DR. SHANNON WALKER NEIGHBORHOOD LIBRARY

Gradient Group, LLC was selected by the City of Houston to provide Site / Civil Engineering services  for the new  Dr. Shannon Walker Neighborhood Library, in professional association with Brave Architects.  The development is approximately 2.5 acres site with a 23,000 square foot building and is “the most advanced library of its kind” according to Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner.  The next-generation library features the first-ever library podcast room, a full recording studio with all new electronic equipment, a mixing board and instruments, and a video recording room with a green screen to produce a video blog or music video. In addition to the audio, music and video rooms, the library has a children’s room built for story time, kids programs, arts and crafts and a teen space that includes computers and lounges “where kids can do homework.”  The high-tech library, located at 5505 Belrose Drive in Houston’s Westbury neighborhood, and features areas such as a meeting room, a conference room, computers and devices for borrowing—and a futuristic cafe area with new robotic vending machines pumping out various food and drink options. Gradient’s site/civil design was responsible for the Grading & Paving Plan, Utility Plan, Storm Drainage Plan which  includes design of storm drainage system, and details; flood mitigation and/or detention systems and required calculations and analysis, as well as the Erosion Control Plan, Storm Water Quality Feature and Storm Water Pollution Prevention Plan (SWPPP). The library’s namesake, Houston astronaut Dr. Shannon Walker is a Rice University alumni who attended Houston’s Parker Elementary School, Johnston Middle School and Westbury High School. Walker flew in two missions aboard the International Space Station, spending 167 days aboard the station with three crewmates before returning on May 2, 2021, in the first nighttime splashdown at sea since Apollo 8 in 1968.