LOCAL Houston | The City Guide JULY 2016 | Page 28

ART

WAYFINDING SIGNS PROJECT
One would think a downtown such as ours, based on a grid, would be pretty easy to navigate.
One would be wrong. Downtown Houston is probably one of the easiest places to get turned
around in and feel as though you have no sense of direction. I like to equate it to a modern day
labyrinth.
Luckily, getting around Downtown Houston easily is a current capital project for Houston
Downtown Management District. So last year, the Houston Arts Alliance, on behalf of the
Downtown District, revitalized a public art collaboration way ahead of its time (started by the
Cultural Arts Council of Houston/Harris County back in 2000) where local artists were asked to
create the art located on the reverse side of 44 directional wayfinding signs throughout Downtown.
In the reincarnation of the project, the original artwork was refreshed and 10 more local artists
were commissioned to create work for signs that did not have artwork in order to create a unified
aesthetic system in terms of materials and colors, to clearly project a coordinated message across
the various wayfinding signs.
Last month, all 52 signs were completed and installed. Get yourself to Downtown and let us know
what you think. #dthtx #downtownhouston

By Carla Valencia de Martinéz
Photography courtesy of Houston Downtown Management District

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| july 16