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Luminare

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Everything posted by Luminare

  1. Luminare
    Honestly I don't want to upscale it. Again just want some more out of it. If all they did was make the area more walkable, moved all or most parking to a larger central garage, worked on landscaping, and finally some district signage to really nail home that this is a different area of town, or accented it's main gateways then I would be a happy camper. Just as lover of urban environments i as an architectural intern always see improvement in anything lol. If all of the older stuff was still there before the arcade then YES ok keep it, but the Arcade is pure 90's typical suburban bland. Just working in that site alone to enhance the culture that is there already would be wonderful. Doesn't even have to be several stories high. maybe 3 at most so it blends in more. Maybe make the Arcade a true arcade. Arcades are suppose to be prominent center pieces of a market community not bland suburban trite. That area deserves better.
  2. Luminare
    Don't get me wrong everyone I like the shops that are already there and I want it to still have a more local feel, but just want it to really reach its full potential to meet the needs of a growing city. That is all. Definitely should try to keep what character the area does have. My biggest compliant again is frontage parking, but if anyone has seen my posts before then you know I detest the myth that is frontage parking I completely agree with you arche_757 that this area should definitely form its own district. To counter H-Town man's argument about if this area needs to be an urban core, the fact is that Houston is so spread out and so large that ideally you should have several "urban cores" or centralized city centres (of course with variety related to their specific locations not all like city centre (thats just dumb)) scattered/sprinkled around the Houston metro area. Its essentially expanding the concept that was coined in the early 90's which was that of the "satellite" city, but while the satellite city was almost all corporate with little regard to the needs of the locals, with these urban cores you would grow them in a sense to where all the areas around them start to associate more with those cores and not solely rely on the city at large which is just asking for trouble in the next 20-30 years. Back on point. I would certainly word my dialogue exactly how you said it arche_757 Certainly my pitch is a bit academic and probably a tad bit radical, but if I have to be the one to shake things up every once in a while then thats fine xD. Not to mention I'm still learning more and more so I'm slowly crafting/honing in my own architectural language.
  3. Luminare
    More like Houston replicating a Mid-west, Southwest small town topology than a "unique" success. Not to mention the entire notion you bring that frontage parking is some lesson in effective urban pedestrian design is completely daft. You are right that it's convenient, but that's the only thing that it has going for it. Frontage parking is nothing more than a modern reproduction of old west/ old small town topology's of the hitching post in front of the small retail or town building. It was simply there as a need to hitch your horse and then quick step into the place you were going into and also to have clear vision of your ride outside. Now simply replace everything, but in a modern context. The saloon or oldwest/oldtown store replaced by stores of that time, horses replaced by cars (i mean we judge a cars speed in "horse power"), and finally the place where you "hitch" your car the parking lot. It's nothing more than that and any way to make it into something more than that is simply trying to recreate something out of nothing. No it is not a lesson of effective urban pedestrian design. It is a historical lesson in street design of that period and nothing more. If you want good street design look at the redevelopments that happened years ago on Gray st. and Bagby. Now that is street design with the balance of dominating pedestrian presence meets needs of the automobile, meets a sense of place, meets nature, meets mid-rise. It's all there and then some. There are plenty others around the state and the country on what is effective design.
  4. Luminare
    Jane Jacobs example works really good when the historic area is already in an urban setting. A book that's really good about discussing character of spaces and what makes for good spaces and areas with identities is Kevin Lynch's, "Image of a City". Of course there are suburban neighborhoods which should try to preserve their identity, but since the ones we talk about everyday are in areas which should have been urbanized long ago it's hard to preserve them :/ The growing pains that Houston is going through, and will maintain into the future, is reconciling with the fact that almost the entire city has been suburban or even "sub-rural", if you will, for so long that because of the explosion of growth and race to densify almost the entire city is vulnerable in terms of its suburban fabric and architecture. It doesn't help that the draconian laws that prevented urbanization inside the loop for two decades further solidified these areas as suburban planted on quality urban plots. I guarantee you that if those laws were not in place that whole area would already been mid-rise just keep with demand to be closer to market areas such as this. It's an architectural discourse that has be presented and discussed. We will probably have these same conversations years later with more of East Downtown and more of Washington Ave get further redevelopment because they have such a low-rise architectural fabric it simply will be difficult for the city to preserve these parts of our history.
  5. Luminare
    Maybe saying that some of the buildings were super cheap was a bit off. What I'm saying is that the low-rise commerical is simply not efficient use of that land. Not to mention all the frontage parking, lack of streetscape, and the lack of destination markers or monuments really devalues the sense of place the area could have. The best buildings in that whole area are the ones that line the south side of University Blvd closer to the University. Especially the small art deco building and the tapes restaurant that is next to it. Some are just kinda basic even for the time period in which they were built. This is also an opportunity to really create a nice open market with some genuine dominate pedestrian places. All I'm saying is that so much more can be done in this area in a mid-rise sense that can bring added density and street life to the area. As for the advertising.....ugh. Buzzwords are getting so old -.-. Luxury is especially getting old and tired. Like an intern wrote that whole sentence lol.
  6. Luminare
    I would say this would be a better Office property of cheaper rental residential property than a Hotel one because of the lack of views. In fact maybe if someone were very clever they could turn most of these floors into large studio type office spaces to better utilize the light coming in from the front facades. As far as the building itself it's a typical building of its time period and nothing spectacular, but as Subdude pointed out very well is the fact that this is just a nice infill in the overall fabric of this part of the street. All it needs is some refurbishing on most the outside and give the bottom portion an updated contemporary look.
  7. Luminare
    From what I saw on their website some time ago they are currently looking for a firm to help develop a master plan. I don't think it will be surface parking (maybe for the new construction right now as sort of overflow). On the website it said that it was going to be some sort of learning center or something idk, but it for sure will not be surface parking or some one story building.
  8. Luminare
    Lord I hope they redo the Rice Arcade. That frontage parking is awful considering you walk to the Hanover developments and the one they have already built is very impressive. It has enhanced that area so much. I would love it if Hanover did a sort of master plan for that whole area and redeveloped it. Honestly there really only a couple much older buildings in that whole district that I would say should be saved since the majority of those buildings are super cheap strip centers.
  9. Luminare
    So, I was walking down W Main St., after a workout, and right next to the new midrise/ townhouse development, which is going up in the area, there was demolition of two houses and possibly the other two that lead up to Weslayan St. I'm sure swamplot had them in a demolition report at some point, but was immediately curious what might take their place. If all 4 of those houses go then certainly some sort of mini midrise or large townhomes will replace these. Any idea what's up? Sorry I don't have any pictures.
  10. Luminare
    If I remember correctly the original renderings were meant to convey what the area would look like during large conventions or festivals when the road would be blocked for pedestrians. This is more of an everyday rendering. I think it's just fine. Seriously....lets just play it cool.
  11. Luminare
    The horrors of designing in Houston I guess. Always need that garage above ground -.- . They should have at least put some sort of clear paneling that would tie into the lower clerestory windows. It looks like the main concept was essentially to have two "floating" volumes. The top separated by a ribbon of glass clerestory to help accentuate the aspect of a "floating element. However, the effect sadly gets ruined the closer you get to the garage :/ Oh well. I'll chalk this up into my young architect brain as a lesson to be learned lol. you killed with the stapler thing.....you just killed it >.>
  12. Luminare
    Yes! We need more more like this. I like. Not spectacular looking, but certainly more contemporary
  13. Luminare
    Thanks goes to the sane person with the bike! Once again do we have any individual renderings of that hotelish building in the background?
  14. Luminare
    I hope they ditch all the faux english stuff. Love it.....but in England >.>. Come up with your own identity Upper Kirby, sheesh!
  15. Luminare
    I think someone needs new stock images of the Galleria >.> That angle makes it look a lot closer than advertised. Not to mention the angle of it all makes the whole thing look completely impossible in terms of the buildings angle lol.
  16. Luminare
    ugh. I hate this building so much. It's going to take these people years to remodel it. Not to mention it isn't a very nice building architecturally anyway. They had a great opportunity to do something nice, but went the safe route and remodel a building that should just be torn down.
  17. Luminare
    I'm just wondering why more of these new midrise's can't just try to capture the feel like the developments on Gray and Bagby streets. Of course an overall improvement of the architecture in whatever newer stuff comes along is a given, but those buildings on that street really have a great feel to them. Great human scale, great streetscape, and always people walking around that area.
  18. Luminare
    I wonder if Hanover has anymore properties in this area. With this one and the other that they have built I wouldn't mind if they redeveloped most of University Place. Walking along that new complex and then walking beyond it is like night and day in terms of quality of the streetscape.
  19. Luminare
    Do we have any individual renderings of the hotel? All of them so far have the hotel in the background.
  20. Luminare
    That's not how historic districts function really. Mostly they are designed to help protect buildings in an area from further demise and demolition (that's of course if they are kept up well). Yes when you build something new it does have to respect the rest of the neighborhood, but it doesn't have to be a certain style unless its a deed restriction of the neighborhood (but you don't need to be a historic neighborhood for that). Like I said, it's mostly to protect what's already there.
  21. Luminare
    That's right! I sometimes get those mixed up. He always had too many good speeches lol Couldn't remember if it was that one or the other.
  22. Luminare
    The Houston House is a great and very underrated modernist building. I hope it stays. Could use a new paint job though. It's been very lonely for that building in that area for an awfully long time.
  23. Luminare
    Very true statements in all. It really sucks because as a Libertarian I actually agree that Federal money shouldn't be used for local projects (in regards to transportation it's not being used to help interstate commerce only local). State and local taxes and monies should be used for projects like these. I actually remember being a part of Culberson's Bill Archer Internship when I was in high school and got to spend some time around culberson. He is actually a genuinely good person and someone who really cares about his district and is a very good politician. However, when money has already been passed and you can't do anything to stop it then you might as well put that money to good use! That's just common sense and I think this is where his political philosophy backfired on him, and because he is most of the time in Washington, didn't really step back and see how much good this rail line would have been great for his district and instead, I think, felt like to appeal to national conservatives, needed to turn down the money like many Conservatives did in their districts. It's simply a case of being at the wrong place at the wrong time and with the booming growth of Houston and how bad of an affect this was it might come back to haunt him. I believe there needs to be a "come to Jesus moment" if you will where the GOP needs to come to grips with. That there is a difference between investment (which is in the boundaries of the Constitution of course), and senseless spending. This is both Nationally and Statewide. Luckily the ban can be overturned and until that time it would be wise to maybe place a quick BRT line as a sort of Trojan Horse to help convince people that a rail line will work. Once ridership is up then rail can be placed. Until that time a BRT can be used to increase general ridership in that area and is generally cheaper to place overall.
  24. Luminare
    Yep. They bought up the old Compaq turned HP campus that is near Skinner Rd. and 290. They have been in there the past couple years and recently they are pouring dollars into the place to renovate it.
  25. Luminare
    I think it's an exceptional example of modernist sports stadium. It was one the first of it's kind in the nation and if you ever read about the building process it's pretty cool. It was built at incredible speed too. Not to mention it's where JFK made his signature "ask not what your country can do for you, but ask what you can do for your country". If you ever read the bit after that he mentions the upcoming game between Rice and t.u. lol. Not many people know that.
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