Lowell Street Market

Lowell Street Market is an adaptive reuse of existing warehouse buildings on West 18th Street in the Greater Heights. Existing pitched-roof warehouse buildings were renovated, re-skinned, and connected by a new 3,000 SF building clad in corten steel.

The 10,000 square foot, multi-tenant development opens onto a shared, park-like green zone that pre-serves a pedestrian connection to the street and pro-motes walkability along West 18th. The design team sought to challenge the typical Houston strip mall model by locating parking behind the buildings, rather than in the front, and creating green space in the space typically occupied by cars.

Heavy timber benches, banded permeable pavers, and sculpted landscape elements–grassy mounds and ramps–create a playful micro-park for tenants, customers, and passers-by. The expression of the existing warehouse buildings’ shed form, steel structure, and low scale speak to the transitional nature of the neighborhood. The three distinct structures are in keeping with the mix of similarly scaled residential and commercial neighbors. Wood and weathering steel, simple but evocative cladding materials, wrap all sides of the buildings. (With SCHAUM/SHIEH)