Neighborhood park models resilient development and furthers a culture of health.
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DETAILS

LocationHouston, Texas, United States
ClientCity of Houston
Size37 acres

Houston’s Alief District is home to the city’s most ethnically diverse community. The 37-acre Alief Park and Community Center is the heart of that neighborhood, and is poised to be opened in late 2022. The project is a model for community services integration and resilient development for the region. It replaces the aging park’s infrastructure within a 100-year floodplain, and significantly improves the Center’s facilities, which were inadequate to support the growing demands of the multi-generational, multi-ethnic population.

SWA’s and EYP’s (now Page’s) design approach hinged on the three main concepts: first, a programmatic innovation that combines the City’s library, health, and park services around the concept of multi-dimensional health. Second, framing of the site as the civic “front porch”: a gathering place for the Alief community. Lastly, the team focused on the opportunity to create a new model for resilient development in Houston after the August 2017 Hurricane Harvey flood, elevating the architecture out of the floodplain and developing the park land to absorb flood impacts while providing much-needed recreational amenities.

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