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Houston Endowment Corporate Headquarters At 3683 Willia St.


Urbannizer

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6 hours ago, Luminare said:

Fair, but lets see how we got to this point, and why I had to say what I said to get you to clarify exactly what you wanted me to answer.

 

 

This was the foundational statement which everything else was built on. I had to know if this still played a factor in what you wanted to know. I'm not going to make the assumption that this doesn't still hold true for you in this conversation, so my initial goal was to try and omit this and move on. Its in this statement that you begin to make initial comparisons of false equivalence focusing on an aesthetic rather than the program and context itself, but I needed to understand where the false equivalence was coming from. This is also were you make your initial statement on what you perceive to be "inviting" and "interacting". Again I needed to understand what this was in relation to.

 

 

Without us knowing what the false equivalence is (from the listeners viewpoint), you then further build the case aesthetically what you prefer over others, and what you deem to be "inviting" and "interacting". You also make it clear that you do have a bias in what transparent means, but again, what is the comparison. From these initial points it seemed that you were comparing the Endowment to the MFAH as if they were like-like comparisons. Something which had to be addressed and untangled.

 

 

This actually then made things more confusing because while you conceded one point about the museum, the listener still doesn't understand where your initial perspective is on this topic and why you are making your initial comparisons. What is your initial comparison that that informs your notions about what is more inviting and that the "full facade matters"? Again the listener still thinks that your comparison is between the Endowment (an office building) and the MFAH expansion (an art gallery).

 

 

NOW we have found the false equivalence and what you were ACTUALLY comparing both the MFAH and the Endowment too. As you can see this was in no way clear. If you frame your argument to just this one quote then it is clear, but to the conversation as a whole it isn't clear. With the evidence above this was a hornets nest to unravel to get hone in on what specifically you were asking for.

 

 

This is why I had to infer these things. Thankfully you did clarify, but only at this point.

 

Now you see why I made the claim this was opaque. You do tend to do this by the way, and I wanted further clarification.

 

AIC does not equal to MFAH and does not equal to Endowment

Your origination point of comparison was the AIC to MFAH aesthetically, but was masked by this topic of the Endowment which has a similar aesthetic, but is a different program/function.

Knowing the basis for this I can say:

 

There was no light issue as their was with MFAH because the program, client, and context called for something different. There were probably light issues associated with the AIC, but of a different kind, and not similar to the MFAH. So while you do prefer the AIC aesthetically, and while its possible the MFAH could have done this same aesthetics, the MFAH had different set of constraints which probably prevented it from looking comparable to the AIC. With that being said, both are actually very transparent, but in different ways that relate to their context and while what you perceive as "transparent" "inviting" and "interacting" is more a matter of opinion than something objectively true, it doesn't make what you said wrong, but it does distort your comparison because you omitting a lot of different variables that were at play for each project.

 

See what I had to get through just to get to this answer?

I’m convinced crockpot and Lumi are the same person😛

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1 hour ago, bobruss said:

I think they are on a high spot above the park. It fills in the space that had been the home of the YWCA. No pun intended.

The YWCA was no more after Allison (memory, I was 10). Father’s place on Blossom was one of the few town homes that didn’t flood in the area but water made it up to their garage door.

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Amazing.I stand corrected. Blossom is a good distance from the bayou also. That's really remarkable. We were living in the Wagon Works building. a block from the bayou and Elysian viaduct, and fortunately didn't flood. Then I hope they have plans for raising the grade before building.

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  • 1 month later...

Reminds me a lot of a new building on the Yale campus (I believe it is the business school)

Image result for yale som building

 

 

My apologies if it is mentioned earlier, but is the new pedestrian bridge over Memorial part of this project?  Or part of the long-term plan for the bayou?  It would be great to have another connection to this park.

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  • 4 weeks later...

The overhead view is interesting because of the street features. The loop connectors at Waugh and Memorial are gone. The intersection appears to remain grade-separated, with a single-point urban interchange (SPUI) style of intersection at Waugh, which would gain a traffic signal. I have seen the SPUI listed in HGAC's long term documents.

 

Waugh is realigned to straighten the curve. This realignment would appear to necessitate a new bridge over the bayou since the existing bridge is angled and would not line up with a straighter alignment. But that bridge is also the bat colony, so I'm thinking its removal would be a wildlife impact, which could prevent its removal. So this concept may be more speculative than potential future reality.

 

The loop connectors do use a lot of land. I don't see a compelling need for more park space in this area because there is already of abundance of well-developed parkland in the area. But in today's climate, the road is going to lose in road vs. park. Two new soccer fields could potentially fit on the northwest quadrant if Waugh is realigned and the loop connectors removed.

 

HoustonEndowment07.jpg

Edited by MaxConcrete
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10 hours ago, Urbannizer said:

SCHAUM/SHIEH and HKS Architects concept

 

https://acochran.com/work/houston-endowment-headquarters-competition-landscape-architecture/

 

HoustonEndowment01.jpg

 

HoustonEndowment10.jpg

 

HoustonEndowment09.jpg

 

HoustonEndowment02.jpg

 

HoustonEndowment07.jpg

 

 


So happy they did not choose this design! I want to root for Schaum Shieh because they’re local, but their buildings are either boring or try too hard, in my opinion. This design looks like a slightly updated version of one of the hundreds of mediocre suburban office buildings out Gessner or FM 1960. 

Edited by TOMIKA!
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  • 4 weeks later...
1 minute ago, Urbannizer said:


Deborah Perke Partners:


https://competitions.malcolmreading.com/houstonendowment/finalists/deborah-berke-partners


DBP_HE_Media-Image_03.jpg
 


DBP_HE_Media-Image_01.jpg
 

DBP_HE_Media-Image_02.jpg

 

 

Olson Kundig (listed as ‘honorable mention’)

 

https://competitions.malcolmreading.com/houstonendowment/finalists/olson-kundig
 

olson-kundig-image-2.jpg
 

olson-kundig-image-1.jpg

 

olson-kundig-image-3.jpg

 

Now that we see all the finalist entries I personally wish they went with Olson Kundig. The design ties in with with existing structures at Buffalo Bayou.

 

agree wholeheartedly. love that design exactly for that reason. which isn't to say i'm not happy w the design chosen.

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Going to go ahead and post the boards from Kevin Daly Architects entry. I think its a good window into just how much work gets put into a competition like this, and the drawings that go with it including drawings that don't often get posted on here which are extremely important to understanding our work in Architecture, and how a building comes together. Most only get to see the pretty picture or "money shot" image, but there are so many great drawings that go unnoticed or just don't get released. For me, one of my favorite drawings is the Section Perspective, and there is a really good one on the last board.

 

I still think that the KDA entry is the best, but looking at the Olson Kundig entry, it reminds me why I was hoping they would come out on top. As someone who prefers regionalism of the critical variety, I like how they paid homage to bayou construction done recently, and their approach to materials.

 

Schaum/Shieh's entry makes a lot more sense now as well when you look at their boards. They were very inward focused in their design choosing to develop a finely crafted interior space with interesting networks instead of projecting outwards like the other entries, but due to this the outside just feels a little too incognito for what this building should be. If people here want to see all the boards just go to the link posted above, but if people are feeling a little lazy then just let me know and I'll grab all the boards and post them below.

 

Below are the Kevin Daly Architects boards:

 

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6TxRDYQ.jpg

 

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I'm actually a big fan of the Kevin Daly. My question is (and I have a hard time puzzling it out from the renderings/schematics) is there any plan to expand the park if indeed the clover interchange is removed? Is the clover interchange removal likely to be soon? Sorry if this is a little tangential to the matter at hand.

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14 minutes ago, EllenOlenska said:

I'm actually a big fan of the Kevin Daly. My question is (and I have a hard time puzzling it out from the renderings/schematics) is there any plan to expand the park if indeed the clover interchange is removed? Is the clover interchange removal likely to be soon? Sorry if this is a little tangential to the matter at hand.


The removal of the cloverleaf at Memorial/Waugh is currently listed for year 2042 in H-GAC planning documents. It is not listed in the current 4-year or 10-year plans.

 

See appendix D of the 2045 MTP (it should be somewhere on the H-GAC site, I have a saved copy). With its super-high price tag of $224 million for the overall project (although cloverleaf removal is surely only a small part of the total), I would rate this project as speculative depending on future financial conditions.

 

18142
Harris
Waugh/Heights
From IH 10 to NEVADA/BOMAR
RECONSTRUCT AND REALIGN WITH SINGLE POINT URBAN INTERCHANGE AT MEMORIAL DRIVE, BICYCLE AND PEDESTRIAN IMPROVEMENTS, SIGNAL IMPROVEMENTS IMPROVED TRANSIT STOPS AND DETENTION PONDS.
2042
$223.59

 

 

 

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  • The title was changed to Houston Endowment HQ Near Spotts Park (Formerly Park Place at Buffalo Bayou)
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7 hours ago, Triton said:

 

I was asking based off this:

 

6TxRDYQ.jpg

 

This park needs some love, if we are honest. If this materializes like the rendering, there is hope that Houston Endowment will be helping fund a Spotts Park renovation! 

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1 hour ago, Avossos said:

 

This park needs some love, if we are honest. If this materializes like the rendering, there is hope that Houston Endowment will be helping fund a Spotts Park renovation! 

 

I believe the basketball court is being moved to the far left side of the park - highlighted in orange on the masterplan. 

Edited by daveydogwood
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14 minutes ago, daveydogwood said:

 

I believe the basketball court is being moved to the far left side of the park - highlighted in orange on the masterplan. 

Edited: I was looking at the wrong side. Hoping as others the park gets an improvement along with the Endowment building.

Edited by Visitor
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21 hours ago, daveydogwood said:

 

I believe the basketball court is being moved to the far left side of the park - highlighted in orange on the masterplan. 

That's good. The hoity toity folks to the East of the park tried to get the basketball court removed a while back, because it attracted "undesirables", ie, people of color who didn't live in the neighborhood. Imagine the horror of having to watch people who don't look like you play basketball in a public park from the windows of your $600k townhouse.

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