Search the Community

M.D. Anderson, Health Science Center break ground on research facility Houston Business Journal - 1:46 PM CDT Tuesday, April 10, 2007 The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center and The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston are collaborating on a new imaging research facility. The organizations broke ground Tuesday at The University of Texas Research Park on what will become the Center for Advanced Biomedical Imaging Research, dedicated to developing technologies that will detect heart disease, cancer and other illnesses at their earliest stages. The facility, scheduled for completion in late 2009, is being built in cooperation with GE Healthcare and the Texas Enterprise Fund. Link to article. Wow, not only am I getting a 1.1-million-square-foot teaching hospital within walking distance of my condo and a connection to N. Macgregor via Cambridge, but I'm also getting a 315,000-square-foot facility just down the street! I was hoping for more verticality, but I can live with it. Edit: MD Anderson South Campus is located within the UT Research Park Complex.

https://www4.mdanderson.org/procurement/bids/index.cfm?pagename=viewBid&id=6298&name=Request for Qualification&historic=yes MD Anderson; A pre-submittal conference will be held at 11/12/18, 1:00 pm, local time, at Jesse H. Jones Rotary House, Conference Room RHI 1.202 abc, 1600 Holcombe Blvd., Houston, TX 77030. Owner seeks Design-Build services to expand the MD Anderson Rotary House International Hotel and complete a skybridge to cross S. Braeswood Blvd. This project includes the design, construction and activation of a new hotel tower immediately adjacent to and connected to the existing and occupied Rotary House International (RHI) hotel, located at the corner of Holcombe Boulevard and South Braeswood Boulevard.

The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center Institutional Facilities Master Planning Services - MP2030/JSW https://www4.mdanderson.org/procurement/bids/index.cfm?pagename=viewBid&id=6398&name=Request for Qualification&historic=yes Construction projects include the addition of 12 floors that can accommodate more than 300 new inpatient beds in Alkek Hospital on the North Campus; two new research buildings on the South Campus that will house the Center for Advanced Biomedical Imaging Research and Center for Targeted Therapy as part of the McCombs Institute; and MD Anderson's first facility on its Mid Campus, a 25-story building to support current office space and future growth needs

https://www4.mdanderson.org/procurement/bids/index.cfm?pagename=viewBid&id=6738&name=Request for Qualification Owner seeks design-build services for its Pressler Street Garage 2 project. The project scope will include site development, which includes utility infrastructure work, construction of the exterior shell and core, and the limited interior finish-out of the facility. The goal is to construct a new garage facility to help meet the institution's parking facility needs. This facility is anticipated to be a free-standing, 1,200-car (minimum) parking garage of approximately 570,000 gross square feet (GSF), to be located on Pressler Street along Fannin Street, and adjacent to the Dan L. Duncan Building. This facility primarily will serve the needs of workforce members who currently park in the garage adjacent to Mid Campus Building 1 but who do not work in that facility. The project has a Design-Build Budget Limitation (DBBL) of TWENTY ONE MILLION, FIVE HUNDRED THOUSAND DOLLARS AND NO/100 ($21,500,000.00).

The University Center Tower was built in 1975 and commands a highly visible position close to the Texas Medical Center. The twenty-five stories of the facility house a variety of University academic and administrative functions while also providing lease space to a variety of tenants. https://www.uth.edu/index/maps/inside/uct.htm

I remember reading an old MDA master plan that said the ROC building at Braeswood & Holcombe will eventually be redeveloped. The single story building sits on such a high profile corner that there is much better opportunities here. This address and corner once housed a high-rise multifamily/hotel development called Park Towers Apartments. Hopefully something tall again rises soon! I stopped by this weekend and took a picture of the street sign.

MD Anderson's at it again, via Preservation Houston: MD Anderson to demolish MacKie & Kamrath dental school MD Anderson Cancer Center has informed Texas Historical Commission of its plans to demolish the former University of Texas Dental Branch, 6516 MD Anderson Boulevard in the Texas Medical Center. MacKie & Kamrath were the architects for the original five-story building, completed in 1955, as well as later additions constructed through the 1980s. Neither Houston’s historic preservation ordinance nor the Texas Antiquities Code apply to the property because the building is not located in a historic district and is not a designated landmark. Preservation Houston is encouraging MD Anderson to document the building before it is demolished. The historic building has been vacant since the UT Dental Branch (now UT School of Dentistry) opened its new facility at 7500 Cambridge earlier this year. The dental school was founded as the Texas Dental College in 1905 and became part of the UT System in 1943.

Top one might by the UT Health Science Center's new Fayez Sarofim building. Not 100% on that. With regards to the Canal Place photos, looks like the same thing to me.

Here is something recently mentioned on Swamplot. Does anyone know anything about this project? http://www.kirksey.com/project/buffalo_lakes_master_plan Page 10 of this PDF http://www.ridemetro.org/ProjectsPrograms/PDFs/90A_Media_Briefing_020711.pdf shows rail going through the project.

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/h...inment/2981242# New building stands out amidst the Texas Medical Center's sterile architecture By CLIFFORD PUGH Copyright 2005 Houston Chronicle UT Nursing School Hester + Hardaway / Bnim Architects Quick: Name a stunning work of architecture in the Texas Medical Center. Don't be surprised if nothing much comes to mind. The Medical Center has a history of tearing down significant buildings, such as the Shamrock Hotel, and putting up a hodgepodge of oversized institutional structures devoid of personality. Of course, one might argue that the primary purpose of the renowned medical complex of hospitals, research and education institutions located about five miles south of downtown Houston is to save lives, not to create innovative, striking buildings. Is it possible to do both? Bruce Webb, professor at the University of Houston's Gerald D. Hines College of Architecture, believes so -- although it's not easy. "Most people's complaint about going to medical facilities is that they lack feeling," he said. "They seem to be facilities without compassion. "(But) it's a hard thing (to push for good design) when everyone is angling for money and someone is using the argument that a particular material should be used because it's easy to clean germs off of." The tug-of-war between good architecture and the bottom line makes the new University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston School of Nursing and Student Community Center special. In a sea of bland and downright inhospitable buildings, the $58 million structure, which opened to classes in August, is a jewel. It's visually appealing and friendly to the environment and the students who use it. It's no wonder the building is winning design awards and attracting university administrators from across the country and around the world who are curious about its energy-saving features and starkly modern design. At last, it seems a Texas Medical Center building has gotten it right, architecturally. It all began with an idea From the building's conception in the mid-1990s, UTHSC administrators John Poretto and Brian Yeoman, with the support of former president M. David Low, touted a novel idea: Since the university is in the business of promoting good health, shouldn't the building be healthy, too? In 1996, UT officials sponsored an international design competition. The winner, Patkau Architects of Vancouver, British Columbia, came up with a design that met the high standards of the U.S. Green Building Council's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) program. Four years later, the project, stalled on the drawing board, was nearly scuttled after the Canadian architects and UT parted ways over costs and design changes. Two firms were brought in to redesign the building. Berkebile Nelson Immenschuh McDowell Architects of Kansas City is a pioneer in sustainable design; its Deramus Education Pavilion at that city's zoo won an Earth Day award from the American Institute of Architects. San Antonio's Lake/Flato Architects won the prestigious AIA Firm of the Year award in 2003. Its trademark, reflected in several Texas Hill Country residences and such commercial structures as the SBC Center in San Antonio, is designing buildings that blend in with the Texas landscape. After winning the commission, the new design team, led by BNIM principal architect Steve McDowell and Lake/Flato co-founder David Lake, met for a brainstorming session. The project site -- a sliver of land between the UT School of Public Health and tiny Grant Fay Park, at the intersection of Holcombe and Bertner -- presented the first challenge. Putting a large building on such a small site was "like threading a needle," said former UTHSC campus architect Rives Taylor. To maximize space, the design team came up with the idea of a "stacked" community center, with six floors of offices, classrooms and research laboratories above two floors of student-friendly facilities, including a large lounge, cafeteria, auditorium and bookstore. The eight-story building takes up most of the lot but doesn't overwhelm the surroundings, unlike the Taj Mahal-like new M.D. Anderson Ambulatory Clinical Building across the street. Ingenious and sustainable materials Lake/Flato took the lead in designing the exterior, composed almost entirely of recycled materials. Bricks from a 19th-century warehouse in San Antonio, wood siding made of sinker cypress hauled from the bottom of the Mississippi River, panels of recycled aluminum and columns made of Flyash (a recycled byproduct of coal-burning) fit together on the Holcombe Avenue side of the building like a giant Erector set. The Bertner facade is wrapped in perforated, corrugated metal, with window cutouts peeking through like sleepy eyes. It faces west, so in the afternoon, the sun casts the silver metal facade with a golden hue. Inverted L-shaped steel rods on the roof, which are intended to one day hold a photovoltaic system providing solar energy, lend a sculptural feeling to the building and add a playful note to the neighborhood. The team from BNIM concentrated on interior design, and here the building shines. Most stairways, elevators and toilets are on the west side of the building, leaving the east side open to Grant Fay Park. Nearly the entire back of the building is windowed, allowing a view of the trees in the small park

Associated Press The University of Texas Health Science Center has received $5 million for cardiovascular stem cell research, the institution announced today. The gift will be split evenly between the health science center and the Texas Heart Institute to establish stem cell research endowments. Dr. James T. Willerson, president of the health science center, said the gift would help broaden basic stem cell research as well as develop treatment efforts for patients with coronary artery disease and severe heart failure. UT-Houston received a separate $25 million gift for stem cell research last year, making it the state's leader in that research field. UT-Houston is the only institution at the Texas Medical Center working with stem cells derived from human embryos from the existing cell lines approved by the federal government. Stem cells, which can come from adults and donated embryos, could potentially be used to repair spinal cord injuries and reverse effects of degenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's. But research involving destruction of human embryos has generated heated debate over possibilities of stellar medical breakthroughs versus immoral or unethical sacrifice of embryos for studies that may or may not produce results. In 2001, President Bush restricted use of federal money on embryonic stem cell research to existing lines. Privately funded research is ongoing. Willerson and Dr. Emerson Perin, director of new interventional cardiovascular technology at the Texas Heart Institute, lead one of the first FDA-approved clinical trials to treat end-stage heart disease patients using stem cells derived from their own bone marrow. "Through our investigations, we hope to make a significant contribution in the battle to transform the future of medicine and to prevent and conquer cardiovascular disease," Willerson said. Link

Does anyone have any memories from times in University/College? Any strange acts of vandalism or teenage stupidity? Any tips on how to stay in college? My sister is coming back from DePauw University (in Greencastle, Indiana) for Thanksgiving. She just graduated from Lamar High in Houston last May. She says that at DePauw a bunch of kids vandalized a deer statue donated by an alumn by making a failed attempt to saw off its legs. Then some kids rode the statue in the nude during Halloween.

For weeks now, I've been wondering what they are doing at the corner of Moursund Street and MD Anderson Blvd ever since they completely fenced it off. I believe it was an old 60s/70s post office but so far all my results have been saying it was the University of Texas Mental Science building. Either way, the building was torn down and the entire lot has been bulldozed! It's a fairly large corner so I was thinking it may be another tower for the TMC. Anyone know what is going on at this corner?

The only 15-story hotel I'm aware of that was in the Med Center was the Anderson Mayfair on Holcombe, but I haven't seen a good picture of it. This is the Tidelands. Is this what you were thinking about? http://www.lileks.com/postcards/motels/TX/tidelands.jpg

houstonmacbro has added a photo to the pool: http://farm1.staticflickr.com/780/21170033671_6cbdcab46b_m.jpg Click here to view this photo at the HAIF Photo Pool on Flickr

check out www.utsolard.org UT Austin's entry to the Solar Decathlon, an international competition sponsored by the Dept. of Energy to design and build an off-grid solar powered home on the National Mall in WashDC in Oct2005. check it out, support Texas and UT SolarD! http://www.ar.utexas.edu/utsolard/images/menu_logo4.gif www.utsolard.org

I was reading about MacKie and Kamrath and noticed they designed this building in 1975. The address is 1200 Pressler St, Houston, TX 77030.

Noticed this on Loopnet. 1.64-acre surface lot is for sale. https://www.loopnet.com/Listing/5420-Dashwood-Drive-Excess-Land-Dr-Houston-TX/23095816/

MD Anderson Cancer Center - Visitor Parking Garage, 6900 Fannin St, Houston, TX 77030

I always pass by this building. Apparently it's houses a small MD Anderson clinic called Life Support Training Center. Photos taken this weekend.

This is a small project going on at M. D. Anderson in Med center and thought I'd get a few shots from my Ipad.

I didn't see any other threads referring to this project nor could I find anything about it elsewhere... At any rate, I saw this sign earlier in the afternoon. I wasn't sure of the intersection (I think it's Braeswood @ Cecil, and there's a traffic light there) but it is just east of Fannin in the "new" south side of the TMC. Here's a photo of the sign w/ rendering. Pardon the quality, but it's fun to try shooting at a red light and at an odd angle nearly into the sun. Guessing 24-26 floors?

There is an active MD Anderson Master Plan thread that will span the next 8-years on HAIF. The Master Plan "closes out" in 2030. https://www.houstonarchitecture.com/haif/topic/45347-md-anderson-tmc-master-facilities-framework-2030/#comment-600706 Will it be hard to keep track of individual buildings in a thread that discusses multiple, 5, buildings? When searching around HAIF, would it be hard to find information and pictures for one, particular, building that is mixed in with 10-years of construction photos of multiple buildings? This topic serves as one, sole, building. The MD Anderson Inpatient Bed Tower. The building looks to have one long podium base with two vertical towers integrated. The UT M. D. Anderson Cancer Center is preparing to construct a new inpatient bed tower to be located proximate to and interconnected with the institution's Main Building complex, on a site currently occupied by the Percy and Ruth Leggett Jones Basic Research Building, the Bates-Freeman research building, and the Anderson Central Building. Concept rendering:

There is an active MD Anderson Master Plan thread that will span the next 8-years on HAIF. The Master Plan "closes out" in 2030. https://www.houstonarchitecture.com/haif/topic/45347-md-anderson-tmc-master-facilities-framework-2030/#comment-600706 Will it be hard to keep track of individual buildings in a thread that discusses multiple, 5, buildings? When searching around HAIF, would it be hard to find information and pictures for one, particular, building that is mixed in with 10-years of construction photos of multiple buildings? This topic serves as one, sole, building. The MD Anderson Ambulatory Clinical Building 3 (AKA 3ACB, or ACB3.) 3ACB will consist of 1,500,000 GSF of clinical and departmental program space located on nineteen floors above grade and 300,000 GSF of below-grade parking adding another 785 parking spaces. The project is also expected to include the construction of two seven-story connectors that will complete a circulation route between 2/3 ACB, the Mays Clinic, and the Duncan Building, forming a complete quadrangle around the central parking structure. The top of the parking structure will align with the existing exterior plaza decks of the Mays Clinic and the Duncan Building to form a raised exterior garden.

There is an active MD Anderson Master Plan thread that will span the next 8-years on HAIF. The Master Plan "closes out" in 2030. https://www.houstonarchitecture.com/haif/topic/45347-md-anderson-tmc-master-facilities-framework-2030/#comment-600706 Will it be hard to keep track of individual buildings in a thread that discusses multiple, 5, buildings? When searching around HAIF, would it be hard to find information and pictures for one, particular, building that is mixed in with 10-years of construction photos of multiple buildings? This topic serves as one, sole, building. The MD Anderson Ambulatory Clinical Building 2 (AKA 2ACB, or ACB2.) Consistent with the institution's Master Facilities Framework 2030, UT M.D. Anderson Cancer Center is proposing to construct Ambulatory Clinical Building 2 (2ACB.) 2ACB will consist of 950,000 GSF of clinical and departmental program space located on seventeen floors above grade and 550,000 GSF of parking located on three floors below grade as well as a central parking structure. In total, there will be 1,500 parking spaces added on five levels. The project is also expected to include the construction of two seven-story connectors that will complete a circulation route between 2/3 ACB, the Mays Clinic, and the Duncan Building, forming a complete quadrangle around the central parking structure. The top of the parking structure will align with the existing exterior plaza decks of the Mays Clinic and the Duncan Building to form a raised exterior garden.