NewUrbanStreets

Banners are a favorite addition to the streetscape as they create a festive feel and a sense of pageantry. But they are not inexpensive to install and maintain and will take more staff time than you may think. One of the big issues in Houston is what is allowable on the banner–the type of content–and the quality of the image. In Houston, we have a very strict sign ordinance that comes into play as soon someone wants to use the banner as a sign depicting a company, service or product. There is a short list of special provisions that allow for deviations from the norm for specific areas and for very large events. (more…)

In the final phase of the Cotswold program the architect was approached by the local association of interior decorators who wanted to contribute two art elements to the streetscape. The offer was to design, build and install two “chairs” and the paver “stage” inside the concrete ring created by the street contractor. The Chenevert-Commerce intersection in downtown Houston was selected. The street re-construction design was prepared showing the landscaping–large crepe myrtles visible in the photos–and the “stage” for the two installations.

The chairs are quite different as you can see. I like the tall one made to look like tree limbs. Both are made of durable steel and add an unusual element to the intersection. I often wonder what people think when they notice them and how often they are noticed. That intersection is a few blocks north of Minute Maid Baseball Park in an area that is still largely parking lots.  Click here for a map. (more…)

This fountain symbolizes the meandering bayous of the Houston area with their rising and falling water levels. The water from the adjacent pump/water treatment vault streams up a hole in the center of the large center stone. From the center channels are carved in winding paths and the water flows to the edge where the water runs down the rough side of the stone, through a grate and into the collection trench around the perimeter of the large stone. The water in the trench flows by gravity to the wet well that is part of the pump/water treatment vault.

The stone covered sidewalk around the center stone extend out around stone benches. The sidewalk stone has shallow wandering “bayous” continuing out from the center stone. The “bayou’s” bottoms are stained black. The fountain is circled by Mexican Sycamore trees found along the bayous in Houston. (more…)

The two “picnic table” fountains were built in the focal point of two quarter-circle benches added to Market Square Park during its restoration in the 1990s. The benches are covered with painted tiles that depict a festive scene. The tiles are embedded in the concrete and were created by and installation overseen then by the artist Malou Flato of Austin, Texas.

The “fountains”, added by the Cotswold project about 10 years later, are actually 1-inch deep circular pools with the bottom being more ceramics by Ms. Flato. She created a picnic table setting using the same colors are ceramics she used years before. Again she oversaw the placement of the tiles inside the concrete “table” built by the general contractor. This is a great use of art in a casual setting and very fitting for a neighborhood park. (more…)

Many of the locations of art in the sidewalk is where the art is part of a fountain. When reading here about the installation and components of the fountains I have, or will as those posts are completed, talk about the art components. The Cotswold program that added the fountains was assisted by the Cultural Arts Council of Houston and Harris County. (more…)

At Crawford and Preston (map) is my favorite fountain–a 5-foot diameter bronze baseball across Crawford St. from the entrance to Minute Maid Baseball Park. The setting is to depict a baseball hit out of the Park–of course by one of the Astros– that landed in the sidewalk, breaking water lines and the water gushing up almost onto the broken sidewalk. There have been thousands of photographs taken in front of it and more than a few with kids on top of it. It is part of a wonderful memory for many people.  (more…)