Discovery green park houston12/26/2023 ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() It was extremely important that the park be specifically of Houston, and constructed with identity-defining (and sustainable) local materials. Save this picture! Courtesy of hargreaves associates The lake wraps around the slightly raised central performance stage allowing the audience on the landform amphitheater to enjoy expansive views over the water, Crawford Promenade, Interactive Fountain and Great Lawn, with the Houston skyline as a dramatic backdrop. Stone seating terraces and the hardwood piers draw visitors to the waters edge, encouraging them to cool their feet in the lake. Further north, Kinder Lake is punctuated by water gardens set between hardwood piers extending into the lake, and lush riparian plantings that transition into informal drifts of native trees and tall gulf coast grasses. North of the Oak Allee, the Great Lawn occupies the heart of the park and provides multi-use space for active recreation and temporary events as diverse as “Shakespeare in the Park” and a recent Lyle Lovett concert. The generous wood decks and “treehouse” terrace of The Grove blend restaurant and garden activities. South of the Oak Allee, the unique Urban Garden is a finely-textured and programmed mosaic comprised of themed botanic gardens, small scale recreation, performance spaces, interactive public art, and a small garden fountain. At a finer grain, the simple linear east-west organization of tree bands, program bands, and architecture channels cooling summer breezes across the park and accentuates dramatic views of downtown high-rises. The Oak Allee’s warm limestone path and seating nooks, set within a rich garden environment beneath the majestic overhanging canopies of the historic oaks, are a dramatic counterpoint to the highly-activated Crawford Promenade. The perpendicular Oak Allee celebrates a corridor of 100 year-old heritage oaks, re-creating a historic east-west connection across the site, and linking the Convention Center with downtown retail and office towers. This linear plaza, shaded by large Mexican Sycamore trees and defined by iconic paving and lighting, supports farmers markets, art fairs and parades, while linking the central activity of the park to major sporting venues to the north and south. The Crawford Promenade, a previous street vacated to consolidate park land, serves as the park’s central activity spine and armature of all major park spaces. Discovery Green's public opening occurred on Apduring the first two months of operation, an estimated 250,000 people visited the park.The park is organized around the structure of two dynamically juxtaposed cross axes, inherent within the existing site. The design of the park, led by landscape architecture firm Hargreaves Associates, began in 2005. Following the completion of land purchases in 2004, the Discovery Green Conservancy and the City jointly raised $125 million to construct the park. This partnership financed the purchase of a series of surface parking lots on the east side of Downtown. In the early 2000s, a public–private partnership between the City of Houston and a group of local philanthropic organizations, including the Kinder Foundation, was formed with the goal of constructing a new public green space in Downtown. ![]()
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