Metro West Posted May 21, 2014 Share Posted May 21, 2014 I liked the trees. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Urbannizer Posted May 21, 2014 Share Posted May 21, 2014 The latest change to the top: Â Â Â Â Webcam: http://www.ridadev.com/page_hotel_marriott_marquis_houston.cfm#!prettyPhoto[hccmarriott]/2/ Â 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Montrose1100 Posted May 21, 2014 Share Posted May 21, 2014 The latest change to the top: Â Â Â Â Webcam: http://www.ridadev.com/page_hotel_marriott_marquis_houston.cfm#!prettyPhoto[hccmarriott]/2/ Typical Houston project. I'm not at all complaining about how it looks now (still great), it's just funny how the angle of the "Crown continuously lowered until finally zeroing out. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tomv Posted May 21, 2014 Share Posted May 21, 2014 I'm not sure when this was taken, and it was copied from a book thus the poor quality, but it shows how much progress has been made Downtown getting rid of those nasty surface lots. Union Station is in the lower right hand corner.   1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chi-Char-Hou-Dal Posted May 21, 2014 Share Posted May 21, 2014 First thought - Houston House been around a while and although I know just went through a renovation - has aged considerably well IMO. Death to Thy Surface Lot!!!!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Pragmatist Posted May 21, 2014 Share Posted May 21, 2014         Heh. I think I've managed to collect most of the changes here in this post. It was interesting to see the rooftop (and pedestal) design change over time. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fernz Posted May 21, 2014 Share Posted May 21, 2014 This may be an unpopular opinion, but I like the latest design best. I think the earlier versions looked conceptual and clunky; and they have been refined into a more elegant tower. Flashy is not necessarily better. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luminare Posted May 21, 2014 Share Posted May 21, 2014 I agree with you fernz. The others still seemed to be a little over the top and very conceptual. The crown in the latest design looks a lot sleeker and more thought out. The first one looks like a missile silo lol. The latest one looks a lot more controled and majestic. I also like the massing a lot better on the bottom. That first image for the massing at the bottom looks like something that was a place holder for what is there now. Designs always go through Refinement and mature. The latest is a more thought out design. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mollusk Posted May 21, 2014 Share Posted May 21, 2014 I'm not sure when this was taken, and it was copied from a book thus the poor quality, but it shows how much progress has been made Downtown getting rid of those nasty surface lots. Union Station is in the lower right hand corner.  Taken at the height of the Disco Era, judging by the presence of One Houston (1978) and the absence of the tower at South Texas College of Law (started in 1982) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DNAguy Posted May 21, 2014 Share Posted May 21, 2014 After the Super Bowl, Houston's next big event can be hosting a MMA cage matches on the roof! [Movie trailer voice]2 men check into the Marriott Marquis, 1 man leaves! 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
intencity77 Posted May 21, 2014 Share Posted May 21, 2014 This may be an unpopular opinion, but I like the latest design best. I think the earlier versions looked conceptual and clunky; and they have been refined into a more elegant tower. Flashy is not necessarily better.Sorry, but this hotel was designed to be "flashy" otherwise why build a huge rooftop pool in the shape of Texas and have over 1000 rooms? Besides it's not like a lot of Houston's buildings are flashy anyway, if anything most are designed pretty conservatively. Houston could use a bit more flashier buildings IMO. A lot of convention center hotels are being built with the wow factor these days. Look at lighting on the Omni in Dallas, whether one likes it or not, no one could argue that it isn't flashy. While the end result (if this truly is the end result) of the Marquis is not entirely horrible, it is a bit disappointing compared to its initial renderings. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post DNAguy Posted May 21, 2014 Popular Post Share Posted May 21, 2014 Â Taken at the height of the Disco Era, judging by the presence of One Houston (1978) and the absence of the tower at South Texas College of Law (started in 1982) Â Did you guys happen to find a stash of Rep. Culberson's 'private magazines'????? Â Look at the size of those... parking lots.... So many cars..... No light rail or buses either.... Â 12 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
H-Town Man Posted May 21, 2014 Share Posted May 21, 2014 Did you guys happen to find a stash of Rep. Culberson's 'private magazines'????? Â Look at the size of those... parking lots.... So many cars..... No light rail or buses either.... Â Â One of the better posts I've seen on here. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luminare Posted May 21, 2014 Share Posted May 21, 2014 Sorry, but this hotel was designed to be "flashy" otherwise why build a huge rooftop pool in the shape of Texas and have over 1000 rooms? Besides it's not like a lot of Houston's buildings are flashy anyway, if anything most are designed pretty conservatively. Houston could use a bit more flashier buildings IMO. A lot of convention center hotels are being built with the wow factor these days. Look at lighting on the Omni in Dallas, whether one likes it or not, no one could argue that it isn't flashy. While the end result (if this truly is the end result) of the Marquis is not entirely horrible, it is a bit disappointing compared to its initial renderings. They are called "initial" renderings or concepts for a reason....because they are the beginning of a design. Most of the time those designs get thrown out the window very quickly because its just to get ideas out there. There is a difference between "flashy", "conservative", and simply a mature design. I'm sure to some, every glass building looks the same, but this one is pretty "flashy" if we were to use this kind of language. The lines and massing on this building are superb and crisp. The material chooses are spot on and enhances the buildings over form with long horizontal lines and materials for the base and nice lines that accentuate the verticality of the tower. They probably only put that crown so high and so over-exaggerated in the beginning because it "looked cool". Its not flashy or good at all its simply ridiculous how tall that crown was and it looked rather flimsy. The drum which pierced the orthogonal tower was awkward looking and didn't match the rest of the overall composition. If you want "flashy" for the sake of being flashy then go look at stuff that are going up in Dubai or China. Don't get me wrong, there are some amazing buildings in those places, but many of those buildings would never exist in reality if it weren't for governments or kings trying to inflate their own ego's. Or maybe you want another kind of "flashy" then go and find some crazy 'Googie' architecture which was exactly that, flashy, and meant to catch the eye, but because they tried so hard they are now very dated (some can be quite charming and colorful, of course). Cool architecture isn't something that is just flashy for the sake of being flashy. This building speaks to what is happening in houston which is the city is maturing and growing. Landmark buildings will come, but they have to be the result of the process and not just because they wanted to do something "cool". I mean I want stuff from people like Zaha, Foster, Grimshaw, BIG, or the cool stuff that are going up in Spain, Germany, or England, but its got to be natural. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fernz Posted May 21, 2014 Share Posted May 21, 2014 Well said Luminare. Also, the hotel doesn't have 1,000 rooms in order to be flashy. Houston First needs as many rooms as possible near the convention center in order to attract large conventions. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UtterlyUrban Posted May 21, 2014 Share Posted May 21, 2014 (edited) I'm not sure when this was taken, and it was copied from a book thus the poor quality, but it shows how much progress has been made Downtown getting rid of those nasty surface lots. Union Station is in the lower right hand corner.It was prior to 1982 as the Four Seasons is not there. Assuming a 2 year construction period (pure guess), it would be prior to 1980 but after 1978 as a previous poster indicated. Since there is no First City tower (I think if it was there it should be seen from this angle), that means that since it opened in 1981, and construction likely started a couple years earlier, we are looking at 1978 or 1979....Thanks for this! Wonderful!No Discovery Green. No ballparks. No Park Shops, no Convention center. No Hilton. No First City Tower? Houston House is on an island! Wow. Edited May 22, 2014 by UtterlyUrban Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ArchFan Posted May 21, 2014 Share Posted May 21, 2014 The photo above is amazing (no need to replicate it again).  So many surface lots and they are virtually full!! Another interesting item in it is the 30-story Holiday Inn, south of the Humble Bldg, looking all new and spiffy.  I wasn't a big fan of it even when it was new, but at least it wasn't a civic embarrassment. In the lower right, we can see the Catholic church, the World Trade Center, and our beloved Greyhound Bus Station (before it moved south of Pierce Elevated).  I've never been in the "new" Trailways station, but the old Greyhound station was a bit on the gross side.  We were all happy when it moved.  Now ... I guess we want it to move again ... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UtterlyUrban Posted May 21, 2014 Share Posted May 21, 2014 There are 3 office trailers (construction trailers) Parked on the Hess site across the street from this project tonight. I do think that the Hess residential tower and this hotel project will have construction schedules coordinated ........ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Triton Posted May 22, 2014 Share Posted May 22, 2014 This may be an unpopular opinion, but I like the latest design best. I completely agree. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monarch Posted May 22, 2014 Share Posted May 22, 2014  sleeker, look's a bit more elegant. seems as though crosswalk has been upgraded. current concept, looks a bit taller. beautiful! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Howard Huge Posted May 22, 2014 Share Posted May 22, 2014 Ugh. No comment. I guess I'll post the old HAIF cliché, "It's better than what was there before." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cloud713 Posted May 22, 2014 Share Posted May 22, 2014 (edited) I'm not sure when this was taken, and it was copied from a book thus the poor quality, but it shows how much progress has been made Downtown getting rid of those nasty surface lots. Union Station is in the lower right hand corner. Edited May 22, 2014 by cloud713 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sdotwill84 Posted May 22, 2014 Share Posted May 22, 2014 looks like we still have a long way to go. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timoric Posted May 22, 2014 Share Posted May 22, 2014 (edited) - Edited July 8, 2019 by Timoric Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nate99 Posted May 22, 2014 Share Posted May 22, 2014 looks like we still have a long way to go. If everything on the drawing board goes, a significant number of those surface lots that you see will be gone.  The eastern side of downtown was pretty much worthless for years, this type of thing takes decades. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tanith27 Posted May 22, 2014 Share Posted May 22, 2014 fwiw as I look out my window at the construction, I see the little lot next to the Hess garage is coned off with trailers on it. Â Could be staging for the hotel, or maybe they're going to work on this piece as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luminare Posted May 22, 2014 Share Posted May 22, 2014 passed by this today. They already have the whole parking lot dug up and were beginning excavation from what I could see. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aarosurf Posted May 22, 2014 Share Posted May 22, 2014 I love the new design - can't wait to relax by the rooftop Texas-shaped pool with a margarita when this thing finishes. Also looking at the old photo  - I could not imagine walking across that sea of parking lots to get to work in the middle of a Texas summer - I would need a shower once I got to the office. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Triton Posted May 22, 2014 Share Posted May 22, 2014 (edited) Â Edited May 22, 2014 by Triton 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
H-Town Man Posted May 22, 2014 Share Posted May 22, 2014 They missed a tree! THEY MISSED A TREE!!Wait, no they didn't. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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