On the day after earth day I want to share a well done high-security wall that was built to nurture slivers of green space in a location where soon there will be none. The photo shows the location and how nicely the dirt space fits into the wall without taking up precious sidewalk space. (more…)
Note – This is a followup article to Trees in the Parking Lane on Dallas St and Leaves Stamped in Concrete.
There is another thing we tried in the Dallas St. project to give it a special urban identity. The traffic engineers–correctly applying the requirements of the traffic control manual–said there had to be a continuous white line between the parking lane (with the trees) and the lane of moving traffic. We have enough of the unappealing look of chipped, ragged thermoplastic stripping and the fading painted stripes. Besides, that is so typical and this street needed to have its own character–like many others in downtown Houston–but with a limited budget. (more…)
First, there is a street in Houston named Dallas Street. Plus the title to this article is correct as trees were planted and are growing in the parking lane on one side of that street. I do not know the story behind the street being named Dallas but I can share with you the story of the trees. Some would say this was the boldest experiment with streetscape enhancement and place-making in downtown Houston. I am confident it will be a resounding success as the kinks have been worked out–assuming drivers do not drive over the improved, traffic resistant configuration: i.e bollards. (more…)
Downtown Houston has a lot of room to grow into the parking lots–even in the “high-rise” district. 
The condition of the lots is almost totally at the discretion of the parking lot owners and their operating company if they have one. Most are kept ok but the drawback is the bleak, barren space that blends too easily with the public/pedestrian area; i.e. the sidewalk. At night the darker lots with cars next to the sidewalk worry some walkers that someone could be hiding in the shadows of the cars. Even though downtown Houston has the lowest crime rate in the City that is not much comfort for the pedestrian at night. (more…)
Prairie Street was home of the original Cotswold “Test Blocks” and has many amenities. In this post we will look at the “icons”.
The icons are pre-cast concrete structures on each block between Travis St. and Crawford St at Minute Maid Baseball Park. The two Test Blocks–the block either side of Main St.–have one at each end of each block. The other blocks have one each at each intersection. The planter pot on top is watered by the same irrigation system that waters the nearby new trees and planter beds.
Th
e fountains are not officially named the “manhole fountains” but that is appropriate as the intent was to depict two manholes where the lids were blown off during a heavy rain event–typical in a few places near here-and water gushing into the street. To add to the setting notice the “cones” -typically bright orange-surrounding the holes to warn cars. The cones are precast concrete and were also used as bollards in other areas on Preston St. See the article at this blog about the value of them as bollards. (more…)
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