UrbanPublicSpaces.com

At Minute Maid Baseball Park–home of the Houston Astros–there is a privately maintained park space open to the sidewalk with perfectly maintain grass, plants, trees, statuary, and covered benches that are actually dug outs in the simulated ball field setting. As you walk to the edge and glance in the park you will get the feeling of neighborhood baseball games.  Next time you are going to a game take a moment, step off the sidewalk and enjoy the space, the baseball history and a serene moment. (more…)

When Chevron moved their corporate headquaters to downtown Houston they moved into the two towers on Smith St. and out of Houston Center 3 that was known as the Chevron Building. So that made a great property available and the law form of Fullbright and Jaworski grab it. The space is at the Fubright Tower at the corner of McKinney and Caroline. (more…)

Hines, a world leader in real estate investment, built an elegant public space at the corner of Lamar and Louisiana Streets in downtown Houston. The area had been a large open paved patio with a large contemporary sculpture that 99.9% of the public hurried past–it did not contribute to their day. (more…)

Houston Center is a business, living and leisure complex of sky-walk connected buildings in downtown Houston. The buildings and the centrally located garden in this photo are managed by Crescent Real Estate Equities, Ltd. The garden, at the corner of McKinney and Caroline, is a great place to get away from the glass, metal and concrete world of the inner downtown Houston office towers. (more…)

Discovery Green is a privately built, managed and programed park on the east side of downtown Houston.  The original concept planning was lead by Project for Public Spaces (PPS) who lead two well attended full-day sessions in the George R. Brown Convention Center (see building in the background of photo) with attendees who responded to city-wide invitations.  Following PPS’s philosophy, the park has many separate destinations with something to do or participate in every day. (more…)