Luminare

So maybe something like this? This was a bridge recently completed in Denmark. I do agree with the point that this would be a golden opportunity to once and for all negotiate the different modes of travel along Allen Parkway and have them separated from each other. I haven't seen any dedicated bike lanes in these "renderings" (more quick photoshop schemes which is fine), but I think a wise move would be to continue what is being done on Lamar and stretch it from downtown along Allen Parkway and yes with the green color as well to help demarcate where each mode of travel goes.

While looking through arch daily the other day I saw that they posted a great article on available architecture lectures. Some very old and some very new. One I found particularly interesting was this Architecture Now series. A treasure trove of interviews with some of the great architects from the late modernist and early post-modernist period are in this series from Robert Venturi, to Frank Gehry, Richard Meier, and even Philip Johnson. I would recommend for any one curious about some of these great architects to go watch these. This one posted below is of Philip Johnson and is probably the best of them. The period in which these were done were late 70's and into the mid 1980's. A like to the playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL1BE07F5A489CB43F&spfreload=10

HSR and Air travel are different animals entirely and if you have traveled by train before then you would understand that. Airports need a larger footprint to function and therefore to maximize space need to be placed in locations further than which people can get there by foot. This piece of information helps understand that air travel has always had a sort of symbiotic relationship to cars. Both were products of their times and each formed a relationship with each other. It's only been within the past few decades that railroad travel has taken people to airports while train travel has always been a pedestrian dominated experience since it's inception. The only time you treat HSR as an airport is if you are crossing international boundaries and since this isn't the case for this particular line it should be treated as a normal passenger rail that simply goes a lot faster and makes a minimum of stops. The next time you toss around HSR and Airports I would advise that you actually read up on airline history and planning and how much of a role the car played in it's early period and how it continues to be a driving force for it today. The shear expanse of land that is required to run such a facility makes a comparison it and train stations like comparing apples to oranges (cliche as it may be). EDIT: Also wanted to add that there have been many attempts to get rail to airports which for many cities and their networks have been quite successful, but lets not take a surface reading of Dallas and Houston and say that just because there are not sufficient rail networks to really connect rail to airports doesn't mean it can't happen in the future. The best thing about Rail stations (minus small town or rural stations) is that it puts you in the thick of everything and helps you connect to other forms of getting around. It's not a mere dumping ground to off load people into a sea of cars. Rail stations are entities that help tie together networks and major areas...not work outside of them.

*crickets* lol

I think some of you fail to understand that HSR should be positioned so that it benefits the pedestrian and not the car. Position it so that there are multiple ways of accessing the terminal...not just from your car. The bigger idea is connecting HSR to other modes of transit from walking, biking, other rail, bus, and yes even cars.....not a sea of parking lots. HSR should be reliant on those who will use it most meaning those who don't want to step in a car at all. It's not meant to be a curious side attraction for suburbanites or shackled to the car as if it depended on it. I also find it insulting that those who oppose the Downtown location think that we only favor it because it "looks cool". That idea is simply ludicrous and makes it easier for you to ignore the genuine advantages a location in downtown can bring. Can I actually hear an argument for NW that doesn't revolve around the easy use of ones vehicle....because I have news for y'all that isn't the target audience for this service! If you can honestly give concrete examples or evidence in how NW is a prime location then please do so, but I will challenge you to do so without the car as a crutch.

Because his banner says he lives near Westchase....how convenient. Yeah, he isn't being selfish at all...

Don't you see? You can't just answer his question anyway you want too. You only are able to answer the way HE wants you too.

If that comment section is anything like the Chronicle then I simply ignore it I mean I was on the Chron when they were talking about the bike lane downtown and it was nothing but people complaining about everything they possibly could. It's always cooler to hate on something than to at least try accept that it can be of some good. Same case here. When passenger rail has been so absent from the public conscious for nearly a half century then it's going to get some backlash especially from those who have only driven cars forever. Many of the people who are arguing against it I know for a fact have never even ridden on a train, or been on train networks to even know what could make one successful.

I don't know about you, but the exterior looks good to me. Not everything has to be updated or upgraded for the Super Bowl. Leave it be. It's a very nice hotel. I think you are getting a little over excited.

http://offthekuff.com/wp/?p=65122 *HEADDESK* Love the comment from the Oak Forest guy saying Highways are "mass transit" LOL EDIT: While people are trying to mobilize around nothing here are words straight from the big guy himself http://www.yourhoustonnews.com/spring/news/high-speed-rail-coming-to-texas/article_b193c0a4-a8dd-5da6-a3d7-8c52248838cc.html They haven't even really begun to organize their education efforts which is why I think we are seeing opposition such as this.

"Denver Harbor" You did not just toss in Denver Harbor nonchalant as if it could be a serious location.... That seriously doesn't make your argument more credible. I clearly marked out exactly what you would need to make your argument better and so far you cease to provide any evidence to really back up your argument.

posted that a not to long ago I still think he is just looking for attention.

So took some time to make some initial analysis of the current situation at NW Mall to see if what you say actually has merit. Now as I have said before. I would actually like HSR to be accessed from this location, but as a secondary station that picks up additional passengers after the train departs from the main station in downtown. This will be a part one. I wanted to initially separate the images, but I think it would be better if all the visuals were combined to see the larger picture. I would love to do a better visual presentation of this area, but for something I have spent the past 30mins on I think this will do. Whats In The Image: I hope the image comes out ok and that it is big enough. The pink dot represents the site. The red lines with arrows show movement. The red circles with white in the middle are access points off the freeway to the site. The green lines are public transit. In this case the only transit is buses. The green circles are stops with the large one at the bottom being the NW Transit Center. The orange areas shows recent development. The orange circles show walking distance. Inner circle 5min walk from NW Site. Outer circle 10min walk from NW Site. These are just representations as I haven't had the chance to actually walk the area (Then again who on earth would like too?) The red jagged lines are visual barriers. The yellow text are existing conditions. I also created a layer called "Destinations". Which would have been pink dots. Notice their aren't any! Analysis: 1. The biggest problem with the site is access. It has piss poor access from all conceivable angles and is not very well laid out. You have very few connections from the Highway. The general speeds in the area are rather fast which brings up a safety question if you getting there by bike, or walking. Even if you did walk or bike you would have to contend with visual or imaginary barriers that you see in the jagged lines. These are barriers which are formed by current land uses, roads, physical barriers, etc... From the neighborhodds you only have one way out and that is to use the main access into the neighborhood which would make a normal walk into something that isn't very pleasent. You have warehouse properties which butt up against the neighborhoods on the west side preventing easy access. In the East you have the highways which are large physical and visual barriers to accessing the area. This would be the biggest problem you would have to overcome if this was your primary station. 2. Transportation is another issue. The only good access to the station is by car, but what about people who ARRIVE at the station and are from out of town? Very very few options for them to get around. Of course if you do place it here you would see an increase in taxi's, rent-a-cars, which will only increase the use of cars in this area and just to get anywhere it would be very expensive! 3. The area is characterized by the gradual decay of suburban infrastructure, culture, residential, and commercial. Many of these areas are in deep decline and many people are moving out of these areas! The commercial buildings here are either low-rise commercial, declining highrises, or declining mid-rises. Warehouses make up the main uses in the area which also brings to point number 4. 4. This area is not a destination! It is an in-between. A place to pass through and not go too. I mean the main industry of the area is transportation or distribution centers which take things to other places not the current location. 5. Earlier I said that I had created a layer called "destinations" (this was done quickly in Illustrator), but I honestly couldn't think about what were "Destinations". I don't think HISD, Warehouses, fast food joints, big box stores, a few bars and a strip club at Mangum and 290 are going to draw anyone to this area. If I'm missing anything here of importance then please address it. Trains are best when they take you straight to a destination! When you get out of a Train you are immediately there and have easy access to places that are there! Train terminals are great points for people getting off and entering the city for the first time. Is this the kind of Houston you want people to get their first view of? Addressing Ross's Comments: "You aren't willing to explore alternatives at all" 1. When you say there are other alternatives to a given situation then it is your responsibility as the opposition to present alternatives! It's not up to those in support! From there you see if those work and if they don't then you move on and if they might work then there is compromise. You bring no alternatives to the table so why should anyone take seriously your opposition? This is a genuine question! 2. Anytime I hear this it simply means that they are only going to agree if they getting everything they want out of the deal. That never happens. There will certainly be compromises to follow, but both parties will have to have some give or take, but lets be honest here. TCR has an incredible advantage. They have the evidence to back up that their product works both in concept and real world use, they have political backing from both cities and those in state government because it is privately funded, and if the environmental study shows that it is ok to build then you have a lot to provide in opposition other than. I don't want it in my backyard! This means you would not only have to give substantial examples of it affecting public safety, but will have to prove that it actually is a harm to the economy. It's even more difficult for the fact that this is a private company and not a government project so you can't use the argument about taxpayers! 3. If there are better alternatives, then I ask, what are they? "center of population for the area" 1. As I have addressed in my analysis the place is steady decline! Industries are moving to more fertile grounds. Residents are either moving closer into the city or farther out. This isn't the center of population. It isn't the center of Houston's population, the city itself, it's industry, it's commercial, it's culture. In fact it's the opposite of all of those. There is zero presence of Houston's culture, all the energy companies that once called this area home have left, the very site itself is manifestation of the movements of all of these things. It's a decaying ruin of the past and projects that into the surrounding landscape. Trends are showing that the population is shifting inward and those that do live in the suburbs are moving further outward making your argument here very illogical. 2. Give us examples of how it is the "center of population". If you understand what the center means then you would know that it means that there should be a LOT of people here, but there isn't. Most of the time it's a ghost town. Suburbia by it's very nature doesn't even have a "center". It's a continuous void with no defining features or characteristics and due to the horizontal nature of it doesn't leave any place for there to be a concentration of mass to even call a place "center". "Everyone I know who goes to Dallas for business leaves from home" Just ask this question, why? Why do you think this has to happen? Probably because it takes 4hrs by driving at least 2hrs for the trip to the airport, airtime, off the airport and to the destination! With this train you could literally go to work in the office in the morning, take the train mid-day and go to a meeting, then literally take the train home at night (that would be a very long day, but you could do that!). Plus this is bs. I know plenty of people I work worth or work in town who make the trip to Dallas from their offices every single day. "No one I've spoken to wants to be forced to go Downtown to catch a train to Dallas when it's much easier to get to Northwest Mall" 1. No one is "forcing" you to do anything. 2. Downtown during peak work day hours has at least 75,000 to 100,000 workers daily with most of those people already making the commute in town! A significant portion of the working population makes commutes longer than 30mins a day just to get anywhere. This is very weak argument. 3. "it's much easier to get to Northwest Mall". You know what this says? It's easier for YOU to get there. Also from just a very surface analysis it's obvious that it isn't a very easy place to get too. The access points on and off the highways are very poor. The current road infrastructure isn't very efficient to get you there. I drive along Hempstead Hwy many times throughout the week and one thing it isn't is "easy to get too" or drive down. "As for the folks who live along the rail, their main issue is that no one is really answering their questions fully." 1. So TCR answered NONE of their questions? They had all of these meetings an nothing was addressed? Public meetings where they were there to answer YOUR questions and they didn't answer anything? 2. They answered your questions. The answers however were not the answers the people who are against this WANT to hear. "No analysis of what happens if a freight train derails and takes out HSR pylons" 1. I know what you are trying to do and I don't like it. These are hypothetical's (while plausible) are not everyday assurances and are in fact very rare! It's also one where you ignoring common practice not only for freight trains, but for all trains in general. Many trains are not going full speed once they reach the inner city anyway and if an accident were to happen no force on earth is going to be able to stop it! That's why they call those things "accidents". You do your best to avoid them, but you live your life and if it happens it happens, but you make it sound like this is intentional. 2. Please give us the accident records of HSR. It's almost comparable to plane travel! You get killed more driving then you ever would via HSR or air travel! 3. I honestly shouldn't even address this because due to the very specific nature of this proposed accident it only shows what YOUR fears are. If you don't want to live next to a railroad then leave! No one is making you stay there. You know the risks of living next to one and therefore it's your fault. It's like living in Tornado valley if you don't like Tornado's then don't live in a area called TORNADO VALLEY! I have no sympathy for those who know the risks they face yet try to push blame on others as if it's other peoples problem and not theirs. "No answers on what the construction process behind their houses will look like. No answers on what happens to the drainage ditches that run along the freight lines. No answers on how much, if any space the HSR work will need." 1. Once again, where none of you at the meetings? Weren't they not public meetings where you could ask them these questions? Have you tried to do any research on your own into these questions from other projects world wide to see what might be the case? Their is something called the internet which allows you to find a treasure trove of info about these things, but again no....that's TCR's fault. I'm not suppose to do anything! I'm not suppose to be an independent thinker and seek out information that could very well impact my community. No all I want to do is complain about it. 2. I imagine they did answer questions such as those you asked, but they didn't give the answers that satisfied you and immediately threw them out. " 'I deserve some explanation of what might happen, not just to be told to suck it up and get out of the way' " 1. Probably the most entitled statement I have ever heard. 2. One of the biggest myths about private enterprise is the fact that some people feel like private enterprise "owes" us something. They don't owe you anything! They are simply providing a service and whats great about our country is that you can choose to participate in the enterprise, buy from the enterprise, or ignore the enterprise. If this was a public project then yes they "owe" us explanation, but this is a private company working in private property. As long as they are following the law they don't owe you anything. Until they have to use Eminent Domain (which I really don't think they will use) then they aren't immediately owed the public anything. I'll probably analysis Downtown in Part two, but that's for another time.

They are trying to take advantage of the slump in oil prices hoping that labor costs will be a little lower as well as material costs due to private projects on hold or delayed. Many school districts almost always take the lowest bid possible and if they see a chance to get that bid lower than they will go for it. HISD also has a terrible reputation of setting ridiculous prices per sqft. Like prices you could never achieve in the current market...or any market for that matter! They are literally stuck in a time warp in a time when prices were fairly cheap and inflation never rose, but the thing is that prices did go up and inflation went up through the years not gone down. The entire time they have kept their same absurd price per sqft! I know that schools don't need the best finishes or have to be works of art, but their prices are so dumb that it really puts a strain on what is potential for these projects. Don't think just because this is magnet school that it will be safe from their buffoonery. Lets just say I know of one particular magnet school project (which has the potential to look very nice btw) is very slim by means of budges because they will not accept a higher price per sqft. Now some might ask, Luminare, maybe they are just being really good at not spending a lot of money. I say that's bs. They are stingy! Pinching pennies when they could save dollars later! If I were to show you prices for other schools built in Houston outside of HISD then you see the stark difference and immediately understand how crazy they are. This project will still happen because these magnet schools are the gems in their crown, but we probably won't see this project begin construction until at least this summer. Design wise I should assure that the designs themselves will be intact and won't change much unless their were some freak mistakes in programming, but lets just say that the finishes will be less than desirable. This is all just what I have seen so far in my short experience and looking up the history of projects for HISD.

This is awesome Glad this is getting started. All bike lanes should be like this. I see so many that are so narrow and are right next to busy thoroughfares and you know no one in their right mind would risk their lives on one of those. These I can see people traveling down. Probably the best example of a city making a major effort to do stuff like this is London.

I also think in that proposal that both highways would be trenched, which is why they need so much space

sure but really when you look at it, it was just a bunch of finish changes, new paint, and pavers. Not much.

If it were me, I would start by trolling everyone and post the location of the mid-point station on State 30, between College Station and Huntsville, just to mess with people lol. That would be a couple weeks from now. Then maybe a few days after that give what everyone wants and release the Houston locations. Being realistic I would say 2-4 weeks. The Houston location is more complicated. I guarentee that they are in talks with both The City of Houston, and TXDOT about the location here. This news is very encouraging to where they will aim for the Houston station. Notice from the quote that they wanted it to be in Downtown Dallas all along! There are a few political footballs to kick here in Houston, but they are play Texas Hold'em and going all in. I expect to see two locations with one being the post office site and the other being Hardy Yards. I mean why not. It's clear they are swinging for the fences with HSR because they know that's what you have to do. It's going to be a lot of money anyway why not go for the best possible site. That is how you do things as a private company.

I got your back bud http://www.bizjournals.com/dallas/news/2015/02/06/texas-central-railway-picks-2-sites-for-dallas.html

WFT O.O

I actually agree with you, but that's only because my sensibilities are more towards architecture that is very sensationalist, bold, and visually complex. However, there are times when the design calls for something more understated. If done in the right way its very elegant and seamless with the larger fabric and framework of the greater whole. Additions to existing complexes, restorations, simply building something within an already established system all call for architecture which complements whats already there to some degree. Of course sometimes those very same things can go in a completely opposite direction (or in other words a departure from the original). It all depends on the situation. There have been a couple times in Architecture schoool where this was the case and it happens in actual industry. Am I happy the direction Midway took it, no. I think the property that they inherited was not very well conceived in the beginning and so they should take the complex in a new direction aesthetically. With that being said, I completely understand why they went in this direction and I think the design is rather good for the choice that they made and from a few comments before where someone actually saw the valued engineered version of the design we want, it's probably better that they took this direction. Midway with this decision is clearly looking at Greenstreet as a single entity and not a collection of stuff. This means that they are more concerned with the aesthetics of the whole rather than the look of a few standout buildings. I mean think about what happens when they do build the original design. It would be such a stark contrast between the new building and the older complex that it make mean that the whole thing might need to be adjusted to flow with the hotel design. What I'm saying is that most in this thread fail to see the greater implications of these decisions. Midway owns the whole thing not just the small piece of land which the building will raise from. Design is way more complicated than simply whether something looks cool/not cool, or like/not like.

No disrespect to you at all, but I have never heard of this scenario ever play out. I mean never. If you have the chance to build it then you build it. If they were actually worried about their competition they would build it better because that's their competition. I know people are really pissed off at Midway, but it's not like someone goes into something and says, "you know what? I want to aim for mediocre!" Bullcrap. They didn't agree with the initial design and so they changed to what THEY thought would look best. You know what? They didn't have to release the new renderings, but they did so I think they are confident in their product, and were thinking about all of greenstreet instead of just one building. Like I have said before, I wish they had done the other building, but the context argument is genuine. Site and context are just as important as the building itself. If that was more important to them than having the building be all crazy looking and standout from it's neighbors then I will say they chose the better design for their purposes. One fits into it's surroundings while the other one is more bold and attention seeking. Sparrow, I actually want you to ask yourself that same question that if you were in that same situation would actually DOWNGRADE your building because of competition? That makes no logical sense even in a speculative manner, but I point this out because this has become the prevailing theme in the thread as a whole in that this building is a downgrade when no one has really taken into account what Midway wanted from the very beginning. Clearly Gensler went in a different direction than what Midway wanted initially and until the pricing for the project came in they were probably ok with it, but when it came down too it they probably were at odds with the project from the beginning. They are two completely different style of buildings and should be treated as such and if the client got exactly what they wanted (which looks like they did) then this building is a success because that is the most important thing an architect is suppose to do. I champion all the time on here about architecture as an art form, but an architect is suppose to navigate the clients needs with their own desires for the project.

True, but this was clearly made as an update presentation and while the graphics might be "amateur" the information isn't and it's a solid update of everything that is being planned for Downtown. The portions with Main Street and Dallas Street/Shopping District had images which I don't know if we have seen yet or at least in a package with other efforts.

I cringe when I hear the term "shovel ready" *shivers*

yeah I saw them breaking up the parking lot while I was driving down Main Street sunday.