What does it take to create a new link within an existing community? For our Houston designers, they have been hard at work for more than the past decade in creating a city-wide green system of Bayous and pedestrian trails for environmental—as well as social—good. And now, the famed Buffalo Bayou is getting another pedestrian bridge. In addition to creating ways to mitigate the wet landscape of this urban area, the park features a series of five bridges that cross the Bayou and connect neighborhoods together. The first pedestrian bridge over Buffalo Bayou was built at the Hobby Convention Center back in 2005 as part of the Buffalo Bayou Promenade. The Rosemont Bridge was built next in 2009 and opened in 2010 to great success.

Today, we spoke with Tim Peterson, Kevin Shanley, Josh Lock, and Scott McCready as they take us behind-the-scenes of the next bridge as it goes up between the Houston Heights and Montrose neighborhoods in Houston.

What’s the name of this next bridge and where is it located?

The Jackson Hill Bridge spans Buffalo Bayou just west of Waugh Drive. Construction is slated to be finished by Fall 2013 and the bridge will be open to the public at that time.

How big is it?

345 Linear feet.

What is it made out of?

Weathering steel truss bridge with pressure treated pine deck.

What is remarkable about the construction process for this bridge?

The bridge is being delivered in six sections and will be bolted together in sections of two and lifted into place. The clear span across the bayou from column to column stretches 150’. Galvanized guardrails are being fabricated along with the galvanized column pylons which will extrude an additional 15’ above the bridge deck and will be internally illuminated. The lighting will shine through a pattern that will be cut into the steel pylon surfaces. The pattern represents the changing appearance of the moon during the lunar cycle. Phase 2 work includes reforestation tree planting that will be installed in the areas where vegetation was cleared to make room for the bridge construction.

Here, they show us how it works — just how, exactly, this new bridge comes to be in its new home:

The Jackson Hill Bridge is located at Waugh and Buffalo Bayou. Before construction started, the site was cleared to accommodate the crane and required machinery.

Fifty foot deep piers are filled with concrete and a matrix of rebar to anchor the structure. The Pedestrian Bridge was designed by SWA Group and RDP Engineers.

A grid of rebar reinforces the Pier Cap.

Concrete was poured into the pier cap.

The 40’ tall columns are lowered into a bath of molten zinc until it reaches bath temperature of 840 degrees Fahrenheit, at which time the zinc reacts with steel to form zinc/iron intermetalic layers on all surfaces.

Workers guide the column out of the largest dipping tank in North America (approximately 60’ long and 8’ wide).

Each bridge column was placed on a flat bed truck and shipped to the site for installation.

The column is lifted by a crane and slipped onto the awaiting pier cap (General Contractors: Millis Development, Inc.).

Final adjustments are made and the column is bolted into place.

The bridge is built offsite in a warehouse and delivered to the site in six sections. The clear span across the bayou from column to column stretches 150’.

Two sections of the bridge are bolted together and lifted into place.

The final stretch of the weathering steel truss bridge is lowered into place.

Galvanized guardrails are being fabricated which will extrude an additional 15’ above the bridge deck at each column and will be internally illuminated. The lighting will shine through a pattern that will be cut into the steel pylon surfaces. The pattern represents the changing appearance of the moon during the lunar cycle.

Bridge decking material is pressure treated southern yellow pine fastened to the steel truss bridge with corrosion resistant bolts.

Phase 2 work includes reforestation of the areas where vegetation was cleared to make room for the bridge construction. Abutments and columns are currently under construction at the Police Memorial where an additional pedestrian bridge to span Buffalo Bayou is under fabrication and schedule to arrive later this summer.

Eager Houstonians look on as the Jackson Hill Bridge comes one step closer to completion.

What’s next?

Abutments and columns are currently under construction at the Police Memorial where an additional pedestrian bridge to span Buffalo Bayou is under fabrication and schedule to arrive later this summer.

Client: Buffalo Bayou Partnership
Designers: SWA Group
Structural Engineer: RDP Engineers
General Contractor: Millis Development, Inc.
Bridge Fabricator: Excel Bridge

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One Response to “Behind the Scenes: Designing Jackson Hill Bridge, The Next Pedestrian Bridge for Buffalo Bayou in Houston”

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Posted by Sarah Peck
in Landscape Infrastructure, News
on 29 June, 2013

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Beijing Finance Street, a project with the landscape as a central spine in an 18-block real-estate and mixed-use development. Photography by Tom Fox. What is the future of the corporate campus? As designers work with the next generation of real estate leaders, I had a chance to write about the changes happening in the… Read more »

Beijing Finance Street, a project with the landscape as a central spine in an 18-block real-estate and mixed-use development. Photography by Tom Fox.

What is the future of the corporate campus? As designers work with the next generation of real estate leaders, I had a chance to write about the changes happening in the design world and what “Corporate Campus 3.0″ will look like. The following is an excerpt from The LEADER, Corporate Real Estate & Workplace (May/June 2013).

Cultural Urbanism and Landscape Urbanism: Corporate Campus 3.0

As populations have begun a trend toward ‘re-urbanization,’ companies are faced with creating workplaces that centralize their business while also giving employees the sustainable, community-driven environment they desire. There is no greater place to see this creative tension than in the hotbed of the technology industry — Silicon Valley.

Demographic and sociological changes are transforming how a campus “works” for companies attracting mobile, educated, talented employees. These knowledge workers seek out the best fit for their career, of course, but they are also highly motivated by sociological and lifestyle aspirations. That means companies find they can no longer just ‘build it, and they will come,’ but are creating workplaces that are often a key reason an employee chooses the company, and more importantly, stays.

Cultural urbanism and landscape urbanism, two design trends that have been taking on a strong influence in real estate development, are springing up in Silicon Valley and San Francisco and resonating in places from Beijing to Salt Lake City. What do these guideposts offer facility designers worldwide?

Beijing Finance Street, Photography by Tom Fox.

In Northern California, workplace design is creating spaces that take into account the cultural and physical surroundings that make the area unique and attractive in the first place. This ‘cultural urbanism’ borrows from a place’s context so that facilities enhance the work experience as well as contribute to the communities in which they are built. In purely urban environments like San Francisco, companies such as Twitter, Salesforce and others are adopting spaces that reflect the urban vibe and excitement of living and working in one of the world’s greatest cities.

It’s a slightly different story in Silicon Valley, whose origins were orchards and farms before technology took root. The context and attractions of this suburban environment derive more from the landscapes and outdoors — and also bring the outdoors in. ‘Landscape urbanism’ suggests that facility designers approach a campus here even more through the lens of the land and natural systems and literally build upon those cues. But even Silicon Valley is becoming more urban as densities increase along highway and rail corridors.

According to a report published by the Silicon Valley Community Foundation in 2012, 30 percent of the total population of Silicon Valley is 25-44 years old. While this is essentially average for American cities, it’s unusual for this once-suburban locale whose very name — Silicon Valley — eludes having a main city or “address.” Every day, masses of young professionals commute from surrounding areas. They want to work in the technology industry, but also want aspects of an urban lifestyle with the convenience of the city.

In all these situations, corporate real estate directors and developers are changing the standards of the corporate campus — urban and suburban alike — from one dictated by the car and an interior-focused workplace, to one of landscape-driven, culturally-resonant urban design. These workplaces incorporate a sensibility of their individual settings, while maximizing the opportunities of sustainable design, ample public space and local infrastructure.

The question, then, is how do developers and designers create places that promote cultural identity and foster more frequent and higher-quality social interaction, both within the workplace to foster ideas and creativity, and within the community to enhance responsible corporate citizenship?

This was part of the ASLA Northern California Chapter Lecture Series this Spring 2013 (May 21, 2013). Read the full article on The LEADER, May/June 2013, here.

Rene Bihan is the Managing Principal of SWA Group’s San Francisco Office and the lead writer for “Landscape Is The Answer,“ a blog series here on IDEAS focused on understanding landscape (and design’s) role in creating better urban, social, and environmental places.

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Posted by ReneBihan
in Landscape Infrastructure, Landscape is the Answer, Landscape Urbanism
on 20 June, 2013

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Designing in the public interest is often challenging–and controversial. How do you know when to do public interest work and when pro-bono efforts are going towards greater good? In our office with the recent launch of our pro-bono Social Impact Design Initiative and partnership with the 1% Program at Public Architecture, we continue to learn from our work… Read more »

Chris Hardy, a designer with our San Francisco office, gave a lecture at ASLA’s Northern California Chapter this Spring to talk about the benefits and challenges of pro-bono work. In the lecture, he mentions six ways that pro-bono work makes us better designers:

New and otherwise unavailable projects help us broaden our experience and train young and intermediate designers in on-the-ground project work;
Each project makes us better designers, particularly (and often) locally;
Younger staff can take ownership over the process in ways that might not be available yet in big office-wide projects within the firm and demonstrate leadership and project management skills;
The project is often an opportunity for mentorship and learning between staff and new contacts within the field;
Strategic volunteering–when a project is pro-bono at first but beneficial to the firm in the long-term–can bring projects that are otherwise unavailable to the firm. For example, when a community has a need for an amenity that’s very strong, but there’s no visioning documents or initial support, a landscape architect can assist with the visual and preliminary documents needed to get a project up and running to later phases;
Inter-office collaboration: with quick charrettes and idea brainstorming, you can meet people within the office and collaborate on a quick project with a tight timeframe and generate new ideas quickly.

Additionally, Chris noted that pro-bono and local projects are “often small enough to get your hands dirty” and they are also discrete–in that you can finish them–so that designers can participate in local design-build projects they can point to fairly quickly. These projects, in turn, serve as a model to help us do more work in the field in the future and act as a catalyst for creating a new market or niche area of expertise within your firm.

As he concludes in his lecture, “pro-bono work is often the beginning of a longer process, and we can learn a lot while doing it and capitalize on our experiences to share and grow.”

“As long as we’re passionate, that’s all that matters.”

Chris Hardy is a designer with SWA’s San Francisco office; he holds an MLA from Cornell University and a B.S. In Conservation Biology from Duke University. He is part of the Social Impact Design Initiative at SWA and spearheads projects focused on ecological design and collaborative community infrastructure.

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Posted by Sarah Peck
in Community, Social Impact
on 12 June, 2013

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Long after the media stops talking about the damage done from hurricanes like Sandy, Ike, and Katrina, in each of our communities, we are left with the task of rebuilding our coastlines and cities to be more resilient to the wipe outs that take years to recover from. Today, after eight years, have we forgotten… Read more »

In a feature-length interview with Jared Green on ASLA’s The DIRT Blog, CEO Kevin Shanley speaks about the future of our coasts and the need for long-term resilience strategies. The news media isn’t a good place to host conversations about our coasts, because the long-term planning and strategies needed for resilience require dedication over decades, not a sensational headline.

“The challenge after Sandy is to ask ourselves what’s the next thing that’s going to distract everybody? In 2001, Houston was hit not with a hurricane but with a really amazing tropical storm called Allison. It dumped thirty inches of rain in twenty-four hours. It flooded seventy-five thousand homes and ninety five thousand cars. It was an amazing flood. It actually tracked all the way up to Canada. Post-Allison, many good things started to happen and a number actually did happen. There were bigger policy changes and changes that many of us were working on, but then in September 2001, guess what happened? The national attention, the local attention, everybody’s attention totally changed and a lot of policy-changing momentum was lost.”

“The lesson we need to learn is quite important: we forget really quickly. Katrina happened, now eight years ago. Some structural changes were made to the levee system, but all of the really great plans to re-build New Orleans as a more sustainable community, a better community, a more integrated community came to nothing. In Houston in 2008, Hurricane Ike was a near miss.”

What can we do to improve our cities and our coasts? How can we become more resilient? And are soft infrastructure approaches the best strategy — or are they also problematic?

Check out the entire interview on The Dirt.

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Posted by Sarah Peck
in Bayou By Us, Performance Planning
on 16 May, 2013

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Created by of the founders of GOOD, the Goldhirsh Foundation supports innovators through grants whose ideas can shape and change the world. This year the Goldhirsh Foundation is tackling a new approach to grant making through the “My LA2050 challenge.” This application is specific to the Los Angeles region and the opportunities for its future, but open to voting by everyone. My LA2050 will support the areas of arts & cultural vitality, education, environmental quality, health, housing, income & employment, public safety and social connectedness.

As part of our ongoing collaboration with From Lot to Spot, we submitted an application that addresses the need for urban revitalization by the greening of community spaces: we have seven days left to collect votes for the project to receive funding (deadline: April 17, 2013)!

Our goal is to create a planning and implementation tool that will assist in the realization and installation of simple landscape based interventions. The manual will lay out details on how to identify and create green space networks in low-income communities and how to implement green spaces with the utmost respect to the environment. Given the opportunity we would provide communities, city officials, friends and neighbors a tool to create much needed green spaces throughout Los Angeles.

Can you imagine a Los Angeles with a large system of parks, gardens, micro-spaces, plazitas, parklets, pedestrian walkways that lead to and from work, play and living spaces? By taking simple ideologies of space, connectivity and landscape, Los Angeles can become a beacon for urban environments around the country. We want the community to be involved in the planning and construction of green spaces which are in their neighborhoods, to make a deeper connection to their environment. These are grassroots play spaces, nature spaces and contemplative spaces. With the implementation of these green spaces, Los Angeles will reap the benefits of planting trees and vegetation that sequester carbon emissions and improve air quality; designing permeable surfaces such as low/no-mow grasses and porous paving will capture and clean stormwater; creating beautiful, clean green spaces will spur economic investment; and providing areas where adults and youth can interact with the natural environment in their neighborhoods will create ample health and wellness opportunities by combating nature deficit disorder.

These will be green spaces that will support communities to thrive, not just survive.

Please vote for this project and help us make a significant impact in Los Angeles!

Thank you!

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Posted by Martina Dolejs
in Landscape Infrastructure, Social Impact
on 11 April, 2013

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Over the past year, a group of designers from all of our offices have been slowly building up a formal library of all of our various pro-bono projects we’ve been a part of over the years. While doing projects above and beyond our client work is nothing new to SWA—our involvement with the Bayous in Houston and investing in our local schools and parks are just a few of many examples—we’re excited to formalize our efforts and officially join the 1% program with Public Architecture. The 1% program is a national movement in partnership with the AIA that promotes pro bono architectural efforts in the public interest.

Public Architecture_Home Page Screen Shot

“The 1% program of Public Architecture connects nonprofit organizations in need of design assistance with architecture and design firms willing to donate their time on a pro bono basis. Launched by Public Architecture in 2005 with the support of a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, The 1% is a first-of-its-kind effort to encourage pro bono service within the architecture and design professions.” – Public Architecture

We believe that as designers, we are called to serve for the public good—to do design that benefits our communities, our environments, our global cities, and our world. At SWA, our social impact design initiative, spearheaded by Principal Cinda Gilliland and includes 36 designers from each of our seven offices.

Our Social Impact Design Initiative was born out of our curiosity and eagerness to find ways to continue to contribute design and planning skills locally and globally. As John Cary of Public Interest Design has written, we believe that everyone should have access to good design.

“The landscape architecture, planning and urban design community plays an increasingly necessary and important role in The 1% program,” says Amy Ress, The 1% Program Manager at Public Architecture. “We’re inspired by SWA’s vision and their commitment of more than 700 hours annually to improve communities in need.”

We’re excited about sharing more of our recent projects and chronicling our adventures here on this blog.

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Posted by Sarah Peck
in Community, Social Impact
on 10 April, 2013

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Behind the Scenes: Designing Jackson Hill Bridge, The Next Pedestrian Bridge for Buffalo Bayou in Houston

One Response to “Behind the Scenes: Designing Jackson Hill Bridge, The Next Pedestrian Bridge for Buffalo Bayou in Houston”

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