West 8 reveal design details for vast Houston Botanic Garden
Landscape architects West 8 have revealed their first clear-cut plans for a new 120 acre Houston Botanic Garden set to open to the Texas public in 2020.
The firm have released details of ‘Botanic Beginnings’, the first phase of their 120-acre masterplan for the site, which will be developed over the next three decades on a site located a short distance outside downtown Houston.
The Garden, conceived as “Houston’s next major cultural institution,” will include wetlands, a children’s garden and nature play area, picnic groves, a tree farm, trails and an events lawn. The Global Collection Garden will be the main attraction, with zones for tropical, subtropical and arid collections.
Described as a “living museum that showcases international and native plant collections,” West 8 said the first phase of the Garden will “be emblematic of the energy, diversity and spirit of Houston, America’s fastest growing, most multicultural metropolis.”
The design team will shape and sculpt the existing topography along a bayou edge to absorb and invite flooding above Houston’s 100-year floodplain, protecting the city’s buildings. Native waterways, meanwhile, will be integrated into the site, creating an immediate landscape identity and an important backdrop for some of the naturalistic and cultivated gardens, promoting and conserving plants from around the world.
“The astonishing array of plant life that can be grown in Houston, combined with this city’s love of gardens will make this one of the most beloved collections in the world,” said Claire Agre, principal of West 8’s design team, based in New York and Rotterdam.
“To be involved in the design of a cultural and scientific institution of such great relevance in our nation’s most diverse city is truly a once-in-a-career commission.”
Claudia Gee Vassar, president and general counsel of Houston Botanic Garden, added: “We’re honoured to be working with West 8, a visionary leader in landscape design,” said “With their expertise, we hope to bring Houstonians an urban oasis where they can disconnect and appreciate the beauty of nature—from rare and exotic plants they have never encountered to natural areas reflecting Houston’s ecosystems.”
The masterplan was approved by the city’s mayor in 2016. Construction and landscaping work is expected to begin this year.
The founder of West 8, Adriaan Geuze, is profiled in the last issue of CLADmag, and you can read the interview here.
West 8 Houston Botanic Garden TexasWest 8 to transform Dutch royal palace into leisure and innovation hub
'Forbidden land' to become public park as West 8 unveil vision for vacated military base in Seoul
West 8 unveil plans to revamp The Hague's seafront by building new dunes
Houston Botanic Garden: Landscape architects West 8 masterplan stunning natural attraction for Texas
FEATURE: Interview – Adriaan Geuze
Europe's premier Evian Spa unveiled at Hôtel Royal in France
Clinique La Prairie unveils health resort in China after two-year project
GoCo Health Innovation City in Sweden plans to lead the world in delivering wellness and new science
Four Seasons announces luxury wellness resort and residences at Amaala
Aman sister brand Janu debuts in Tokyo with four-floor urban wellness retreat
€38m geothermal spa and leisure centre to revitalise Croatian city of Bjelovar
Two Santani eco-friendly wellness resorts coming to Oman, partnered with Omran Group
Kerzner shows confidence in its Siro wellness hotel concept, revealing plans to open 100
Ritz-Carlton, Portland unveils skyline spa inspired by unfolding petals of a rose
Rogers Stirk Harbour & Partners are just one of the names behind The Emory hotel London and Surrenne private members club
Peninsula Hot Springs unveils AUS$11.7m sister site in Australian outback
IWBI creates WELL for residential programme to inspire healthy living environments
Conrad Orlando unveils water-inspired spa oasis amid billion-dollar Evermore Resort complex
Studio A+ realises striking urban hot springs retreat in China's Shanxi Province
Populous reveals plans for major e-sports arena in Saudi Arabia
Wake The Tiger launches new 1,000sq m expansion
Othership CEO envisions its urban bathhouses in every city in North America
Merlin teams up with Hasbro and Lego to create Peppa Pig experiences
SHA Wellness unveils highly-anticipated Mexico outpost
One&Only One Za’abeel opens in Dubai featuring striking design by Nikken Sekkei
Luxury spa hotel, Calcot Manor, creates new Grain Store health club
'World's largest' indoor ski centre by 10 Design slated to open in 2025
Murrayshall Country Estate awarded planning permission for multi-million-pound spa and leisure centre
Aman's Janu hotel by Pelli Clarke & Partners will have 4,000sq m of wellness space
Therme Group confirms Incheon Golden Harbor location for South Korean wellbeing resort
Universal Studios eyes the UK for first European resort
King of Bhutan unveils masterplan for Mindfulness City, designed by BIG, Arup and Cistri
Rural locations are the next frontier for expansion for the health club sector
Tonik Associates designs new suburban model for high-end Third Space health and wellness club
Aman sister brand Janu launching in Tokyo in 2024 with design by Denniston's Jean-Michel Gathy
Early-onset MS inspired Adria Lake to explore resilience as both a healing modality and an approach to design in the creation of her new home and company headquarters in Colorado