonio Botanical Garden in December 2023, the WaterSaver Community demonstrates diverse examples of sustainable landscape design – how to make over your front yard to look great, use less water, and be drought resilient into the bargain. The exhibit is a collection of five “garden follies” representing houses organized around a courtyard, facing out toward a circulation path. Varied residential styles evoke our San Antonio neighborhoods, making the exhibit easily relatable to local visitors: from pre-war bungalows to mid-century ranchers to Hill Country farmhouse-style homes.

The WaterSaver Community demonstration garden covers a broad range of sustainable landscape gardening topics, such as irrigation techniques, plant selection, and materials. The pavilions also show best practices to minimize solar gain, orient structures for breeze, and locate solar panels effectively. Advanced features such as rainwater harvesting cisterns, bioswales, and rain gardens are introduced.

The visually engaging collection of pavilions adds a new focal point to the Garden’s extensive grounds – a successful collaboration in placemaking. Congratulations to our design partners MP Studios for earning a 2024 Texas Society of Landscape Architects Honor Award for the project.