Covered Sidewalks

[MrFubbles]

Are covered sidewalks legal to build? With the rising heat, how can we push for more shade on our streets?

Like this:

[editor]

I think they're probably legal. The older portion of what is now The Star has one. 
 

In downtown Chicago, they're encouraged. If your building has an arcade, you can get an extra floor or two on your permitted height. Same if you allow the public to use your lobby to traverse from one side of the block to the other. 
 

Obviously, that don't work in Houston, since there is no zoning. 
 

No zoning = No way to encourage good design. 

[MrFubbles]

I'd be interested to hear what the city thinks about giving concessions on certain building code requirements (like max. frameable square footage or easements) in exchange for the arcade shade. 

Posting this as I bake in the sun on Westheimer

[cspwal]

If I had to guess, covered sidewalks aren’t allowed without a variance on the visibility triangles, and might also not be allowed for setback reasons. An idea of how to encourage it would be allow you to build 2+ stories to the lot line (ie above the sidewalk if you want) if you have a covered public sidewalk 

[Houston19514]

5 hours ago, editor said:

I think they're probably legal. The older portion of what is now The Star has one. 
 

In downtown Chicago, they're encouraged. If your building has an arcade, you can get an extra floor or two on your permitted height. 

I guess they haven’t had many takers that led to covered sidewalks.

[august948]

9 hours ago, editor said:

I think they're probably legal. The older portion of what is now The Star has one. 
 

In downtown Chicago, they're encouraged. If your building has an arcade, you can get an extra floor or two on your permitted height. Same if you allow the public to use your lobby to traverse from one side of the block to the other. 
 

Obviously, that don't work in Houston, since there is no zoning. 
 

No zoning = No way to encourage good design. 

On the other hand, except when the sun is directly overhead, tall buildings on both sides of the road in a built-up urban environment will provide shade (as seen in the picture above).  Not against the concept, but it would be more relevant in suburban areas.

[editor]

3 hours ago, august948 said:

On the other hand, except when the sun is directly overhead, tall buildings on both sides of the road in a built-up urban environment will provide shade (as seen in the picture above).  Not against the concept, but it would be more relevant in suburban areas.

Only if the sun suddenly appears directly overhead.  

Generally, in urban environments — including downtown Houston — one side of the street ends up in full sun in the morning, they both bake in the mid-day, and the other side gets full sun in the afternoon.

 

[cspwal]

It's more relevant in Houston rain wise, at least in downtown. The few blocks with covered sidewalks can make even a large rain storm just anusiance - but only on those blocks

[MrFubbles]

In downtown there's enough building height to get decent shade on most streets, and the tunnels offer a dry path when it rains.

I'm more so talking about other walkable areas like Westheimer and Montrose. The only covered sidewalks in this area I'm aware of are in front of Pavement, Anvil (barely), Bamboo (on Montrose, closed) and Soundwaves, all of which I'm guessing got grandfathered in and are not legal to build today.

Why is that?

Edit: I'm talking specifically about covered city sidewalks, not just a canopy within the building ordinance

Edited July 20, 2023 by MrFubbles

[strickn]

19 hours ago, cspwal said:

If I had to guess, covered sidewalks aren’t allowed without a variance on the visibility triangles, and might also not be allowed for setback reasons. An idea of how to encourage it would be allow you to build 2+ stories to the lot line (ie above the sidewalk if you want) if you have a covered public sidewalk 

I agree.  I think it's the right time now for such an idea to be discussed and discovered by the public too.  You might want to submit it as a story idea to Houston Public Media's editorial staff.  
 

The visibility triangle would just make the square block fit an octagonal building and an octagonal covered sidewalk arcade.  Development overhead could be engineered to cantilever over the visibility triangles and adjacent city blocks could then be linked by translucent crosswalk awnings.  

Even if that were too expensive to catch on, new buildings could still arcade out beyond the original lot lines everywhere except at those four corners of a city block.

 

 

[samagon]

On 7/19/2023 at 6:14 PM, cspwal said:

If I had to guess, covered sidewalks aren’t allowed without a variance on the visibility triangles, and might also not be allowed for setback reasons. An idea of how to encourage it would be allow you to build 2+ stories to the lot line (ie above the sidewalk if you want) if you have a covered public sidewalk 

this was my initial thought, awnings are probably considered to be part of the building structure, and so would be subject to setback regulations.

I think trees end up being better, they won't hold the heat the same as an awning, and can be less imposing than an awning. they just take time to grow to a size that would work to provide enough shade.

[cspwal]

Good tree cover is definitely superior to awnings, but it would be nice to have a variety

[trymahjong]

I might be leaning toward this type of variety?

[trymahjong]

Todays chronicle........guess the need for awnings is gaining in popularity....

[ChannelTwoNews]

This is part of an overall plan for reducing the heat in Gulfton, but it looks like it could be adapted anywhere. Some of this proposal would likely have to be tweaked to function downtown, in particular.

https://www.houstonpublicmedia.org/articles/news/health-science/2023/07/20/457262/gulfton-is-the-hottest-neighborhood-in-houston-whats-being-done-about-it/

"A local architect firm, Ultrabarrio, created a mock up design that could provide shade on walkways too narrow for a tree. It includes a set of white trellises that could be adjusted to the size of the sidewalk. These would likely be placed on streets with high pedestrian traffic or areas around bus stops that can't fit a standard shelter.

The trellises are slanted in order to maximize the size of the shade and take advantage of the position of the sun in the sky during certain times of the day.

The design also includes an updated bus shelter with a green roof and light colored paint to reflect heat from the sun's rays."

 

[samagon]

I do like awnings, but depending on how they are implemented, and how wide the sidewalk is makes a big difference imo.

the rice hotel awning is a great example of an area that feels open and airy, even though it's completely covered. not sure how wide the sidewalks are here, but the height of the awning, plus the width of the widewalk, and the size of the columns (poles in this case) that hold up the awning help make it feel more open, and not imposing.

whatever the new name of the building at Rusk and San Jacinto is after it was turned into an apartment, the awning over that makes it feel very imposing, the width of the walkway, and the size of the columns just makes it feel more enclosed, even when it isn't really.

we certainly need more trees everywhere in town, or any kind of cover over sidewalks. 

to reduce the heat island effect we need to move away from roofing materials that soak up heat, and maybe there are road surfaces that can do the same. 

[BEES?!]

On 8/1/2023 at 11:24 AM, ChannelTwoNews said:

This is part of an overall plan for reducing the heat in Gulfton, but it looks like it could be adapted anywhere. Some of this proposal would likely have to be tweaked to function downtown, in particular.

https://www.houstonpublicmedia.org/articles/news/health-science/2023/07/20/457262/gulfton-is-the-hottest-neighborhood-in-houston-whats-being-done-about-it/

"A local architect firm, Ultrabarrio, created a mock up design that could provide shade on walkways too narrow for a tree. It includes a set of white trellises that could be adjusted to the size of the sidewalk. These would likely be placed on streets with high pedestrian traffic or areas around bus stops that can't fit a standard shelter.

The trellises are slanted in order to maximize the size of the shade and take advantage of the position of the sun in the sky during certain times of the day.

The design also includes an updated bus shelter with a green roof and light colored paint to reflect heat from the sun's rays."

 

Those are neat trellises, they’d go a long way to green up the area. I’m curious what plants they’d use to travel up them.

[Houston19514]

On 8/3/2023 at 10:19 AM, samagon said:

 

to reduce the heat island effect we need to move away from roofing materials that soak up heat, and maybe there are road surfaces that can do the same. 

Pretty sure we’ve already done this for commercial buildings.  https://www.coolrooftoolkit.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/Cool-Houston-Codes-Report1.pdf

[samagon]

@Houston19514 yeah, we need that for residential too.

and I think there's also rules towards parking lots and having trees, but there should be more included there.

[Houston19514]

4 hours ago, samagon said:

@Houston19514 yeah, we need that for residential too.

and I think there's also rules towards parking lots and having trees, but there should be more included there.

Yes there are rules re: trees in parking lots.  Houston is actually far more progressive on these matters than we like to give ourselves credit for.