Discovery Green by Ami Patel

As befits its name, Discovery Green is an environmental showcase in the heart of downtown Houston. From the earliest stages of planning, Discovery Green Conservancy committed to building a park that could meet the highest environmental standards while providing beauty and usability to the public. The park is designed to use the latest technology in “green” building methods, energy conservation, and sustainable, environmentally friendly park operations. Discovery Green has earned a Gold rating from the LEED Green Building Rating System, which is the national benchmark for the design, construction, and operations of high-performance green buildings.  Here, the design concept becomes very clear; in a city where transportation is so dependent on the automobile, Discovery Green provides a positive space that acts as a relief and enhances the nature within the city.

Parks can play an important role in the urban landscape. Beyond typical recreational uses, urban parks offer people a refuge from city life, a place where they can relax and get away, socialize, and be in contact with nature. At the same time, urban parks can be the focal point of their surrounding community. Whether a venue for stewardship activities or cultural fairs, a park can help bring a community together and strengthen its identity (UMich).

            Discovery Green is organized around two cross axes. 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 (ArchDaily). While linkning the central activity of the park to major sporting venues to north and south, the linear plaza is shaded by large Mexican Sycamore trees and are defined by iconic paving and lighting which supports farmers markets, art fairs, and parades. These features that are captured within an area that is so condense by automobile, pedestrian, and business juxtapose downtown as a whole, letting hardscape and streetscape diffuse into one another. As you walk through Discovery Green, you are easily influenced by the shading of trees that celebrate the circulation, providing a way to dramatically interact with the surroundings of the site which make you forget you’re in downtown. While still noticing the verticality of the high-rise buildings that interject the sky across the horizon, the landscape features at Discovery Green activate the architecture on a smaller scale compared the buildings that surround it.

   In relation to Discovery Green, the idea of creating public facilities in architecture has been present for a long time. Public spaces that can be use toe multiple functions not only attract people, but also enhances city. Dating back to Classical Roman Architecture, the Coliseum, also known as the Flavian Amphitheatre, exemplified the unity of people within a space. The contrast between Discovery Green’s functions and those of the Coliseum’s are very clear; one is defines the hardscape using streetscape while the other was a symbol of power and wealth.  Aside from their differences, both structures exhibit the sense of ‘togetherness’ of people, which creates a symbol within itself. Being the largest amphitheater in the world, the Coliseum invites people, disregarding their social status, to enjoy entertainment. Discovery Green also uses the principles of unity by allowing different functions to interact with the space, such as dining, art installations, and other seasonal attractions.

In contrast to a classical reference of architecture, modern ideas also influence the design of Discovery Green. Represented in the practice of Louis Sullivan, the term “form follows function” is evident at Discovery Green. Though Discovery Green isn’t just one building on a site, the site creates the form of its intended use. The function of the park is best enhanced by the organization of trees that shade the circulation in a way the user is influenced by nature that diffuses the opposition of the surrounding of the site, high-rise buildings, and the site itself.

 Most importantly, Discovery Green has helped Houstonians re-conceive downtown as a destination for play as well as work. During the planning phase, attendance was projected at an ambitious 500,000 a year, which was actually achieved in the first six months. Six years later, in 2014, Discovery Green sees over 1.2 million visitors to its 600+ free events annually. As a village green for all Houstonians, Discovery Green has engendered a level of ownership by all residents in the downtown core and throughout the region, and instilled a renewed sense of civic pride in the city.

References

Visit Discovery Green. (n.d.). Retrieved February 1, 2015, from http://www.discoverygreen.com/visit

Architecture of Discovery Green. (n.d.). Retrieved February 1, 2015, from http://pagethink.com/v/project-detail/Architecture-of-Discovery-Green/4o/

"Discovery Green / Hargreaves Associates" 02 Jul 2011. ArchDaily. Accessed 29 Mar 2015. http://www.archdaily.com/?p=147437

Function of Colesieum. (n.d.). Retrieved March 28, 2015, from http://www.tribunesandtriumphs.org/colosseum/purpose-of-the-colosseum.htm

Kaplan, D. (2013, May 3). Discovery Green keeps giving city a fresh image. Retrieved March 29, 2015, from http://www.houstonchronicle.com/business/article/Discovery-Green-keeps-giving-city-a-fresh-image-4487898.php