Ascension Field
Project Details
Location: McLennan County, Texas
Project Type: Healing Retreat
Expertise: Hospitality • Wellness • Conceptual Design
Status: Vision Study
Architect: Jeff Garnett Architect
Awards
AIA Fort Worth Studio Award — 2019
Overview
Set on a secluded 35-acre site overlooking Lake Creek Reservoir in McLennan County, Texas, Ascension Field is a conceptual healing retreat designed to foster reflection, restoration, and renewal. Conceived as a place to temporarily disconnect from the demands of modern life, the project transforms a former industrial landscape into an environment where architecture and nature work together to support emotional, physical, and spiritual well-being.
A Landscape for Healing
Rather than imposing itself upon the land, Ascension Field is organized as a series of buildings and outdoor spaces that encourage quiet movement through the landscape. Paths, gardens, gathering spaces, and moments of solitude create a rhythm of discovery, allowing visitors to reconnect with nature while finding opportunities for reflection, restoration, and personal growth.
Reclaiming the Land
The project occupies a site once associated with industrial infrastructure before being fully remediated and returned to open landscape. Rather than viewing the property as a blank canvas, the design embraces its transformation, demonstrating how architecture can participate in the ongoing restoration of both land and people. The retreat becomes a new chapter in the site's history—one that exchanges industry for healing and isolation for renewal.
Architecture of Stillness
Ascension Field explores how architecture can shape experience through light, materiality, landscape, and sequence rather than monumentality. Buildings frame views of the lake, invite natural light deep into interior spaces, and blur the boundaries between indoors and outdoors. Every element is intended to slow the pace of daily life, creating an atmosphere where quiet reflection becomes possible.
