tangledwoods

master bath has a soaker tub per the floor plan.

Per COH, the North Canal Project Budget is:

Total Cost: $ 131,249,359

Federal Share: $46,249,359

Local Share: $85,000,000

north-canal.pdf

thats one hell of a visual mockup.  Looks like the are testing different glass types (probably trying to nail down the reflectivity balanced with the SHG and U-Vaules...) 

from the morning commute, we got a forklift and 2 portable toilets....  Making progress!

Quote

I wonder what the grid pattern area is for?

Those grid patterns in the concrete are from saw cutting the concrete.  Basically after they finish the concrete, a grid is laid out and joints are cut into the concrete.  It is how they attempt to control cracking and force cracks to happen in certain spots vs others.

If you want an informative look at the process:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q9UrR31RGVI

I'm really confused by this one.  I have worked on a number of mid - high rise concrete framed buildings but they all had metal pan stairs.  Is it becoming common to use precast for the central core egress stairs?  Obviously this is a tragic accident and when installed correctly the system should be no better or worse than another, I am just curious if this is a new design approach or something tried and true.

When talking about a building foundation, no properly designed or built foundation system will ever be the linchpin in a building lifespan.  A good foundation will last FAR longer than anything built above it.  NOTE: I am talking about large public or private buildings, I am not talking about under 6 story timber framed anything.

FYI foundations are subject to differential settlement in our soils (differential meaning that your building is falling or rising differently from adjacent ones).  For a building like Texas Tower or other tall structures you expect to see 3 windows of settlement:

1. initial (foundation install to right after install)
2. during construction (as the concrete or steel frame adds weight the building sinks)
3. upon completion

During phase 1-2 you MIGHT see 2-6 inches (it will all be engineered and expected).  Upon completion you will see less than an inch and then it becomes part of the neighborhood and is no longer subject to any tangible differential settlement. 

Foundation failures are extremely rare but they do happen.  A good recent example:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Millennium_Tower_(San_Francisco)#Sinking_and_tilting_problem

I am very curious to see how tall they would go.  Anything in the 4+ range would really stand out in that area and be potential catalyst for a cascade of other smaller townhome type projects.  They would also have some stellar downtown views.

I did not expect to see this kind of gentrification happening in near northside.  If they pull this off it will set off a cascade of development that will turn near northside into shady acres 2.0.

just thank the lord we dont have a developer here in town that loves gold and puts very large signs up with his last name on them.

I will take Randall "the EIFS / Stucco queen" Davis over some others any day of the week!!!

I have priced plenty of jobs to bury electrical, the developers never go for it.  Part of the problem is also the shared use agreements that CenterPoint has.  If you bury power then you have to accommodate the fiber and other communication lines that are also on that pole.

I like this one from their marketing brochure "The Views from the 7th level and above are just spectacular.  We really don't have any obstruction to the Downtown skyline".

Surely people are smart enough to understand that the ATT store / Bancorp just east of this site is going to be redeveloped....?  There will be a 30+ story blocking most of those sweet downtown views within the next 10 years.  (And for the record I have ZERO intel for this post, just an opinion based on the underutilization of the subject property).

Quote

Anyone else amazed by the lack of cars in that shot?

 

i'm more amazed by the rooftop pool at 110 Milam.

https://www.houstonarchitecture.com/haif/topic/5134-110-milam/

anyone have any photos of inside that house?  it looks incredible!

I think the criticism by Texasota is certainly valid for this pastiche building. Compare this Opera Hall to Dickies Arena.  The rice project looks like an imitation, it looks like it is trying to be something older than it is.  Compare that to what David Schwarz did at Dickies arena and you can tell the difference between imitation and authenticity.

https://www.dmsas.com/project/dickies-arena/

The quality of construction and the high level of design is something to behold.  I am frequently the person doing the cost cutting on these major projects and know a few of the architects from Dickies.  Every place that I would cut cost, they went the other direction.  

Checkout this group of photos from Beaubois (the millwork contractor):

http://www.beaubois.com/projects/dickies-arena/

what is the seating capacity on the theater? by those photos, it seems like there are very few seats...  I wander what this works out to $/seat.

The base on this one is giving me strong Transco vibes (not a bad thing).  White mullions on reflective glass is not something I would  have expected in 2020.  I wonder if this was in part a nod to Philip Johnson.

Quote

Kirby said Rice administration will also ask students who have portable chairs to bring them to campus. How the tents will be used has yet to be determined, Kirby said.

Let me get this straight, you pay a crap ton of money for your tuition and the school turns around and ask you to bring your own chair???  

Quote

The only thing I know about structural engineering is what I learned by osmosis after spending a night at the Boll Weevil Motor Inn, in Elba, Alabama, but an inquiring mind asks:  Do the columns taper as the building ascends or is it my imagination?  I could probably identify three or forces they have to deal with, but that's about as far as my knowledge base extends.  

Concrete columns typically step by standard sizes, you could theoretically reduce each floor as your go up, but that would be cost prohibitive on formwork.  So the engineers look at the loads and give you blocks of floors by each column size, they also fiddle with reinforcing steel as you go up.

for a school that spends so much money on their buildings, it blows my mind that they would go with the cheapest / ugliest possible building.  Is this thing supposed to be temporary?

What really sucks about this facade is that the owner now has a difficult to maintain building.  The contractor right now has leverage to get replacement pieces (retainage, successful contract closeout, etc).  5 years from now the supplier will have very little insensitive to provide glass for a broken piece cause by the proverbial lawnmower throwing rocks.   I guess they could buy a bunch of attic stock but it looks like most of the pieces are in different sizes.

Quote

 And it already had lots of chips in them. I wonder how they will repair them?

The chips are fairly easy to patch.  The precast company has all the color mixes and can send out small patch kits.  When done correctly they are indistinguishable from the rest of the wall.  Plus all the joints will end up getting caulked which helps hide some of the edge damage.