Wichita County Rest Area

The Wichita County Safety Rest Areas for the Texas Department of Transportation are located a few miles outside of Wichita Falls in Iowa Park, Texas. With one Safety Rest Area on the North side of the highway and another on the South, these rest areas are a convenient place to stop when entering or leaving the Wichita Falls area. TxDOT has made a recent push that new/renovated Safety Rest Stops have a regional and local influence, taking design, material and detailing cues from the area with the goal of providing notable architecture that will encourage travelers to stop and rest. Our project pays a basic homage to the dog-trot style building plans and intricate brickwork that are found historically in the Wichita Falls area. A detailed, curving brick veneer and a butterfly roof make these buildings expand on these concepts and provide a visually intriguing stop for road trips through the area. The structure is comprised of exposed and highly-detailed steel connections, CMU walls and exposed Cross-Laminated Timber roof panels. To mimic the dog-trot style, the lobby area of the main restroom building utilizes floor to ceiling windows to create visual openness where the porch of a dog-trot would have been located.

Once completed, each Safety Rest Area will have an air-conditioned restroom building with a vending area and storm shelter. The sites will also each have two picnic arbors with BBQs.