USGBC Natural Talent Design Competition 2009 - Houston Chapter

COMPETITION CHALLENGE
The focus of this competition is to assess and address the potential of meandering Buffalo Bayou, especially as it silently slips out of downtown Houston toward the Houston Ship Channel and the Gulf of Mexico. Each participant will consider the best use of the chosen bayou site in developing a Sustainable Site Plan and a Carbon-Neutral Environmental Laboratory and incorporate educational and interpretive facilities along with a recreational trail that will extend throughout the project area near the water’s edge. In collaboration with the Buffalo Bayou Partnership, successful competitors will create a Buffalo Bayou Sustainable Site Plan as a demonstration of the BBP master plan (see http://www.buffalobayou.org/masterplan.html). Successful competitors will also conceptualize and thoroughly develop individual building designs for a Carbon-Neutral Environmental Laboratory that support the intentions of the Sustainable Site Plan. Research, documentation and analysis will underlie the formulation of the site plan for the property and the subsequently developed building designs. With support from the BBP and the USGBC, the competition will illustrate to the City leadership and the larger Houston community the potential of Buffalo Bayou as a public recreational, environmental, transportation and aesthetic asset.

PROJECT CONTEXT & LOCATION
The site is a former municipal sewage treatment plant that is will serve as the new field operations of the Buffalo Bayou Partnership and is located at 5500 Armour Drive. It is bounded on the south by Buffalo Bayou, on the west by elevated Lockwood Drive as it crosses the bayou, on the east by a neighboring industrial facility, Lee O. C. Terminals and on the north by Armour Drive.

Brief (PDF)