tangledwoods

last last rendering looks ridiculous.  you either have decomposed granite or you have pavers, mixing them should be against the law.

those houses better have some excellent insulation.  that road noise is going to be something special.

I find it curious to see maxim tower cranes on this job.  I am not a crane nerd, but these might be the only ones in town right now??

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Dumb question, but I'm a noob. What is the process they are using for the foundation walls? Are they pouring it layer by layer as they dig down? I have not seen that before.

Long story short the process they are using is likely called "soil nails"  here is a nifty website explaining things:

Soil nailing | Keller North America (keller-na.com)

the surface of the walls is similar to shotcrete that you see on a pool, but there is also a retention component drilled into the earth.

glad you got the drone up!!  I drive by every morning, but you cant really see anything from the street right now.  They are using the little rubber tire crane to feed rebar down into the hole and the tower crane base showed up late last week.  Looks like they got it ready for the NW corner which will likely mean we will see another crane go up on the S or SE corner.

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Don't get me wrong, I love this project.......but are the renderings getting more underwhelming or is it just me? The only cool perspective is from above. The pedestrian/ car perspective....it kind of just looks like some scattered buildings. I feel like the double helix was more exaggerated in previous renderings. Again, please don't bash lol my perspective, I still love this project.

Have you seen any of the renderings elsewhere in this thread from the landscape architect?  A HUGE focus of this project is the central helix spine and the site hardscape / landscaping is going to be dope.  Imagine the rooftop of POST but ground level surrounding by tall curving glass buildings.

Now if you are driving down Old Spanish Trail or Braeswood, this will likely end up looking a bit vanilla but the project isn't really designed for those big external views it seems to be fairly inward looking (in my non-architect opinion).

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Go ahead! Spread it far and wide. I'd rather use this term which is us describing what is actually happening, and not simply seceding territory or narrative to contractors.

as one of those contractors, I am calling it: here is the stuff I can actually find in 2022.  So much material right now is backordered, long lead, no longer made, etc. We aren't even really doing VE, its just triage to get the building built.  FWIW, most of us hate VE, its more work for us and we also get blamed when it doesn't go well.

drove by this morning, there is a daily parade of dump trucks leaving the site.  it is now hard to see the tops of the excavators as they are working down in the pit.  I think i saw 4 McCarthy people leaning on the cable rail this morning watching the orchestra.

Yellow is your sheathing (exterior wall)

Brown is the fluid applied air barrier (aka keep the water out)

White is ??? either insulation or like jmitch94 said it could be a protective film on metal panels.

Spoke with someone familiar with the plans on this job, the hole they are digging is going to be around 50' deep.  Not sure if its underground parking or part of the building interior.  My guess would be parking.

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Dumb question but wouldn't they want to remove the sand and dirt buildup under the rebar before they pour the concrete for that road?

paving is pretty much always on grade (no vapor barrier). all you need is for the rebar to be clean and have your proper depth for the specified paving.  The subgrade here is probably select fill or lime stabilized material.  As long as there is no organic material (topsoil) they are good to go.

There is no question this is a nice building, but I cant help but feel this building already looks dated.  This building just kinda looks like a really clean 15 year old building.

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Obviously, that won't work in Houston, since the developers decide their own heights.  But perhaps there is some other carrot that can be offered to make these skyscrapers more neighborhood-friendly. 

The problem is that you really want the arcade along the sidewalk, but our sidewalks are often utility easements / building setbacks.  I think the simple thing to do would be to confirm a maximum height on the aerial easement that the utilities and city can have that way more developers would be encouraged to do what Hines did here.  Centerpoint is a HUGE jerk when it comes to easement standards and while I 100% understand the need for safety standards, their requirements are more often out of laziness and accessibility for their trucks.

It would also help if the city could define canopies as exempt from setback requirements.

they have now brought on site the big guns.  Oscar Oduno is now on site.  They specialize in deep retaining wall systems.  This is making me start to think that they are going to have below grade parking or something else substantial below grade.  These fools are not cheap but holy hell they know what they are doing.

Oscar Orduno Inc. - Earth Retention Systems - Dallas TX

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There is a dentist as well as an optometrist and a primary-care medical clinic leasing space at MKT. It struck me as kind of an odd location for medical providers given that MKT seems to primarily be focused on fashion/lifestyle/dining.

I think it also has a lot to do with landlords liking these longer term tenants, its also the reason why a lot of strip centers want the Methodist or St Lukes doc in a box.  Small business retail / restaurants have a LOT of turnover and it makes your proforma look better to have more reliable tenants. 

https://youtu.be/XigmcjbcwlE

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I'm still holding on to my pettiness. The stone is nice stone. Just would have preferred something better visually facing Market Square. 

yall are being fooled, that is precast concrete, not stone.  I will say, it is nice precast concrete.