UrbaNerd

I have sticky tires... the fastest I hit it was at 86. Barely.

Nonono, you have to hit it at EXACTLY 88 to get the intended effect!

Very nice. I actually was able to see some preliminary drawings and renderings when I visited the Gensler office a few months back. Sorry, I wasn't able to obtain any "leakable" info.

They actually went over a "project under wraps" in this vicinity during a lecture a few weeks back. Something involving prefabricated elements and the like. I guess this may be it. Looks pretty cool.

Anyone else notice the green and red Christmas tree on top of the Fulbright tower?

Camden Midtown is over ten years old. This one will be newer, shinier, taller, more expensive boring stuff.

Is this the same one as the Ziegler Cooper rendering I posted a few months back?

Houston...it's like the Anti-Atlanta:

Posted over from SSC or SSP...one of those. Yeah

Hey, I'll take it. I just hope they don't end up building another plain beige box or whatever.

Watching Rockets on ESPN it shows the blue lighting is back on. I love the blue.

That might be stock footage. It was white on the way home.

As far as I know, the only palm trees native to this region are Saw Palmettos, which don't get very tall.

Still, palm trees can be used properly here, as long as they are well maintained. A BAD example of this are the plantings along the Gulf Freeway.

Yeah and if it actually did start back in August, I think we would see more than some fences. But what do I know about construction?

Lol yeah. Of course, you probably know something about Houston's infamous "soil testing" issues...

So has this project already started? If not, when is the estimated construction start date? All I can see from the photo is some fences...

As posted above:

"The environmental permit mentions an August '08 start date with construction ending in December 2012."

4 yrs...Seems kinda slow for a TMC project. Most things are done in less than 2 yrs. It is a massive structure though, and there are probably other issues regarding the construction.

From my personal experience, the quality of Bose products varies widely. We have two wave stereos at home, and those sound great (especially for their minuscule size), but the speakers in my car (Well, it's an old car, but it's all a college student can afford) sound horrendously tinny and worn out. Perhaps this is due to their age (1997 vehicle), but I'd pay a good couple of hundred to get those changed (if I didn't have to constantly purchase art supplies...).

I know this has been talked about over the last few years but I just wanted to say that downtown Houston's skyline is looking 10xs better these days without those tacky looking white Christmas lights on top of the buildings. The blue ones on top of the Amegy bank building look so good. It seems that some of the letters sent by some members on here, including myself may have done the trick. I know many didn't care about this issue like I did, but I was always a strong advocate of removing the Christmas lights.

I think I remember reading on here that once the H/P opens up, it will have newer features as far as lighting up downtown. I think there's supposed to be a special feature on the new Houston Pavilions skywalk bridges. Downtown Houston's shaping up.

I don't expect to get many replies but what do you guys think?

Agreed. Looks frikken awesome coming home from UH.

Was driving home late the other day, and the light seems to be working again.

A sad loss, but I find it sort of ironic that "brennen" is German for "Burn"...

Here's to their recovery, and the rebuilding process!

And no free donuts this time, either! .!

What in the world?? I think it's San Antonio in the background.

Edit: Oh wait, you know what I just realized? The whole entire picture is a model! It's not even a real photo of Houston. I just thought the colors on the buildings had been changed, but no... if you check the textures around all the skyscrapers, they all have a tan-fake sidewalk. How weird.

Simcity 5, anyone?

Do you know of a Shruber? I know some knights over in Kni who wants some shrubbery. They also want a nice little white picket fence! Those bastards!

A few holy grenades should take care of that.

I can't believe they only went 7 stories for the office component. Even in a slow market, 7 stories for downtown, really?!

They easily could have gone 15 or at the least 10, but 7?! Think about that. Pretty lame-o

Each segment seems to be approximately two floors, actually, if the scaling of the window workers is correct.

Is life such that watching a "foundation pour" is exciting? Particularly one of a dozen in H-town?

This one has the advantage of free food and beverages.

Construction should start at some point in the third quarter (July/Aug/Sept). It'll be a six- to eight-story midrise, the ground floor will likely have retail space or artists' studios.

I did notice that the Ziegler Cooper site has been updated recently with renderings of this project. I was skeptical of course, but I guess that was a positive omen regarding this project indeed.

http://www.zieglercooper.com/projects.asp?...41&projid=8

Now, is this more to your liking, Niche? It's not too over festooned with design elements, and the only ones present seem to be simple and structural (mullions, etc). The facade material also seems to follow the rule of "structural integrity" rather than for excessively ornamental purposes.

Examples of recent buildings/renderings that I like: Memorial Hermann Medical Plaza, Mosaic, and nearly anything developed by Hines (including their parking garage on Main).

Older product that I like is all over the place in Houston. Our boomtimes were in a good moment of architectural histroy, IMO, and I'm thankful that we don't have all the cheesy spires of Atlanta. I'm not even sure where to start, except to say that from time to time, an angle of a building that I've seen a hundred times will pop out at me as being just magnificent...large buildings and small buildings alike.

So essentially, you prefer things without excessive architectural embellishments; more of function over form. I agree that a lot of the towers from our boomtimes are quite timeless in their architectural being, since they lack the elements that date a structure. How about some of the other things going up in the TMC? One in particular I was wondering about is the recently built UT School Of Nursing, designed by Lake Flato. Of course, there are also obvious attempts to stamp neoclassical elements on new structures (MD Anderson Ambulatory), but of course, Postmodernism qualifies as a real style in itself (which is why some consider it a paradox). Then again, some people enjoy living in a paradox and a parody of what real life is supposed to be.

So, if you were to design such a "redevelopment/development", what would it look like? What exactly is "real" to you, anyway (besides function over form)? What would the materials/forms and such be?

This is another thing. The end project is usually not as attractive as the rendering, and I can't recall even one that looks better than the rendering. What you see is the best possible outcome.

Of course the rendering will attempt to present a product in the best possible light; they are trying to sell it to someone/a certain demographic after all.

What I meant regarding my previous statement was the desire for that the subtleties and such portrayed in the renderings to be preserved in real life once the project is completed, or at least for some sort of resemblance to the projections.

As someone stated above, I at least appreciate the fact that the architecture is not going on an excessively trite level, like Market Street. This is perfect example of a project which is overly encrusted with neoclassical elements; it has more of a superficial appeal to superficial people who want to have the "canned Disneyland experience" (complete with the long waits, and overpriced crap) without the idiots in suits parading about. At least in RS, the so called "canned" architectural elements are applied in a much more reserved manner; there is less "makeup" applied to the facades. Sure, it may still be somewhat superficial, but at least it is somewhat more convincing than the other examples.

While we are on this note; perhaps you could show us examples of architecture and projects from recent history, and modern times that you do appreciate, eh Niche?

Looks like they're trying to pull off a more traditional style here than what is usually found in these new developments (ie: Post Midtown, BLVD Place, etc), but I find the designs a tad more convincing than many other developments that try their hand at such a style (ie: West Ave). I appreciate the architectural subtleties in most of the buildings; they do not attempt to over festoon most of them with trite and stereotypical neoclassical elements, such as quoins, keystones, etc.

Furthermore, it also looks like the majority of it will be clad in solid masonry; here's to hoping that those stucco looking structures are not actually done in EIFS.

I'm just hoping that the actual results will be just as convincing as these renderings.

there must be a cost threshold at around 30 stories. that sux for us sim city fans who want taller.

Plop cheats and modds FTW!