ABetteker: Redefining the Downtown Edge

The ULI/Hines design competition is an annual interdisciplinary competition for graduate students primarily in architecture, landscape architecture, city and regional planning, as well as business. The competition from winter of 2012 was set in Houston, TX along the edge of downtown, isolated by the Buffalo Bayou and two major highways. Site program had minimal requirements to increase low income housing, revitalize the existing land, and to be an overall well designed area.

I participated in this particular competition with an architecture student and a city and regional planning student. Our design was based on the overarching idea to create a defined boundary to the downtown and a gateway to the residential communities just beyond the site. The primary objectives for the site were to enhance the natural environment and processes within the city, to create new points of access to the site from across the bayou for vehicles and pedestrians, increase urban living opportunities, and to provide an atmosphere conducive for socializing and entertaining.

My specific tasks were: board layout, diagrams, wetland design, and the site section. The architecture student and myself worked out the overall site design while she focused on producing the master plan and renderings. Project pro forma was completed by the city and regional planning student.