Pretending to be a tourist in his hometown, Misha from Tasty Bits puts together a day’s itinerary that includes the Breakfast Klub, the Rothko Chapel, the Menil, Westmoreland and Audubon Place, Nippon, . . . and Discovery Green:
11am: Head to Discovery Green to see exactly how much park $145 million dollars buys you. The corporate sponsorship at this place is a bit “enthusiasticâ€, but overall Disco Green (that’s what the cool kids call it these days, I hear) is a surprisingly good time. I didn’t bring my bocce balls or a putter, but I did have fun reflecting the best of Kraftwerk off the completely awesome Listening Vessels, designed by Doug Hollis. Being a bit stubborn, I also spent no less than half an hour trying to figure out if the Synchronicity of Color sculpture was interactive. It’s not, but feel free to give it a shot anyway.
The most interesting thing about Discovery Green is not how much it cost, but how much more livable Houston Downtown appears to be than it was as recently as 5 years ago. . . . Though a bit crammed with “featuresâ€, the park goes a nice job of combining a nature, architecture and art in a single organic space that anchors a new, far more residential Downtown than ever before.
- Itinerary: Rothko Chapel and Discovery Green [Tasty Bits]
Photo: Misha
I’m still of the mind that the taxpayer portion for this park was a little outrageous and more corporate sponsorship should have paid for it.
The park itself though does change the landscape of eastern downtown.
This park and the Houston Pavilions perform the job of connecting the GRB, Hilton Americas, and Toyota center to the west portions of downtown. The concept of walking from Main St to the GRB doesn’t appear as daunting as it once did. using the Park and the Pavilions provides a visual journey along with the walking one. You only have two blocks between the park and the Pavilions (but since they are still surface parking, it allows you to visually connect the two while walking).
To me, this reminds of how you can walk many blocks in downtown New Orleans and the French Quarter without it seeming like an endless trek.
The Park and the Pavilions provide a continuity across downtown. Here’s to private development for finishing it. They now have the other components they claim they needed. A park and a functioning commercial retail destination. Does anyone feel if Houston Pavilions is successful that it will turn out to what the Bayou Place was promised to be?