Museum of Fine Arts Houston Expansion

[Houston19514 4635]

30 minutes ago, clutchcity94 said:

They started construction on this back in 2015?!?

 

No.  Mid-2017.  I saw they mentioned 2015 in that video (later they refer to 2017).  I suspect 2015 is when they started the overall project (i.e., started redevelopment of the Glassell)

[rgarza 406]

48 minutes ago, Houston19514 said:

 

No.  Mid-2017.  I saw they mentioned 2015 in that video (later they refer to 2017).  I suspect 2015 is when they started the overall project (i.e., started redevelopment of the Glassell)

This is correct. 2015 is when they started the overall project, starting with the Glassell school. There have been numerous unforeseen delays (Harvey, COVID, etc.) that have made this into a five year project instead of the originally projected 2019 date. 

[jmitch94 2030]

One of my Fraternity brothers from UH was in the video! Thanks for posting, Ill have to text him. 

[MidCenturyMoldy 621]

On 10/18/2020 at 2:18 PM, rgarza said:

 

 

This sculpture 👆 really should be installed directly in front of the stepped seating in the Glassell. I almost fell off while photographing.  

Edited October 20, 2020 by MidCenturyMoldy

[hindesky 46635]

The final push to release this to the Museum.

[rgarza 406]

1 hour ago, hindesky said:

The final push to release this to the Museum.

First and second floor galleries are pretty much done and have art installed. Third floor is nearing completion and should see art being moved in probably this week. Missing tube glass should be here first week of November. I’m so excited for everyone else to see this building. We’ve worked so hard to get to this point and it’s gratifying to see the excitement in the larger community!

[rgarza 406]

Third floor gallery barrel ceilings...

[JBTX 827]

1 hour ago, rgarza said:

Third floor gallery bar

 

 

 

Absolutely lovely. I can't wait to see this in person.

[X.R. 1119]

Its almost spoilers to see the 3rd floor ceilings now, its that interesting. It seems like the light changes a bit depending on the viewing angle? Or is that the camera? If it does change, that would be so cool.

 

Also, all that modern/avant-garde art in the last picture @rgarza is intriguing, especially that yellow cylindrical container with the canvas on top 🧐

[rgarza 406]

I’m not sure about angle changing the light picture @X.R., but the first one was taken on an especially cloudy day and with the interior lights on. Last two were taken yesterday with no interior lights on. So I guess it just depends on time of day, cloud cover, etc. 

 

In regards to the avant-garde art installation, the yellow cylindrical one is actually an interactive piece in which the public is able to add whatever they want to the piece. I believe it’s called “Your Mama Doesn’t Work Here”

[hindesky 46635]

[DarklyMoron 221]

I don't know about anyone else, but I'm catching some major iceberg vibes from the Kinder building. And I don't mind it one bit. 

[Yoda 1395]

https://www.earthcam.net/projects/museumoffinearts/houston/rwd.php?cam=live

 

I find it disappointing that the Webcam doesn't work anymore.

 

I want more high quality webcams around the city, please. Thanks.

[DarklyMoron 221]

Nice article in the Chronicle about some of the local talent employing their craft on the new building:

https://www.houstonchronicle.com/thepage/article/Meet-the-artisans-of-the-MFAH-s-new-Kinder-15705812.php?cmpid=gsa-chron-result

[Triton 11786]

Quote

Two pedestrian tunnels between the Nancy and Rich Kinder Building and the Caroline Wiess Law Building, and between the Glassell School of Art and the Kinder Building

 

Wonder if they made these tunnels like the one under Main St.

 

 

https://www.mfah.org/about/campus-redevelopment?utm_source=social&utm_medium=facebook&utm_campaign=kinder_general-admission&utm_content=a&fbclid=IwAR1CpSnyZosX0FMyDW0kUuoDOkBzahJBuBMMA8TYNufufwKea9-lgiKGH9E#new-gallery-building

[hindesky 46635]

Grand opening is set for Nov. 21st. I was wondering what they were doing under that tent, looks like a rock water feature.

 

reddit u/txfoodchick posted this pic.

 

[rgarza 406]

@hindesky it’s a bronze piece by Cristina Iglesias. You can see some work of hers online that’s similar to this one. The tent is to keep leaves and other detritus out until they finish welding, grinding, painting, and finishing it. Two more weeks until the grand opening! 

Edited November 7, 2020 by rgarza

[hindesky 46635]

23 minutes ago, rgarza said:

@hindesky it’s a bronze piece by Cristina Iglesias. You can see some work of hers online that’s similar to this one. The tent is to keep leaves and other detritus out until they finish welding, grinding, painting, and finishing it. Two more weeks until the grand opening! 

So those rock looking things are actually metal?

[rgarza 406]

@hindesky yes, it’s all bronze sculpted to look like rock with tree roots/limbs throughout. If I understood correctly, it’s modeled after an actual place somewhere in Spain, but Spanish from an actual Spaniard is a little hard for my Tejano ears to parse 😁 especially with needle guns, heavy equipment, and traffic in the background!

[hindesky 46635]

@rgarza Cristina Iglesias is the artist for the rock structure near the entrance or the statue in the endless pool?

http://cristinaiglesias.com/concepts/

[rgarza 406]

13 minutes ago, hindesky said:

@rgarza Cristina Iglesias is the artist for the rock structure near the entrance or the statue in the endless pool?

http://cristinaiglesias.com/concepts/

The rock structure. I’m not sure who did the statue in the pool. 

[hindesky 46635]

Edited November 8, 2020 by hindesky

[clutchcity94 384]

Looks like the scorching hot rooftop of the Glassell School is fixed! Will be really cool once the vines grow in and provide some coverage.

[cloud713 4038]

3 hours ago, clutchcity94 said:

Looks like the scorching hot rooftop of the Glassell School is fixed! Will be really cool once the vines grow in and provide some coverage.

Whats going on here? Kind of looks like they built a wooden shade structure below the trellis, but that cant be right.

[clutchcity94 384]

4 hours ago, cloud713 said:

Whats going on here? Kind of looks like they built a wooden shade structure below the trellis, but that cant be right.

My guess is that they’ll cover the wooden structure with vines, and once they grow in, it’ll offer some Instagramable shade.

[cloud713 4038]

Surely thats not permanent/they're not tacking on a plywood shade structure on top of this development that they just spent hundreds of millions of dollars on..
Guess ill have to reserve judgement until I see for myself or we get more detailed information.

 

 

[H-Town Man 5005]

20 hours ago, cloud713 said:

Whats going on here? Kind of looks like they built a wooden shade structure below the trellis, but that cant be right.

 

Party deck!!

 

[DarklyMoron 221]

@hindesky@rgarza The sculpture of a woman outside the restaurant is La Rivière (The River) by Maillol.   https://emuseum.mfah.org/objects/132944/la-riviere-the-river?ctx=529a780fce43e05e99a1e41b934f9bf2f0a44d58&idx=14

Also, I believe the Cristina Iglesias piece includes skylights over the large underground entrance hall. That should be interesting to experience.

 

@Triton The two tunnels include commissioned light installations, not too far removed from the Turrell tunnel below Main. Between Glassell and Kinder: artist Olafur Eliasson. Between Kinder and Law (under Bissonnet): artist Carlos Cruz-Diez.

 

Regarding the Glassell rooftop, the original plans had envisioned vines covering a pergola. It always seemed problematic not to provide a bit more shade up there, so I'm guessing this is meant to remedy that. It does seem a little strange retaining the previous pergola. We'll see!

[X.R. 1119]

I guess we haven't been taking pictures of it, but the glassell social stairs and that roof have had construction going on for a few months now. I liked running up the stairs and pretending I was rocky, but a few months ago the guard said it was temp closed. So I'm sure when we get back up there, something HAS to be different given all the time.

 

And yeah, it was real, real hot up there in July/August.

[rgarza 406]

@DarklyMoron thanks, I was just calling that one “I’ve fallen and I can’t get up” but I guess “La Riviére” is a good name, too. And yes, the Iglesias work has skylights to the atrium below. 

[rgarza 406]

Aerial view with tent removed, showing the skylights

[Avossos 2283]

2 minutes ago, rgarza said:

Aerial view with tent removed, showing the skylights

im confused by this. It seems like a very large piece.... does it drain water? Those skylights could double as drains into the basement... yikes

[DarklyMoron 221]

12 minutes ago, Avossos said:

im confused by this. It seems like a very large piece.... does it drain water? Those skylights could double as drains into the basement... yikes

Yes. Water should rush in and drain-out. Sure hope those skylights are sealed well!

 

This isn't a great video, but it does show similar pieces from her gallery show a few years back. 

 

 

Edited November 10, 2020 by DarklyMoron
Adding a video

[rgarza 406]

1 hour ago, DarklyMoron said:

Yes. Water should rush in and drain-out. Sure hope those skylights are sealed well!

Skylights have been in place since last year and no leaks yet. It’s a pretty sure bet that they’re watertight. The piece will have water in it permanently, if I’m not mistaken. 
 

*permanently, as in, it will periodically fill with water and then drain. 

Edited November 10, 2020 by rgarza
Clarification

[MidCenturyMoldy 621]

On 11/7/2020 at 3:05 PM, hindesky said:

 

 

reddit u/txfoodchick posted this pic.

 

It's actually from the MFAH Kinder Building webpage. https://www.mfah.org/about/nancy-and-rich-kinder-building

[WshfulThnkn 52]

What a beauty!

[X.R. 1119]

18 hours ago, MidCenturyMoldy said:

It's actually from the MFAH Kinder Building webpage. https://www.mfah.org/about/nancy-and-rich-kinder-building

 

Yeah, I know people halfway through this thing said they were reserving judgment and I think we can now safely say that this building is a LOOKER. By itself, the rooftop and the lights are eye catching, but placed amongst the trees and the backdrop of the other buildings its even more stark (in a good way). 

 

Now I just cross my fingers that landscaping is done well. 

[DarklyMoron 221]

4 hours ago, X.R. said:

Now I just cross my fingers that landscaping is done well. 

So far I have not been overly impressed by Deborah Nevins & Associates. They're fairly standard choices (plumbago, crepe myrtle, and the ubiquitous creeping jasmine). Perhaps the goal is cohesiveness with the sculpture garden. I do like that they've added a planted median along with a mid-block raised pedestrian crosswalk on Bissonnet.  And keeping all those live oaks is great. I think only one had to be removed and another couldn't survive the new tunnel to the Law building.

Edited November 12, 2020 by DarklyMoron
Adding image of planted median.

[tangledwoods 706]

For what it is worth, I try not to ever judge an end landscaping product against the designer.  Value Engineering (aka cost cutting) has ruined plenty of landscape designs.  Also there are plenty of horrible contractors out there and even more owners that dont do proper maintenance. 

[Houston19514 4635]

MFAH Kinder Building in Town and Country magazine.

[MidCenturyMoldy 621]

Another video:

 

 

 

[DarklyMoron 221]

There's another video, but I can't figure-out how to embed it. 

 

https://player.vimeo.com/video/477299958

 

Edited November 14, 2020 by DarklyMoron

[Houston19514 4635]

I go for my member preview in only 4 days. I can't wait!

[Houston19514 4635]

On 11/7/2020 at 6:16 PM, rgarza said:

@hindesky yes, it’s all bronze sculpted to look like rock with tree roots/limbs throughout. If I understood correctly, it’s modeled after an actual place somewhere in Spain, but Spanish from an actual Spaniard is a little hard for my Tejano ears to parse 😁 especially with needle guns, heavy equipment, and traffic in the background!

 

Chronicle article about this sculpture.

[rgarza 406]

5 hours ago, DarklyMoron said:

There's another video, but I can't figure-out how to embed it. 

 

https://player.vimeo.com/video/477299958

 

It’s so surreal to see years of hard work condensed down to thirty seconds!

[mls1202 431]

I don't get much of a chance these days to head into town, so when I finally went yesterday to see this building in person, I was shocked to find it so much better in person than in the photos.  The scale of the glass tubes in relation to the overall facade is much larger than it appears in the photos.  The "horizontal seams" between each layer are much more pleasing to me as well.  In the photos, something about them came off as inelegant, but this building is gorgeous!

[clutchcity94 384]

Maybe it’s because the weather is finally nice, but I love seeing so many people walking around this area. Seems to have more of a buzz than in years past.

[Sunstar 608]

According to the original details on their Website the building was supposed to feature “Seven gardens and six reflecting pools inset along the building’s perimeter”

 

I didn’t see anything like that in the final product, I’m guessing they scaled down their original version?

[hindesky 46635]

12 minutes ago, Sunstar said:

According to the original details on their Website the building was supposed to feature “Seven gardens and six reflecting pools inset along the building’s perimeter”

 

I didn’t see anything like that in the final product, I’m guessing they scaled down their original version?

I count 5 pools in the few pics I took a week ago and I may have missed several others

[DarklyMoron 221]

The “gardens” was always a bit of Hall’s showmanship. There are some nascent vines planted in the insets to the building that may become something, but it’s more about having moments of seeing the outdoors between each gallery space.

I was at the ribbon cutting tonight and the building is truly spectacular. The rolling ceilings on the third floor with their clerestory windows are a standout. Instagramers will love the two tunnels. The Wyatt theater is really handsome. But my favorite was how the building transforms the Naguchi sculpture garden and makes it part of the museum. The restaurant, whenever it opens, has one of the loveliest views in Houston.

I encourage everyone to visit whenever they can. I’m curious what y’all think.