WestGrayGuy Posted September 10, 2004 Share Posted September 10, 2004 As far as I know, this is still the master plan adopted by the city. I was wondering if anyone knew the status of the plan? It seems like some of the elements are being ignored... Here are some of the cooler ideas presented in the master plan. There was a plan to have "a signature element on Main Street from the freeways, perhaps in the form of the "world's tallest tower" that can establish a dramatic new identity for the district." Another element was to create a diagonal boulevard to link the arena to Cathedral Square. And finally, there is a plan to redo the area around Reliant Park. You will notice a big lake at Main and loop 610. Also, there is some large water feature leading up to Reliant stadium. Have a look at the Master Plan: Main Street Master Plan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Talbot Posted September 10, 2004 Share Posted September 10, 2004 If the city ignores something like this, i would lose all hope, i mean this is pretty much what revived the city. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpaceCity Posted September 10, 2004 Share Posted September 10, 2004 That's beautiful. But the Mickey Mouse shape on the left side of the last picture really creeps me out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Montrose1100 Posted September 11, 2004 Share Posted September 11, 2004 That's beautiful. But the Mickey Mouse shape on the left side of the last picture really creeps me out. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> I like the palm trees, but they would have to TEAR down alot to build that diagnal road...? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
largeTEXAS Posted September 11, 2004 Share Posted September 11, 2004 I was disappointed when Cathedral Square didn't pop up when Metro started building it's new headquarters on Main. If any entity should abide by a Main Street Masterplan it should be Metro. I do like the idea of the diagonal boulevard. I still think it's possible, but some serious planning will have to happen. I've heard this plan was not taken too seriously when it was published. Some saw it meerely as a pipe dream. I think some elements truly are ridiculous, like the "world's tallest structure." A signature element, sure, but a cheesy observation tower like Dallas, Toronto, Seattle, and every other major city seem to have is just not neccesary. I say put the money into building a new museum downtown, or affordable housing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bachanon Posted September 11, 2004 Share Posted September 11, 2004 i like the idea of the tallest "structure" in the world; however, and as i've said before our site was destroyed, i'd prefer a design by renzo piano or santiago calatrava with usable elements on the lower floors. say, 40 floors of office/residential/public space and then whatever additional height necessary to pull off the design and the title of tallest structure. groundfloor retail? of course.my personal idea is a conical shaped structure with an off center sphere in the upper 25% of the structure housing the obligatory observation deck and restaurant/bar (sky bar? no way! for houston the "space" or "moon" bar/centered and facing main street from the north). the wider side of the cone is at the earth's surface (upside down for you ice cream fans) and the sphere's outside diameter is tangential with the central spine of the building. it's an engineering nightmare, i'm sure. i guess the majority of the extended sphere would be unusable but would create a large open space enclosed by glass or merely a light weight structural element outside the cone. one more thing, the cone would have a slimmer sleeker pitch than an ice cream cone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbigtex56 Posted September 11, 2004 Share Posted September 11, 2004 Interesting idea! I'm picturing the Trylon and Perisphere mating in zero gravity... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bachanon Posted September 11, 2004 Share Posted September 11, 2004 the inverted cone is precisely what i was thinking; however, the sphere would be more than 60% up the side of the cone (preferably 80%, depending on the pitch of the cone and structural stability), making it kinda float there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
largeTEXAS Posted September 11, 2004 Share Posted September 11, 2004 bachanon, I wasn't seeing this "world's tallest structure" until you mentioned the likes of Piano and Calatrava. Now I kind of agree with you. Since space is one of the dominant themes in this city, why not illustrate it better? It has to be artfully done in order to be successful and not gaudy. Maybe the structure could be a kind of vertical museum to space travel culminating in an observation deck overlooking the city and the stars above (sorry for getting kind of corny). It could be very beautiful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bachanon Posted September 11, 2004 Share Posted September 11, 2004 the obvious (corny, if you will) is what makes a good tourist destination. as i mentioned before the demise of our beloved site, a design incorporating molecular, cellular, organic elements such as a nanotube type structure would (yes, a 1400 foot nanotube), by the right design team, be a statement of ourselves, current, universal, etc. the nanotube is simply an example; maybe a dna strand 120 stories tall. you get the picture. of course, i prefer the inverted conical structure with the offset sphere three quarters of the way up facing main street from the north. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WestGrayGuy Posted September 14, 2004 Author Share Posted September 14, 2004 The diagonal street was proposed in the late nineties. Obviously, buildings would have to come down. But it would add great intersections to a pretty empty part of downtown. These intersections would more likely develop.Diagonal streets add interest to a city's layout. Perhaps my favorite is Market or Columbus street in San Francisco.Come to think of it, SF is a pretty cool city. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ssullivan Posted September 14, 2004 Share Posted September 14, 2004 I really like the diagonal street - it certainly would aid in getting to the GRB, Toyota Center, and Minute Maid Park from Midtown. So much of that area is vacant that there wouldn't be that many large buildings that would have to be taken down.Good point WGG about Market in SF. San Francisco's Market St. has got to be one of the most efficient corridors for moving people of any major city street in the nation, with heavy pedestrian traffic, two levels of subway tunnels (BART and Muni), lots of bus service (both diesel and electric trolley buses) and streetcar service running in dedicated lanes, and regular traffic lanes for cars. And amazingly, it always keeps moving and I've never seen huge traffic jams unless there was an accident.Then there's also DC, which is full of diagonal avenues, which intersect each other at circles and squares, creating some very nice urban pocket parks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Astro Posted September 14, 2004 Share Posted September 14, 2004 Washington DC has an awesome network of diagonal streets and circles at the major intersections.But considering this is Houston... I bet if we created that diagonal street it would end up lined with CVS's & strip centers, none of which would line up against the edge of the street, but they'd be set back behind parking lots. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mojeaux131 Posted September 18, 2004 Share Posted September 18, 2004 bachanon, I wasn't seeing this "world's tallest structure" until you mentioned the likes of Piano and Calatrava. Now I kind of agree with you. Since space is one of the dominant themes in this city, why not illustrate it better? It has to be artfully done in order to be successful and not gaudy. Maybe the structure could be a kind of vertical museum to space travel culminating in an observation deck overlooking the city and the stars above (sorry for getting kind of corny). It could be very beautiful. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> i think some sort of tall tower would be great, a way to mirror the efforts of dallas or san antonio, both of which have spires of some sort in their downtowns. but since Houston is larger and better than either dallass or s.a., the tower should be cooler and taller. i bet calatrava could make it kickass, since he has an engineering background. and yes, it should mos def reflect a space or future theme. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WestGrayGuy Posted September 20, 2004 Author Share Posted September 20, 2004 How about the world's tallest fan to blow the pollution that Dallas claims we send to them with even more force? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Talbot Posted September 20, 2004 Share Posted September 20, 2004 lmao Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CincoRanch-HoustonResident Posted September 20, 2004 Share Posted September 20, 2004 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YakuzaIce Posted September 25, 2004 Share Posted September 25, 2004 How about the world's tallest fan to blow the pollution that Dallas claims we send to them with even more force?<{POST_SNAPBACK}>I think someone said something similar on the old forum A 2000' Ionic Breeze for Downtown, and a Bathroom Ionic Breeze for Galveston. LMAOBack on topic.What would all of you like this tower to be clad in, I hope not alluminum it would look to 50's futuristic. Maybe glass and steel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UrbaNerd Posted September 25, 2004 Share Posted September 25, 2004 Well, it beats the "Spirit of Houston" woman statue!I'd think that it would be clad in some sort of shiny glass steel and stone, or something. And it BETTER BE LIT WELL! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UrbanLandscape Posted November 17, 2004 Share Posted November 17, 2004 That trylon idea really stuck with me. So much so that I spent most of my three hour chemistry drawing it. I'll scan it and get it online as soon as I can. It's too bad 1,836 feet would bee too short. Significant numbers are great. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UrbanLandscape Posted November 17, 2004 Share Posted November 17, 2004 Actually, before I go to bed, here's a sample of what I'm talking about. I know it's very likely that I put it in the wrong place. I'm sorry. I don't know Houston quite that well. Yet. This is more of a general concept anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UrbaNerd Posted November 18, 2004 Share Posted November 18, 2004 THIS would be better, IMO. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UrbanLandscape Posted November 18, 2004 Share Posted November 18, 2004 THIS would be better, IMO. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> It already looks dated. It's like something you would have seen proposed in 1999 when everything was "going our way". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Great Hizzy! Posted November 18, 2004 Share Posted November 18, 2004 Shave about 800 feet off of it and give it more of a metallic look and I think it could work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
111486 Posted November 18, 2004 Share Posted November 18, 2004 Why do all of these renderings look like something out of the 70's? How old is this proposal? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bachanon Posted November 18, 2004 Share Posted November 18, 2004 was this an i.m.pei proposal from way back when. i seem to remember this rendering in architectural record. speaking of a trylon. does anyone have a rendering of renzo piano's new building with a similar shape. here's one, london bridge tower. go to the link for a full size picture. renzo piano workshop Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest danax Posted November 18, 2004 Share Posted November 18, 2004 <{POST_SNAPBACK}>It looks like something designed for the sole purpose of trying to out-do other cities. It might be decent if, say, they made the outside an unbroken series of prisms so the sunlight would be refracted and diffused creating a mind-blowing light display whenever the sun shined. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UrbanLandscape Posted November 18, 2004 Share Posted November 18, 2004 If you guys are talking about the below image, I just made it the other night in Photoshop. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
N Judah Posted December 10, 2004 Share Posted December 10, 2004 Good point WGG about Market in SF. San Francisco's Market St. has got to be one of the most efficient corridors for moving people of any major city street in the nation, with heavy pedestrian traffic, two levels of subway tunnels (BART and Muni), lots of bus service (both diesel and electric trolley buses) and streetcar service running in dedicated lanes, and regular traffic lanes for cars. And amazingly, it always keeps moving and I've never seen huge traffic jams unless there was an accident.<{POST_SNAPBACK}>I dunno. Whole books have been written about what a bad street Market has become over the past 50 years or so. It's really pedestrian-unfriendly compared to other streets, the sidewalks are too wide, and most people only use it to go somewhere else. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hartwell Posted October 7, 2005 Share Posted October 7, 2005 As far as I know, this is still the master plan adopted by the city. I was wondering if anyone knew the status of the plan? It seems like some of the elements are being ignored...Here are some of the cooler ideas presented in the master plan. There was a plan to have "a signature element on Main Street from the freeways, perhaps in the form of the "world's tallest tower" that can establish a dramatic new identity for the district." Another element was to create a diagonal boulevard to link the arena to Cathedral Square. And finally, there is a plan to redo the area around Reliant Park. You will notice a big lake at Main and loop 610. Also, there is some large water feature leading up to Reliant stadium. Have a look at the Master Plan: Main Street Master Plan As far as I know, this is still the master plan adopted by the city. I was wondering if anyone knew the status of the plan? It seems like some of the elements are being ignored...Here are some of the cooler ideas presented in the master plan. There was a plan to have "a signature element on Main Street from the freeways, perhaps in the form of the "world's tallest tower" that can establish a dramatic new identity for the district." Another element was to create a diagonal boulevard to link the arena to Cathedral Square. And finally, there is a plan to redo the area around Reliant Park. You will notice a big lake at Main and loop 610. Also, there is some large water feature leading up to Reliant stadium. Have a look at the Master Plan: Main Street Master Plan When I first arrived in Denver in 1970 the main drag was 16th street downtown,just another ordinary street. It has changed and evolved into what it is now Take a look! http://www.downtowndenver.com/bid/16thstmall.htm Virtual Tour http://www.denvergov.org/panoramas/16thmall_web1.asp Ron Hoover Colorado Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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