arche787

I wasn't saying her Arab heritage had anything to do with her fame. The fact that she is one of the first women to really make a name for herself - alone - not like Elizabeth Diller of Diller, Scofidio+Renfro or others... I don't like the fact she won the Pritzker - I think there are more deserving firms out there - but she did and because of it she has been catapulted to world-wide fame in the architectural world. link to her confusing and poorly designed website: http://www.zaha-hadid.com/

I used to always comment on "old" topics - I suppose this is installed (I was in the neighborhood yesterday and today and had no idea a new sculpture had been installed)? I have to wonder though if the artist was really looking at the surrounding neighborhood when they designed the artwork? It seems like it could easilly be out of place - but I will reserve judgement until I see it later this week. Nice to see that atleast the New York Times keeps up with our arts "scene".

50 stories? Seems a bit large especially given the current story in the HBJ that there are 3 new office towers planned for downtown (or did I miss the point that this is one of them?)? Well the more that get built the better as that will drop rental rates in DT.

Could we just get rid of all of Memorial Hermann's buildings and start from scratch? Perry Homes could design something better! Probably the best building in the whole system is the old Memorial Hospital that is now completely hidden by a post-modern copycat that is very mediocre.

Having seen some of her early work (in Strasbourg, France - transit station) I can't say I was overly impressed. I like a few of her recent designs, especially the art museum in Cincinnati - at least I like the form. I agree that few of the so called "starchitects" produce architecture that appeals or is understood and relates well to the general public. I believe it is the curse of making a big name for yourself, once you produce a Centre Pompidou (Rogers/Piano) or East Wing of the National Gallery (Pei) you are expected by those that hire you to produce something equally unique. I am not comparing Hadid to Piano, though she is more along the lines of a Rogers, good, not great - generally overrated. I think the big deal of course is she is the first noteworthy woman who has broken into the "big boys" league in the top echelon of architecture.

Wow! Its been a few years since I was last on here! I missed the other 50 replies, but will say based on the initial rendering I am disapointed in the architecture of this building. If you are going to spend $100 million on a building whats another 1 - 2 million for a little bit better architecture. Sure HKS isn't Renzo or Foster but I think they could crank out a better design (this is all based on the first rendering I looked at on the first post). And I guess the first building was torn down back when Houston Center was being planned. Didn't the original plan include like 8 - 10 highrises around the Park Shops development? Probably why it was torn down, sad though!