IDEA: THE INTERECTION OF ART AND SUSTAINABILITY
Description:
Helios Plaza is the first facility constructed resulting from a master planning effort transforming a 90-acre, partially developed speculative office park into a single user corporate campus for British Petroleum (bp). The landscape for the 398,000 ft2 of office space and 1800 car parking garage is designed to be a new kind of workplace environment, one that develops the landscape as a natural extension of the traditional indoor work place, one that promotes social interaction while attracting and retaining the best and brightest. The site lives in the ecotone of the Katy Prairie and East Texas Woodland ecosystems. The design samples from both exploring principles of artful sustainability. The landscape immediate to Helios Plaza is in itself an ecotone, the margin between work-life and social-life, and it invites people outdoors to collaborate, make friends, innovate, hold business meetings, and have breakfast, lunch or dinner, play plaza chess or bocce ball or simply enjoy a beautiful day.
Awards:
Texas ASLA Honor Award, 2012, USGBC LEED Platinum Certified
Credits:
SWA Group, Scott Slaney, FASLA, Design Principal, Principal-in-Charge, Tim Griffith Photography
Role:
Landscape Master Planning, Conceptual Design, Schematic Design, Design Development, Construction Documents, Permitting, Cost Estimation, Bidding and Negotiations, Construction Observation
Client: Gensler
Stakeholders: British Petroleum
Consultants/Collaborators:
Gensler – Architects, LEED, Bovis Lend Lease– Project Managers, Walter P. Moore – Civil Engineers, Hydrology, Fluidity and Waterscape Consultants – Water Feature Engineers, Sweeny and Associates – Irrigation Design, Bos Lighting Design – Lighting Design, Energy Corridor Management District, Trees for Houston, Harris County Flood Control District
Date Complete: 2010
Area:
90 acre (36 hectares) Corporate Campus Master Plan
13 acre (5.2 hectares) Helios Plaza Site
Sustainability:
Permeable Surfaces, High Albedo Surfaces, Water Conservation through Native / Naturalized Plantings, Heat Island Mitigation, Storm Water Management, Storm Water Treatment, Rainwater Harvesting and Re-Use, Energy Conservation, Public Transportation Connectivity, Walkable, Bikeable, Material Re-Use