bachanon

http://www.chron.com/opinion/editorials/article/Astrodome-The-sequel-5000027.php

A plan to designate the Astrodome as a National Historic Landmark to be approved on December 12th and sent to city council.  The National Trust for Historic Preservation has opened up an office here and their first project is saving the Dome. 

http://thegrillogazette.blogspot.com/2011/03/architecture-of-welton-becket.html

check out welton becket and associates' other designs.

The architect of 800 Bell also designed the Capitol Records building in LA.

i can see i'm going to need a caffeine boost to review the latest haif threads tonight...........

A day train from near Downtown (by a light rail stop) to Galveston on weekends and daily during the summer could be a hit (depending on where it drops you in Galveston).  Make it a party.  Have a stop near NASA.  I was disappointed the Minute Maid Park plan didn't incorporate the line coming right into downtown.  Surely the right of way still exists east of 59 somewhere on the East Side?

Connecting NASA/League City/Galveston with Downtown Houston and the LRT system with a leisure train might be a good way to baby-step to a SE commuter rail line.

It seems that both Highland Village and the new development should make an effort to connect via pedestrian walkways across the tracks or over/under the tracks.  An important element missing from most of these new high-density centers is that they are an island seldom (or barely) connected to the surrounding areas.  It's great to have high-density mixed-use, but without pedestrian connectivity to immediate areas, the full benefit of this type of development is lessened in my opinion.

What do you mean, that their modern buildings have a retro sixties feel?

Actually, this could be New Yorkish too. I could see it either place.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Berlin,_Mitte,_Leipziger_Strasse,_Komplex_Leipziger_Strasse_01.jpg         berlin

http://www.dreamstime.com/stock-image-barcelona-olimpic-villa-buildings-skyscrapers-image15920951      barcelona

Welton Becket, the architect of 800 Bell, also designed the Capitol Records building in LA.

............i want that building

retro sixties has a european feel to me............not a glass box

it's losing the historical significance.  it could have been a very mid-century chic renovation.  the owner and the market rule the day; not a negative statement.  i hoped for a sensitive reno that would capture the spirit of 60's modern and update simultaneously.  at least it doesn't suck.

...........and that's what we call "access".  awesome pictures.

This tower is DEFINITELY happening. Why is this even being debated?

Source: my father is a Chevron VP.

We're past that. People misunderstood a post. Separate from the tower, a Chevron company has shown interest and possibly has plans for property in The Woodlands or north of The Woodlands.

Juan Mon's is not close! The LED palm tree and some of the signs have some sort of electrical problem so it looks really dark when it's not in operation. But I went there today and it's still delicious as ever and the owner said he's doing a lot of renovations and it will looks alive soon again at night.

......but I thought you were the owner?

ditto.  great pictures.  please go forth and take more...and then share them with haif.

there are some really cool homes near the gus wortham golf course, guess it's idylwood

http://houston.culturemap.com/news/entertainment/09-13-13-a-surprise-look-at-mfahs-new-upside-down-triangle-building-design-sends-artists-into-a-tizzy/

Although no actual picture is shared on culturemap's website, apparently the new design is an upside-down triangle.  Interesting.  Look forward to seeing an actual rendering!

 

• 30-Stories
• 600,000 sq ft
• 1Q 2014 Groundbreaking
• 1Q 2016 Completion
• Tower redesigned to face Rusk.

Page 32:

 

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/54482015/CHI%20Breakfast%20Presentation%20for%20publication.pdf

 

very cool presentation...thanks for sharing!!

Dallas and W. Gray, from Downtown to River Oaks, would be fantastic development corridors. Imagine a revived Montrose Blvd Management District connecting the Dallas/W. Gray development corridor with Main. Add a few major park projects......I digress.

I have no problem with Dallas as a street name in Houston.

Any commitment to Dallas street as a retail corridor should extend outside I-45/Pierce to enhance pedestrian activity beyond the CBD. Downtown streetscape/pedestrian planning needs to ALWAYS extend beyond the freeway perimeter to increase Downtown interconnectivity with emerging neighborhoods.

Pretty sure no one cares, mike. There is nothing special about these apartments other than that they provided you w a relatively inexpensive place to live in a prime location.

 

 

I wasn't posting to see if anyone cared whether or not I will have a place to live next month.

 

I did, however, make a post relevant to the topic at hand, which concerns a potential mixed-use development at the corner of Westcreek and San Felipe, and the status of some of the buildings that currently stand in the way of the aforementioned development.

 

Being that I actually live on Westcreek Lane, I believe I'm in a unique position to provide updates as to the development going on here. The fact that I included remarks concerning my future residential situation merely reflects my own self-interest, and the precious few seconds you had to waste reading them are the price you pay for the otherwise topically relevant information provided.

There will be multiple buildings, one of which will be on top of the existing parking garage. Steven Holl is not the architect of that building. The architect should be announced soon...hint, grocery store. Holl's buildings will be on the north side of Bissonnet/Binz, replacing the surface lot and the current Glassell building. I can just say that these buildings will be breathtaking.

I like this game.

I can readily believe all that you say, though ... it seems like FEMA might be more to blame: flooding concerns, more so than pollutants. I don't really know.

Where I live, the landscape is littered with retention ponds that rarely see a drop of water, taking up a truly unfortunate amount of space. I saw that some genius had made an attractive one, once; it sort of looked like a real pond, and there were bullfrogs and a heron that thought so too; so perhaps it can be done. I think they must have pumped water into it, though. It hasn't rained here in years. Usually these "ponds" are full of Johnson grass; at their ugliest they are huge concrete boxes in the ground, surrounded by chain-link fencing, so children won't fall into them. They look like they will make an excellent mass grave, at some future date. You can be a know-nothing like me and still have a sense that, this can't possibly be best practice. Perhaps the solution was less pavement, more green in the first place?

I think: it pays to heed what nature does, and then consider -- is there a compelling reason for us to do something differently, that nature will fight?

In my view, the answer is seldom yes. Your friend's comments about roads and green-space confirm me in that view; and we like to be confirmed in our views, do we not?

No offense was meant -- I don't know what Rush Limbaugh looks like. I am trying to picture him, but nothing comes. When I punch "fat man" into my mental database, for some reason Orson Welles in "The Muppet Movie" keeps popping up.

 

The details are a bit vague, but it looks like the neighbors made a fatal error when they sold the land to Arco, or whomever, years ago; the homebuilder had built the pond, it seems, as a little neighborhood "amenity." This fact made the Skanska rep's job rather easy, PR-wise.

There seems to have been a dispute about whether the pond came into being because it was a spot that once naturally stored floodwater - the neighbors wanted it to be so. Whether it did or no, the re-developer will be building the standard retention feature elsewhere on the site.

And though the wording in this article is a little unclear, I believe it's saying Skanska has sold a 9-acre parcel where the trees were for apartments:

http://www.houstonchronicle.com/business/real-estate/article/More-growth-for-Energy-Corridor-4787970.php

So no - the scraping of the trees wasn't the *EPA's fault*. But the suggestion had an amusing Limbaugh-esque quality, which I enjoyed.

In fact, let's go with it!

 

are you calling me fat?  

so, skanska is simply maximizing the value of the land.

my thoughts on the epa are purely anecdotal, stemming from a friend who worked in new home developments.  as we discussed how the woodlands planned for flood control before some of the current flood mitigation regulations, my friend described how epa regulations make it less feasible to preserve trees and natural features.  he said it is now cheaper for developers to clear cut in order to meet federal and state requirements regarding run-off.  he said the predicted run-off from the parking and structure floor plates have to be accounted for in a measured mitigation plan. also, roads have to be lower than ground level so that all run-off flows into the gutter system, which requires barriers (during construction) to be built around the places the roads are carved out because sediment cannot run from the construction site into the gutter system.  however, if they bulldoze it all and rebuild the earth where it needs to be to avoid all of these concerns, it's cheaper.  maybe someone in the industry can shed more light on the matter.

people like curbs, but they are part of the problem.  best scenario is to have the roads be the high point so that run-off flows into green-space.  the green-space then has forested areas and ponds to more easily absorb the run-off rather than water flowing into gutters, then bayous towards the gulf. 

i wasn't looking for a reason to blame the epa, but from what "i've heard", there are better ways to plan for flood mitigation than we are currently required to do under current epa regulations.  although not an exact comparison, lisa gray's article in the chronicle this week highlights the differences between environmentally sensitive planning and what government planners/regulators allow.

Wow.  Very interesting and exciting.

 

Question:  Did you really mean to say new building on top of the existing museum parking garage?  The plan had been for the new building to be on top of the existing parking lot?  Has that plan changed or are they planning 2 new buildings?

............i totally missed that.  he did actually say an "announcement of a new building on top of the existing museum parking garage."  this would definitely be news!

touche' (hate that word....looks like a cross between touch and douche)
 
just listened to warm leatherette today.
 

another fun one:

Don't lie Bach, I know you're the guy with the glasses & button down fleece (unbuttoned), who dances on the speaker every Friday night to re-live your youth.

relive my a**.....this is perpetual youth young man!