Purdueenginerd

2 hours ago, BeerNut said:

 

Been to a few job sites where I have to do this. I think its a good idea. Stretching and flexing is certainly cheaper than an OSHA recordable from pulling a muscle. I like it.

Just now, Triton said:

Has anyone gone down Brays in a while? Was wanting to go past 610 but I heard a lot is shutdown.

Tried going down that way with my wife a few weeks ago. Got frustrated with all the construction around the med district and cut back through midtown...

I tried looking up some more updated press on this one.

https://setexasrecord.com/stories/513240744-construction-worker-alleges-negligence-caused-fall-through-floor-at-holiday-inn-site

Only thing new this indicates is that this confirms they were in the middle of a concrete placement when the collapse occurred. 

Thought i'd share this book. I burned through it on one flight from Houston to Chicago last weekend without falling asleep. 

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0865477728?pf_rd_p=183f5289-9dc0-416f-942e-e8f213ef368b&pf_rd_r=ZVY9XHD60ZJT1W7AJ7RB

Nonetheless, little dated, but Houston is mentioned a few times, in a negative light. There's some good data points on pedestrian infrastructure and policies to create more walkable neighborhoods. I found the book rather compelling. 

1 minute ago, Luminare said:

 

Gensler isn't one of those kinds of firms. I've never thought of Gensler as snotty or imagines a project as "beneath them". Definitely not for a multi-national corporation where their only concern is making money, and not necessarily the look of its portfolio. Even with that being stated, unless you are a name associated with a particular look, feel, and type of architecture, then no project should ever be "beneath you". That exclusion is bad business, and bad in the sense as one is limiting themselves to explore new avenues for architectural expression or architectural challenges. Then again that's the difference between someone who wants to fill a niche and one that wants to reach the mainstream.

I might be subject to recency bias in my opinion of the typical projects Gensler peforms, at least from my anecdotal standpoint. I'm not trying to convey theyre snobby, I apologize-- that wasnt my intent. I guess every time I've worked with Gensler its typically a huge multi-national firm as the owner. Hopefully thats not enough to doxx me ; ). That's why i'm generally surprised they would go for and win the bid for a parking garage, even one that's automated. My only thought would be that something else is attached to this project that hasnt been revealed yet. Alternatively, perhaps Gensler just has a lot of experience with this automated garages in other markets and thats why they won. 

I will say, that "high density" parking also means the "cost" and "revenues streams" of parking may be increasing in downtown houston, relative to land. Surface lots obviously being the cheapest, followed by pre-cast garages, and now we have potentially higher capacity garages. I'm sort of skeptical though, despite all the losses of parking lots in Downtown, I find it absurdly easy and affordable to find parking whenever I have a meeting downtown or there's an event I want to go to. Though I may be outside of the norm, Normally when I go to a rockets game or concert... I try to park several blocks away to pay $0 after 6 pm on the streets and walk the remainder. This garage may be marketed to the convention crowds.

  @Luminare I dont know. Even an "Auto" parking garage seems beneath Gensler's typical project. Do we know if this a full block or half-block. The rendering kind of looks like a half-block. 

Hiring Gensler seems like over kill for a parking garage... Just saying.... 

wow. This should be reported to 311. 

man... thats a lot of piles. 

whats the significance of Rowdy?  I see his graffiti everywhere all over the city... Even written with a sharpie on traffic signage. 

7 hours ago, nate4l1f3 said:

Could someone share some other major Skanska projects? 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skanska#Major_projects

Hows the traffic in and out of there? The HEB in the north heights was a hot mess when it opened, and at times difficult to get in and out of

1 week update. So the tilt walls are clearly load bearing. They've installed shoring, with structural steel (a little surprising) with cribbing down to the slab on grade. Doesnt look tied down for uplift which irks me a little bit, but I digress. It could be theyre planning on performing select demolition at the roof in these locations. 

53 minutes ago, Luminare said:

 

This is what I thought, but couldn't prove substantially. That was a quick ninja response!

 

Its been interesting watching the demo because I haven't really seen demo with intent to preserve that intense before. I know on the project I was mentioning above that architecturally if you are going to poke holes into a facade that is concrete then most times it just makes sense to demo the whole wall and refill back in. It is interesting to see how rigid the Sears structure is to be taking such a beating.

I'll concede that looking at Sears photos, that demo does seem more invasive than I would picture for a renovation project . A few things on Sears Im seeing based on the demo. 

It looks like a solid wall was demolished at sears. Other than the lateral system(loads that go left to right, like wind), theres nothing that indicates to me that its part of the gravity system(loads that go down, and hopefully not up). If its part of the lateral system, they're modifiying the lateral system of an existing old building. I'll put this bluntly, doing this sucks, is difficult and expensive and is very invasive to the existing structural systems. Generally on renovation projects youre not required to modify the existing lateral system to modern code provisions unless certain provisions are crossed. Changing a building from Risk Category II to Risk Category III is a good example. Another one is "enlarging" the building wind profile. 
The other thing I noticed at sears is they appear to have completely removed the roof framing. I dont know their end goal here so Im in pure speculation mode. They could be replacing it. Why would use replace it you ask? Roof framing are typically designed for relatively light loads. If the Architect wanted a green roof, or another occupied floor, demoing that roof structure may have precipitated just simply replacing the framing up there. The other item they could be doing is... simply never replacing it. This has the added benefit of reducing the wind profile of the building. Regardless, I think its important to note that whatever they're doing to sears, at least to me, seems significantly larger in scope that this MKT project... as far as demo goes. We also have a secondary portion that here on MKT: the structure is exposed, and will likely remain exposed. Thats less likely for sears. 

On 10/7/2019 at 11:34 AM, H-Town Man said:

 

They must be using some different tools than the concrete cutting going on at the Sears in Midtown...

 

ha, I took a look at the photos of sears. Interesting demo technique. But it should be noted these are quite different structures. Sears appears to be a structural concrete frame. With Sears I'm not sure what their end goal is there, but they may be performing more drastic modifications to the frame system which is precipitating the need to have a more "ugly demo".

For this structure, This is definitely tilt-wall. I can't tell if these particular ones are load bearing. (i'll check next time I ride by). But generally the demo procedure is "saw cut" through the wall and push! One good thing this contractor has done is not over cut at the corners of the opening... so kudos to them for doing that. I would expect some sort of steel lintel  to be attached on the inside face/jamb at some point. Generally when I detail post-installed tilt wall openings, I have them install the steel prior to performing demolition.

CC @Luminare Tilt walls do have reinforcement, though traditionally less congested then your typical reinforced concrete beam. I've provided a photo from one of my old projects where we repaired a tiltwall. This is the reinforcement that is typical of Tiltwalls. 

Quite a bit of activity going on now. cut holes in the tilt walls now

38 minutes ago, crock said:

You must have never been on the MKT.  this a rather elevate d ridge, when you're on the MKT trail this area is a hill above/next to you. It would only flood in extreme events.    

I've been on MKT plenty and yeah, looking at google earth, youre right. 

yeah they need lighting through there. This will be good. That area is currently flood retention. I would assume the park will still be retention, so I would guess we should expect a decent amount of expected flooding at this park. 

Saw this from I-10 today. appears mostly leveled. 

I noticed a demolition project this weekend and dont want to open new thread on it. . On TC Jester, and Schuler (cross) near rice military. Theres a small 1 story building thats been demolished there. -- Is there a forum thread for it?

Thanks! Sorry about the additional thread

Apologies if there is topic already for this. Tried searching and was unable to find anything. 

I noticed Northwest Transit Center was completely demolished yesterday and on the development map its slated to be rebuilt.

https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/1/viewer?hl=en&ll=29.78214561558281%2C-95.45377498634184&z=17&mid=1J_89cR1sxP4muIAHRJlm6TajoQPyoswJ

Any Renderings of the replacement structure yet? At least publicly available? 

This project (the spaceport in general) doesnt pass my sniff test. There's clearly a future for private ventures into space, but right now the economic of space flights appear to break down into 3 groups. 

1.) Governments, Spycraft, Defense, scientific research. 

2.) Telecommunications 

3.) Stupidly Rich Tourists. 

To me, Private companies are mostly going after contracts in the 1 and 2 categories. Is there any indications that there's sufficient demand to build a spaceport, much less in Houston?  I dont know... convince me I'm wrong. I'm a Star Trek fan, so I want to like this, but call me a healthy skeptic. 

Thats really unfortunate for the victim, and the secondary fact of the workers that have to deal with seeing that. When people fall from those kind of heights, its not like the movies, and is way way uglier.