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PROJECT Architecture of Discovery Green, Houston
CLIENT Discovery Green Conservancy
ARCHITECT PageSoutherlandPage
PRIME CONSULTANT, PARK PLANNER/LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT Hargreaves Associates
DESIGN TEAM (PageSoutherlandPage) Lawrence Speck, FAiA; Jeffrey Bricker, AIA; Robert Owens, AIA; Aaron Jones, AIA; (Hargreaves Associates) Mary Margaret Jones, FASLA; Jacob Peterson, ASLA
CONTRACTOR Miner-Dederick Construction
CONSULTANTS PageSoutherlandPage (MEP, LEED, commissioning); Schiller Del Grande (interior design, The Grove); Milton Architects (restaurant planner); Henderson & Rogers (structural, The Grove); Walter P Moore (structural, garage and connected structures); Hunt & Hunt Engineering Corp. (site/garage electrical); Lauren Griffith Associates (landscape architect); TGE Resources (environmental); TSC Engineering (civil)
PHOTOGRAPHER Eric Laignel Photography; Chris Cooper Photography; Julie Pizzo

In early 2004, a group of prominent local philanthropists negotiated a landmark deal with Houston Mayor Bill White. As outlined in the pact, the City of Houston contributed several downtown parcels in front of the George R. Brown Convention Center and the philanthropists agreed to fund the design and maintenance of a world-class park that promised to breathe new life into the urban core. Named through a public competition, the non-profi t Discovery Green Conservancy opened the $122 million park in April 2008 to widespread acclaim. The 11.8-acre urban amenity is located near the southeast edge of downtown, between the Toyota Center basketball arena and Minute Maid Park baseball stadium.

The Houston offi ce of PageSoutherlandPage, with firm principal Larry Speck, FAIA, leading the design team, was selected to design the park’s buildings, including two restaurants, administration headquarters, underground parking garage, and outdoor performance structures. Working within the design framework developed by landscape architect Mary Margaret Jones, FASLA, president of Hargreaves Associates, Speck developed a scheme that deftly integrates the buildings into the landscape. Unified by a consistent palette of masonry, metal, glass, and wood, the buildings are distinctly modern and respectful of their context. Speck is passionate about environmental responsibility and the buildings employ extensive daylighting, local materials, and a number of other sustainable features that are expected to earn the project LEED Gold certification.

The showpiece of Speck’s insertions is The Grove, a destination restaurant prominently located near the convention center and its associated hotel, the Hilton Americas-Houston that rises at the southern boundary of Discovery Green. The Grove’s main dining area is a crisp volume of glass and steel whose transparency completely integrates a picturesque grove of existing specimen oaks into the dining experience. The restaurant’s second fl oor comprises the Tree House, an intimate bar with a sizable banquet space and a terrace with a sweeping view of downtown. Clad entirely in wood and beautifully detailed, the banquet room demonstrates the seamless transition between interior and exterior spaces exhibited by all of the buildings on the site.

Located at the intersection of the park’s two primary pedestrian promenades, the administration headquarters and Lake House café are almost identical in size and elevation. The buildings form the necessary structural framework for the surrounding plazas, boardwalk, shallow lake, and interactive fountain. Each features a generous freestanding shade structure surmounted by photovoltaic arrays that generate an estimated eight percent of the electrical power used on site.

Floor-to-ceiling glazing in the administration offi ces keeps the staff visually connected to the day-to-day activities of the park. From his desk at the building’s northwest corner, Discovery Green President Guy Hagstette, AIA, keeps a watchful eye over the children’s playground and interactive fountain. “These buildings are an incredible environment to work in,” Hagstette says, “although sometimes with all the activity it can be challenging to get work done.”

Siting the café on the western edge of the Lake House, Speck ensured that the continual bustle of the outdoor dining area energizes the pedestrian promenade. The café off ers light fare and guests enjoy a tranquil panorama of the model-boat basin and the richly planted lake beyond. The Lake House also houses a branch of the Houston Public Library that provides reading material and wireless Internet access to park users at no cost.

The 670-car subterranean parking garage, owned and operated by the City of Houston, was also designed by PageSoutherlandPage. Planted with sod, the sloping roof of the garage structure is cleverly employed as the event lawn for the adjacent performance pavilion. Adorning two exit stairwells required for the garage are site-specifi c art installations by Margo Sawyer titled Synchronicity of Color. Sawyer, an Austin-based artist who has previously collaborated with Speck on projects, composed each work as a prismatic grid of brightly colored boxes. Two smaller pieces grace the exterior walls of the Lake House and The Grove.

Another two installations, both by sculptor Douglas Hollis, create interactive environments within the park’s gardens. Listening Vessels is a pair of limestone parabolas that projects the quietest conversation 70 feet from one monolith to the other. The stainless steel Mist Tree, although less compelling than Hollis’ previous Waterscape (2005; San Jose Civic Center in San Jose, Calif.) and Waterworks (2005; Cal Anderson Park in Seattle) installations, emits rain curtains and fog blasts that have proven immensely popular in Houston’s relentless summer heat.

Local artists Rebecca Bass and Mark Bradford also contributed pieces to the park, each transforming one of the golf carts used by the park staff into unique mobile artworks. In addition, Monument au Fantôme by the late French painter Jean Dubuff et is installed near the northeast corner of the park. The vibrant sculpture was relocated from its previous location outside of PageSoutherlandPage’s downtown offices.

Charrettes held throughout the design process ensured that the creative vision of each artist was successfully balanced with practical concerns for the safety of people using the park. “The artists were involved early in the process and it allowed them to select their own commissions,” says Discovery Green’s Hagstette. “In the end I think it generated much more interesting art.”

More striking than any individual feature of the park is the shared sense of ownership demonstrated by everyone involved in the project. The Conservancy’s continued commitment to involve the public in every aspect of the park has yielded a tremendous amount of civic pride in what has become known as “Houston’s backyard.” According to Hagstette, the sensitivity of the architectural interventions is a testament to Speck’s consummate professionalism. “Larry was committed to the park as a whole rather than as an architectural project. He integrated the buildings into the landscape without ego,” Hagstette says. “The results speak for themselves.”

--Nathan Elliott, Assoc. ASLA, is a senior associate with the office of James Burnett, a landscape architectural practice with offices in Houston and San Diego.

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