Houston, TX (17 March 2011) – Discovery Green is a winner in the first World Architecture News (WAN) Effectiveness Awards, announced in Cannes, France, on March 10. PageSoutherlandPage provided architecture, MEP engineering, LEED consulting and commissioning for the urban park, which opened in April 2008.

The WAN Effectiveness Awards is the first major international competition of its kind, aiming to find the best in architectural design that has profoundly impacted society, transcending the requirements of the client brief and aesthetic appeal. Entrants were asked to demonstrate how their building has benefited its users, the surrounding community and beyond socially, technologically, environmentally, economically or in terms of productivity.

Discovery Green converted 12 acres of land—mostly open parking lots—into an active civic amenity and green space in the heart of downtown Houston. The highly programmed park, located across from the George R. Brown Convention Center, has become a core of outdoor activity as well as a stimulus for residential and commercial development in downtown Houston. Visitation to the park has exceeded 2.5 million during its almost three years of operation, far exceeding projections and expectations. It has become a rich melting pot for Houston’s diverse population.

“The WAN awards are among the most coveted of international design awards, particularly the new Effectiveness Award, because it considers the economic, social and environmental impacts of the architecture,” says Lawrence W. Speck, FAIA, Principal of PageSoutherlandPage and lead designer on the project. “Receiving this award is a great honor for the whole large team of citizens, philanthropists and professionals who helped create Discovery Green and who have contributed to its continuing success.”

PageSoutherlandPage designed all the park's architectural elements as a model of sustainability.  The architecture encompasses two restaurants, a park administration building, underground parking for more than 650 vehicles, and site features including a bandstand, a children’s performance space, and various shade structures.  The buildings parallel two preexisting rows of live oaks, reinforcing their linear character and drawing activity deep into the park.  The buildings integrate seamlessly with the outdoor environment; porches, decks, terraces and outdoor rooms dominate every built element.

The site's three primary buildings feature deep porches and roofs that pitch to the north, providing shade and balanced daylight and drawing out warm air.  Optimal solar orientation, green roofs, photovoltaic arrays and the use of local, renewable and low volatile organic compound (VOC) materials further contribute to the project's Gold LEED certification from the U.S. Green Building Council.

Park highlights include a branch of the Houston Public Library, public art at the entryways to below-grade parking designed in collaboration with Austin artist Margo Sawyer, an iconic interactive fountain, pond and water gardens, a custom designed playground and two acres of lake and botanical gardens. An amphitheater landform with an outdoor stage frames the three-acre Great Lawn and provides expansive views of the Houston skyline.

Hargreaves Associates of San Francisco was the park's prime landscape architect and planner, with Houston landscape architect Lauren Griffith. Houston-based Miner-Dederick was the contractor.

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