Now available: Dutch landscaping and design firm West 8’s master plan for the Houston Botanic Garden, complete with preliminary renderings of the future-former Glenbrook Park Golf Course (south of Park Place Blvd between I-45 and Galveston Rd.). The drawings include details of the so-called Botanical Mile walk-and-drive-way (shown above posing in Downward Dog over Sims Bayou): an arboreal bridge along the single-file parade of exotic trees is intended by the designers to serve as a new symbol for the city of Houston, better known currently for its general aversion to being outdoors.
According to the master plan document, the Botanical Mile will stretch along the western side of the garden and serve as the main entrance: visitors will enter the park from Park Place Blvd. and drive the length of the property to the parking lots, in the process crossing onto and back off of the large island created by a meandering limb of Sims Bayou:
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Here’s the Mile in place among the rest of the planned facilities, split by the bayou into the Island and South Gardens sections:
The Mile will consist of a narrow strip of trees able to flourish in Houston’s subtropical climate; the strip will be flanked on 1 side by a narrow pedestrian walkway and on the other by a road:
Current renderings show the trees parading high into the air in individual pots above the tire-and-footbridge as they march across Sims Bayou — though the planning document does concede that “practical considerations, like maintenance and traffic management, need to be considered as the design is developed”. Other bridges at the park appear to span the bayou sans arboreal aeronauts:
The trees will make a calmer crossing of the bayou meander further north along the Mile:
- Master Plan [Houston Botanic Garden]
- Previously on Swamplot: Houston Golf and Garden Groups Secure Funds to Preserve 1 Golf Course While Uprooting Another; City Council Approves Botanical Garden on Glenbrook Park Golf Course, Gus Wortham Course Renovations; Golfers and Gardeners Get Ground Rules for Grabbing Gus Wortham Park; How a Botanical Garden Would Fit on the Gus Wortham Golf Course and Other Tidbits from Last Night’s Hullabaloo; Garden Group Looking To Turn Gus Wortham Golf Course into Botanical Wonderland
Renderings: West 8
This looks like a great project. Landscape design in Houston has been in the doldrums for longer than I care to remember.
That bridge reminds me of the “Tolerance Bridge” that was proposed for Buffalo Bayou.
The arboreal bridge is not practical …. obviously the Dutch don’t get many hurricanes.
Beautiful renderings that are proposed for West 8 /Glenbrook Valley beautification.
Wouldn’t the soil in those pots get hot as hell in the summer? Is there a watering system built in?
“….intended by the designers to serve as a new symbol for the city of Houston, better know currently for its general aversion to being outdoors.”
Couldn’t resist it, could you?
Gathering from the design, it looks like the garden will not require an admission fee (you can just drive right through it). That is good. Also, it looks like one of the most interesting things to do at the garden would be to canoe or kayak around the loop. This might be the only spot in Houston where you can do a loop on a bayou instead of having to go point to point. But the design does not show any place for a boat launch or boat rental concession.
These Dutch know Houston very well! Add a road where one didn’t exist before, just because.
I see tons of people along Allen Parkway, the Heights Trail, in Memorial Park. Perhaps the aversion is because the city hasn’t offered much in the past except concrete and dirty air.
“landscaping and design firm”? West8 is one of the most well regarded landscape architecture practices out there. There is a difference between “landscaping” and “landscape architecture.” A landscape architect does work like this. A landscaper blows leaves.
I’m sure there will be an admission fee, just about every other large botanical garden in the country charges something.
Trees in pots can be kept alive with drip irrigation in the summer. Whether their idea for trees over a bridge is actually practical, that’s open for debate. Lots of these types of designs start out one way, and finish another.
“There is a difference between “landscaping†and “landscape architecture.†A landscape architect does work like this. A landscaper blows leaves.”
Somewhat true, but a landscape architect doesn’t necessarily know what plant material will grow in our climate ( or even a great deal about plants, mostly they are taught design), but a landscaper does.
@ShadyHeightster – Regardless, West8 are landscape architects and not landscapers. They have teamed with local landscape architects and, doing work for a botanic garden, it’s probably a safe assumption that the correct input from local plant specialists will be included. I would agree that the training of landscape architects does vary and regional knowledge is important for every project.
I am sorry, but I don’t think the bridge in this location is the best idea. I’ve been to meetings and they say it is the best location for traffic to access the botanical garden, but I would encourage them to approach the garden from the other side. I do water quality monitoring at this location and know Sims Bayou well. I also wonder about those trees during a hurricane. I guess they’d secure them? I am a landscape designer with a Master in Landscape Architecture, and I’ve seen West 8’s work in the Netherlands. I like their work, but I don’t like this idea very much. I don’t think it took much imagination to put a line of potted trees on an elevated bridge.
Can’t wait until one of the trees falls down and kills someone.
I like it, and assume the trees could be secured. Unfortunately, to make it “sue proof” I am sure some an ugly “sheild” would be necessary