DALLAS—TreeHouse, the anchor tenant of renovated mixed use retail development The Hill, has been awarded a 2018 TxA Design Award by the Texas Society of Architects.

TreeHouse is a green home improvement store offering products and services that promote healthful and sustainable living spaces. The sustainable home goods store is housed within the 275,000-square-foot shopping center The Hill, originally built in the 1970s and now retrofitted and redesigned by full-service architecture and design firm Looney Ricks Kiss.

LRK, both TreeHouse’s and The Hill’s architect, collaborated with design architect Lake Flato specifically for TreeHouse to produce the first net-positive big-box retail in Texas as well as for home improvement stores nationwide.

Producing more energy than it uses, TreeHouse is powered by 539 rooftop solar panels and stored energy from two Tesla power pack battery systems, with any excess energy given back to the grid for others to use.

“We’re pushing the limits of what's possible in high performance buildings,” said Craig Henry, LRK partner on the TreeHouse development. “And we’re grateful to work with a client who directly reflects its mission and values through its spaces.”

Designed to wrap a large legacy oak tree, TreeHouse’s sloped perforated layered metal roof and wide porch shade the façade during the summer months, while north-facing clerestory windows provide daylight, reducing the building’s energy consumption by 75 percent.

“Our mixed-use and adaptive reuse expertise on The Hill collectively guided this project’s developers to lure an anchor tenant who has remarkably set the stage for sustainable design and placemaking,” said Henry.

After collaborating with Farrell Architects for The Hill’s initial schematic design, LRK is actively leading The Hill’s continued progress in tenant buildout, including restaurants and coffee shops, a barber and more.

Jurors Anne Schopf, FAIA, Mehrdad Yazdani, AIA, Eric Cesal, Assoc. AIA, and Vivian Lee selected TreeHouse among 14 winning projects from 259 total entries.

See full list of winners here. The winning designs will be featured in the September/October issue of Texas Architect magazine. 

ABOUT LRK. With over three decades of architecture and design expertise in eight offices, LRK’s team is a nationally recognized full-service architectural, planning, environmental graphic design and interior design firm. LRK’s sophisticated multidisciplinary approach, responsibility to clients and commitment to design quality have resulted in a portfolio of accomplished and award-winning downtown revitalizations, neighborhoods, corporate headquarters, and civic buildings. For more information, visit lrk.com.