Garnett Extends Winning Streak to Three Years with Design-Forward, Place-Driven Work on Elk Edge Retreat and Animal Sanctuary
FORT WORTH, Texas, Dec. 11, 2025 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Texas Modern architect Jeff Garnett walked away with two of just seven honors at this year's American Institute of Architects (AIA) Fort Worth Design Awards, highlighting the design rigor and place-driven work emerging from the architect's highly selective Glen Rose-based studio.
At the November 14 ceremony and lecture at the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, jurors awarded Garnett a Design Award of Merit for Elk Edge Retreat, a 4,800-square-foot ranch home on private ranchland in Somervell County, and a Studio Award for the Animal Sanctuary, a conceptual project that combines mental health services, animal adoption, and sustainable design across a nearly 30-acre site. These two projects carried Garnett to the top of a field dominated by much larger teams.
The built-work Design Award extends Garnett's streak at AIA Fort Worth to three consecutive years, following a 2023 Design Award for his 110 Walnut Street studio in Glen Rose and a 2024 Design Award for the Frazier Conservatory family retreat and public event compound near Stephenville. The conceptual Studio Award for Animal Sanctuary adds to earlier Studio Awards from both AIA Fort Worth and the Texas Society of Architects.
Taken together, these honors validate Garnett's decision to strike out on his own — even as the profession trends toward consolidation — and to keep his practice small enough that he can stay personally involved in every step of a project. The result is a single authorial voice that delivers design-forward, site-specific work to a tightly curated client list, shaped by a homegrown Texas modern ethos that clients, juries and editors now recognize as distinctly his.
"My work is very much about being on the land — walking it over and over until the design feels inevitable in that spot," Garnett said. "Early on I even camped out on sites to understand them, and that instinct is still there: read the topography, live in the views, then come back to the studio and draw from real experience. I'm grateful to the clients who want to share that process and to AIA Fort Worth for providing a beacon for thoughtful, design-driven work in our region."
Elk Edge Retreat, the jury's choice for Garnett's 2025 Design Award of Merit, is a weekend home and rural retreat for a Dallas executive. Sited on a remote ranch at the far edge of Somervell County, the structure is calibrated to immerse its occupants in surrounding hills, open sky, and wildlife. A limited palette of native limestone, wood, concrete and steel creates warmth and cohesion, while deep porches and expansive glazing extend daily life outdoors and frame long views of pasture and elk. At the awards ceremony, jurors noted the project's "trifecta" of landscape, architecture, and interiors, the attention paid to every corner of the design through richly detailed, carefully considered materials, and the sense that the house feels settled into the landscape.
If Elk Edge Retreat represents Garnett's interest in private family havens, the Animal Sanctuary shows how the same concerns play out in a community-facing setting. The Studio Award–winning concept brings together animal adoption, therapy, and environmental stewardship on a proposed site in Weatherford. The design includes specific locations for a comprehensive dog adoption center, equine therapy stables, and a range of animal-assisted mental health programs.
During the jury presentation, the judges noted Animal Sanctuary as an exemplary case of placemaking with an economy of means. They highlighted the way the simple linear elements generate a rich network of courtyards and paths, and the emphasis on the experience of walking through the project. Jurors also pointed to the sensitivity shown toward both people and animals — from the organization of therapeutic programs around landscaped outdoor rooms to the attention paid to the views shelter dogs enjoy from the kennels.
These two award-winning projects sit within a broader trajectory for Garnett's studio. While the architect continues to design one-of-a-kind residences and ranch compounds, he has increasingly turned his attention to public-facing projects and has begun actively crafting a next chapter in which his architecture, shaped by ideas of sanctuary and a deep sense of place, will appear more visibly in the public sphere.
"For me, these awards are encouragement to keep pushing the same questions about refuge and place into more public work," Garnett said. "Whether it's a family retreat or a gallery, museum or community space, the goal is the same: to make architecture that feels inevitable in its setting and generous to the people who use it."
ABOUT JEFF GARNETT, ARCHITECT
Jeff Garnett Architect was formed with the primary goal of creating meaningful, design-driven architecture. Clean lines, thoughtful details, and highly creative design solutions are the foundation of this practice. From schematic design to final construction, every project is approached carefully and uniquely with a sharpened focus on design and client collaboration.
Visit jeffgarnettarchitect.com or follow Jeff Garnett on Instagram for more information.
ABOUT AIA FORT WORTH
Founded in 1946, AIA Fort Worth — a chapter of The American Institute of Architects (AIA) — is a professional organization of architects from the North Texas counties of Comanche, Cooke, Eastland, Erath, Haskell, Hood, Jack, Johnson, Palo Pinto, Parker, Somervell, Stephens, Tarrant, Throckmorton, and Wise. The premiere voice for the architecture profession in the region and a resource for members in their service to society, AIA Fort Worth celebrates excellence in architecture, works to promote growth and the value of the profession to the public, and unifies the regional membership in service to the craft.
Presented annually, the AIA Fort Worth Design Awards honor projects that exemplify outstanding contributions to the field of architecture.
Visit aiafw.org for more information.
High-resolution images available upon request.
Media Contact
Elizabeth Menes, Jeff Garnett, Architect, 1 817-405-9878, [email protected], https://www.jeffgarnettarchitect.com/
SOURCE Jeff Garnett, Architect
Share this article