The Eastern Glades was the first major project completed in Houston’s Memorial Park from the Landscape Architect’s 2015 Master Plan. The project reclaims 100 acres of previously inaccessible land at the park’s eastern edge for visitors to enjoy. Now, a new formal entrance leads to miles of recreational trails and an established lake with a thriving ecological zone around it. Each section of this project was planned and cultivated to bring forth the richness of this region’s past and future.

Working with the Memorial Park Conservancy, the Landscape Architect and a team of restoration specialists sought a robust and regenerative future for this ecologically depressed section of the park and to incorporate the biological and cultural histories of the lands into ensuing designs. To combat the environmental imbalances and extreme climate stressors, they pursued a richly layered reclamation of the expanse through native species. The long-abandoned landscape also holds remnants of Camp Logan, a World War I-era military training facility, a past brought back to view in a thorough restructuring that opens a primary new urban gateway to the park, creates a system of adaptive natural stormwater infrastructure, and sets a foundation for richer ecologies over time.

Memorial Park’s new formal entrance at Blossom Street welcomes visitors into a large pedestrian plaza, where that once obscured history becomes immediately apparent. Stone pillars on the plaza mark the original entrance to Camp Logan. Around the gateway, native plantings set against a forested background complete a ceremonial threshold inviting everyone to explore what lies beyond.

Continuing toward the center of the Glades, an expansive nine-acre oval of open lawns and native plantings pays tribute to the park’s original 1930s plan, encircled by a pedestrian promenade. Within this generous pleasure ground, people can picnic, play, or relax on lush greens punctuated by trees and pockets of native grasses.

To the west of the lawn, Hines Lake spreads out like a shimmering mirror. The lake and surrounding wetlands were designed as soft infrastructure engineered to ease floods by capturing stormwater for eventual reuse in the park. A system of bioswales collects and filters rainwater that flows to the lake, supporting a healthier aquatic habitat for turtles, fish, frogs, and water birds — and, of course, giving people a living watery theatre of calm and natural beauty to wander about unhurried. Around the lake are terraces and pathways where people can observe nature along the water’s edge. The lake’s East Terrace provides a wide, elegant overlook along the pedestrian promenade, with seating on a lower level near the water’s edge. Directly across the water, the West Terrace nestles into the curving lakeshore, where bench seating faces grand views amid peaceful seclusion. A boardwalk meanders along this hushed side of the lake, where visitors can watch the community of dragonflies, red-eared turtles, green tree frogs, least grebes, and black-bellied whistling ducks, among other wildlife at home in this city hideaway.

Another boardwalk through the forested wetlands runs in angles — a form inspired by trees felled randomly by drought. This path offers close-up views of the wetlands’ complex web of life, the dynamics of which visitors can learn from interpretive signage along the way. This wet woodland is one of Memorial Park’s prime spots for birdwatching, a home to white egrets, great blue herons, red-tailed hawks, and yellow-crowned night herons. Seating along the boardwalk invites people to take time to observe all the action unfolding in this urban wilderness.

Elsewhere, groups of visitors to the park have new places to gather in the shade. At the promenade’s southern end are two pavilions and nearby picnic areas. The design of these pavilions and two new rest stations recalls the historical architecture of Camp Logan. Through each aspect of the Eastern Glades, the Master Plan’s vision comes alive, restoring and reconnecting the natural environment to support ecological health and resiliency, and providing the people of Houston, a beautiful series of free, open spaces in their city park.

• Other landscape architecture offices involved in the design of the landscape:
Lauren Griffith Associates

• Architecture offices involved in the design:
English + Associates Architects

• Other credits:
Uptown Development Authority – Engagement Consultant
Houston Parks & Recreation Department – Engagement Consultant
Walter P Moore – Civil and Traffic Engineering
Henderson Rogers Structural Engineers – Structural Engineers
Gandy2 Lighting Design – Lighting Design
Minor Design – Signage & Graphic Design
Berg Oliver Associates – Environmental Consultant
James Pole Irrigation – Irrigation Consultant
E&C Engineers & Consultants Inc – MEP
Olsson Associates – Soils
4b Technology Group – Security
Ecological Landscape Management – Operations and Management
Gray & Pape Heritage Management – Archaeology
Sherwood Design Engineers – Drainage Engineer (Phase 1 Parking Lot)
Pin Oak Interests – Construction Management
Tellepsen Builders – General Contractor
Shooter and Lindsey – Landscape Contractor
York Bridge Solutions – Boardwalks and Pedestrian Bridges
Schlitzberger Stone Designs – Stone Masonry
Renfrow + Co – Custom Site Furnishings

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