TxDOT WEST PECOS COUNTY SAFETY REST AREA

Location: Fort Stockton, Texas

Owner: Texas Department of Transportation

An interstate highway safety rest area along I-10 is derived of the geology, ecology, and cultural history of this desert region of West Texas at the eastern approach to the Davis Mountains.  The project provides to the traveling public restrooms, vending, cultural and historical exhibits, picnic areas, children’s play areas, nature trails and parking for weary drivers of cars, vans, RVs, trucks and buses.  Texas Department of Transportation's goal for the project is to enhance highway safety by providing drivers and families with engaging rest and relief  from the fatigue of the road.   
 
This design provides essential travel amenities via a substantive interpretation of the region.  The core inspiration is the land itself, the big sky, and the many ways their beauty and stories are revealed – beauty that can be sensed at highway speed but only fully grasped on foot.  From the intimate scale of tiny flowers peeking from dust and rock to the distant horizon scribed by layered mountains – the land is the story of past, present and future here.  

"Notice the way the contrast, texture and massing has a way of influencing mood.  It doesn’t even need the beautiful mountain settings to stop you in your tracks.  When you walk up close, the colors and imperfections in the steel stir the imagination...That's exactly what we need to get people to wake up before they get back on the road." - Andy Keith, P.E., TxDOT Safety Rest Area Program Manager

Korean Institute of Architects/UIA, 100 Architects of the Year Exhibition 2018