Houston’s historic Third Ward, just southeast of downtown, is the city’s oldest African American neighborhood, well known for its rich legacy of Black history dating back to Houston’s founding in 1836. With escalating land values and invaluable historical significance, revitalization efforts in the Third Ward have been rigorous in recent years, from renovated parks and green spaces to community spaces and infrastructure, all with an eye to restoring the neighborhood and building an equitable, prosperous community that fully honors its history and heritage.

With M2L’s extensive experience and key successes in and around the Third Ward, the firm was chosen to lead an effort to study and produce urban design guidelines for future corridor development. Five neighborhood streets were considered in the corridor study, chosen for their value in connecting key Third Ward locations and each assigned a different design and engineering team. The final document would guide current and future architectural and engineering design teams during detailed design work and development, specifying standards for a consistent and strong sense of place while maximizing the historical and cultural value of the community.

M2L surveyed the comprehensive list of public-realm design components compiled by each design team, identifying elements and features common to each corridor. Each component then included options, colors, textures and applications for consideration, with teams responsible for applying the recommendations on their corridor projects. Recognizing the Third Ward cannot be separated from its heritage, M2L collaborated closely with leading local historian Naomi Mitchell Carrier, founder and CEO of the Texas Center for African American Living History, to ensure significant historical narratives, notable figures, places, historic sites, events, and organizations that have contributed to the Third Ward’s formation and ongoing vitality live on in the corridor improvements.