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Luminare

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  1. Luminare
    Umm I'm sure some one has thought of this, but you could just shift the highway a little bit northwest once you get past the convention center which would give you more ROW and not have to do anything with the lofts. The only thing between 59 for a long way off after that is just empty surface lots till the bayou. Sadly I can't seem to get to a point where I can work on my real plan for this
  2. Luminare
    Ah yes Houston in the 1990's I'm essentially a 90's kid being born in 1989. I was always a Suburbanite though so not a lot of memories from inside the loop. These are some stuff I do remember. The suburbs: -a time when 290 still ended near Huffmeister and all that was left was feeder roads all the way out towards Fairfield -Fairfield didn't exist yet, but it was still being planned -the area that is Spring Cypress and 290 was nothing, but a small fishing pond and trees -anything west of Barker Cypress was farmland/country -I grew up around the Colonies area on West Little York and still remember most the Colonies still being built lol. -A good portion of anything west of Hwy 6 was also farmland/country -played a lot of sports and stuff at Bear Creek Park -outlet malls were still a thing i think. I just remember being dragged to way out of the way places just so my mom could get good deals on clothes lol -Katy was pretty much a sleepy little town -only a small piece of what is now the grand parkway had been built and Cinco Ranch was just starting to be planned out. -Going anywhere north of Houston seemed like forever away -the woodlands....well wasn't really the woodlands lol. Just some small man made lakes and some neighborhoods -Willowbrook mall was were everything was at, and is still that way today though it some of it is getting a bit run down. The City: -going to Astroworld at least once a summer or every other summer. Yeah it wasn't the prettiest or most intense theme park, but my god did I love some of those roller coasters especially the Texas Cyclone (first ride I went on every single time!) - just walking across that bridge was something too. Just being a little kid walking across a busy freeway was pretty cool -no Reliant Stadium only the Astrodome. Saw a couple rodeo's in there. A couple of Astros game's. No Oilers though :/ -Driving past Williams Tower everytime we were near the Galleria. I love that building to this day as it was the building which inspired me to become an architect -Downtown was always a ghost town if we ever did drove through it. Skyline was still amazing though. -Yeah I'm sure the zoo has changed since then, but I remember going several months ago and it looked like it did when I was a little kid. Especially the long rows of concrete canopies which lead up near the Reptile area. Businesses: -renting videos from Blockbuster and Hollywood Video every other weekend -Malibu Castle was freakin awesome RIP....its now the new part of the 610 loop xD -Montasia, Chuckie Cheese, Lazer Quest all those fun places -there were still no really good theaters where I lived so we would always go near Tidwell and 290 where they had built a Tinseltown. Man those Auditoriums where enormous lol -Grand Plex or something like that. It was kinda like some of the other places I mentioned, but this one was absolutely massive and I think it was somewhere on Eldrige past I-10. There was even a cheap water-park next to it. -Of course my mom would cook a lot, but we ate a lot of take out too xD we were take family because my mom and dad were always pretty busy -Someone mentioned a Poncho's. I actually remember that restaurant and we went there a few times (Jones Rd and 1960) Weather: -I know there were a couple bad Hurricanes, but I honestly can't remember the names of them (I thought about Allison, but that was 2001) -I remember an enormous ice storm hit one winter. Was a literal winter wonderland! Those are about what I can remember for now. Not a large amount of stuff though. Living in suburbia there wasn't really that much to do or see for that matter except for endless rows of houses If you were a more outdoorsy person (which I wasn't) then I probably could remember more stuff. If I remember anything else I'll just throw it onto here later.
  3. Luminare
    I have a soft spot for Brutalism too, but that is just straight up ugly.... Yeahhhhhhh I always want to kid myself with this building, but in the end I just facepalm whenever I pass it. Post-Modern trite at its worst where the architect and the client have no clue what they are doing, but because of relativism!!!! they decide to put whatever they want on it even that silly dome on it. What is this...an observatory? You see metal domes like that on strip malls. I'm sure in 10-20 years we will finally have enough and just give it a good wack and put something sane in its place.
  4. Luminare
    well this was an interesting read before bed lol. I think of Houston as that really good indie film that nobody knows about, but through word of mouth it quickly becomes the film to watch. Yes we might be a tad backwards, with way to much sprawl, and a list of problems, and a few leaders/residents that are stuck in the childish not going to do nothing ways, but the more I have spent time in and around Houston the more and more potential I see. Also about that image thing. I remember when I was with some people in Germany and I was talking about where I was from. It wasn't the sprawl, smog, or Big Oil they thought of. The first words that came out of there mouth was "Houston we have a problem!" lol. Though the quote, not necessarily a great one, really made me think of Houston in a different way. For many people outside the US we are a city of can-do people, Space/NASA, and the future. It was like this with anyone I said where I was from. We are also a very honest city. We don't really hide very much, and have no problem showing what we really care about....which is making lots and lots of money $$$. While we can certainly make it a better and more beautiful place (which is most certainly happening now), lets not forget that Houston is an animal all in it's own and very different than any other city in our great state and country. It will definitely be a roller-coaster ahead, but overall the city is going in the right direction...even if we are a tad impatient with it at times *gets off soap box*
  5. Luminare
    Yep. Yep. Especially downtown. I was driving by the other day and it was around Lunch time. People everywhere. Yeah not the streets are packed or anything, but wow is it a huge difference from even just a few years ago. You got more people going to the local parks especially the Bayou. I work around Greenway Plaza and there are always people walking in that area to go to lunch. Of course it would be even better if most the areas were more walkable and there wasn't so much surface parking taking so much of the front areas of the lots. The killer here when it comes to weather is always the humidity and while others certainly have it, we are most certainly famous for it. I think it simply comes to the fact that this entire city has been relatively spoiled due to A/C and cars with A/C so the people aren't properly acclimated to the weather. I think it's definitely improving though. There will always be A/C and cars and no one I think has a problem with that, but a city should be pedestrian dominate first and cars second.
  6. Luminare
    From my understanding it's mostly Hotels. Some Residential ones do it also, but not many. I no office towers really don't give flying crap . As far as ranking of superstition among project crews, by far it would be the clients.
  7. Luminare
    and here you see the mighty Excavators in their natural habit. This is the CAT species of Excavators. Watch as they rest before the hard weeks work ahead...
  8. Luminare
    ugh, so many of the same excuses we have heard for years so nobody has to invest money into their own communities -.- Simply pathetic. If the only argument someone ever has is "Well it doesn't effect me so why should I help", "It's toO hot outside", "Well because its the way we have always done it", "Houston is not pedestrian friendly so why are we even trying to make it so", I suggest you take these counter productive arguments somewhere else because that's not how you improve a city or create a healthy dialogue and I will certainly debate any of that nonsense. hmmm maybe here is a good idea, why don't we continue the dialogue with how we could actually "design" a streetscape for Houston that works with our climate. Maybe one that has both trees and man made solar shading devices separate from the buildings themselves? Are we going to be the generation of city dwellers that take the easy route from our cities own problems or will people actually take the opportunities in front of them and actually grab them by the balls and use as a wonderful opportunity to design something truly Houston. Maybe we should create thread called "pessimists corner" where people can gripe and complain stuff. I don't know just an idea, because some of the comments simply don't belong here.
  9. Luminare
    Both buildings look splendid, but I'm actually curious about what the site plan looks like. Position the office tower so far in back I'm guess that its also facing the opposite street? Just curious to see a more bird's eye view of this whole thing
  10. Luminare
    That's a great book btw Yeah Houston center would have been revolutionary, but then again it could have been a bad thing two. I guess we will never know. At least we are finally erasing the sad days of downtown's past (Houston in general). At least our example will forever be a cautionary tell for those in the future.
  11. Luminare
    Ah yes such a classic statement that destroys innovation or making any improvements. It goes hand in hand with the other great statement "Well because we have always done it this way...". Such amazing sources of inspiration -.- .....those lazy bums.
  12. Luminare
    There are actually plenty of countries that do this. I remember during my study abroad trip in Italy, all of their highways are essentially tollways, but they are at the city limits or main entrances into the highway.
  13. Luminare
    That pisses me off so much -.- They obviously took the time to redo that entire street, but couldn't spend the extra money to bury the lines?! Now they will have to tear up the sidewalk again later....i hope they know that.
  14. Luminare
    passed by this today. They already have the whole parking lot dug up and were beginning excavation from what I could see.
  15. Luminare
    well....that escalated quickly xD Man they really beefed up this building since the last renderings. Annoyed at the visible parking levels but at least they are underneath. It is a bit busy in terms of composition. I bet it will look nice from the Bayou though.
  16. Luminare
    They are called "initial" renderings or concepts for a reason....because they are the beginning of a design. Most of the time those designs get thrown out the window very quickly because its just to get ideas out there. There is a difference between "flashy", "conservative", and simply a mature design. I'm sure to some, every glass building looks the same, but this one is pretty "flashy" if we were to use this kind of language. The lines and massing on this building are superb and crisp. The material chooses are spot on and enhances the buildings over form with long horizontal lines and materials for the base and nice lines that accentuate the verticality of the tower. They probably only put that crown so high and so over-exaggerated in the beginning because it "looked cool". Its not flashy or good at all its simply ridiculous how tall that crown was and it looked rather flimsy. The drum which pierced the orthogonal tower was awkward looking and didn't match the rest of the overall composition. If you want "flashy" for the sake of being flashy then go look at stuff that are going up in Dubai or China. Don't get me wrong, there are some amazing buildings in those places, but many of those buildings would never exist in reality if it weren't for governments or kings trying to inflate their own ego's. Or maybe you want another kind of "flashy" then go and find some crazy 'Googie' architecture which was exactly that, flashy, and meant to catch the eye, but because they tried so hard they are now very dated (some can be quite charming and colorful, of course). Cool architecture isn't something that is just flashy for the sake of being flashy. This building speaks to what is happening in houston which is the city is maturing and growing. Landmark buildings will come, but they have to be the result of the process and not just because they wanted to do something "cool". I mean I want stuff from people like Zaha, Foster, Grimshaw, BIG, or the cool stuff that are going up in Spain, Germany, or England, but its got to be natural.
  17. Luminare
    I agree with you fernz. The others still seemed to be a little over the top and very conceptual. The crown in the latest design looks a lot sleeker and more thought out. The first one looks like a missile silo lol. The latest one looks a lot more controled and majestic. I also like the massing a lot better on the bottom. That first image for the massing at the bottom looks like something that was a place holder for what is there now. Designs always go through Refinement and mature. The latest is a more thought out design.
  18. Luminare
    I've always thought that most highways in Houston should at least have a dedicated lane for trucks/semi's. The lane closest to the barrier is for speedy traffic/passing. The lane next to that would be constant speed. The lane next to that would be trucks/ semi's and buses and then a lane that is for getting on and off the freeway. What causes the most traffic are large trucks and while they are valuable to the economy they do cause a massive amounts of traffic.
  19. Luminare
    Gotta love those funny Google streetview gems lol. Classy.
  20. Luminare
    7. With the Corporate culture we have here and because its near the bayou im sure some people might think this would fit best xD lol (i would personally disagree, but still would be hilarious!)
  21. Luminare
    Luckily we still have the time to change it. From what I saw just adding more lanes is actually not the favorite concept. Adding more lanes never solves the problem. Looking at the option for moving 45 to 59 they have plenty of room to do it and they have plenty of room to trench it. Got tied up with some stuff at work, but I'm working on some sketches and then maybe a sketchup model to show the general idea. As for the Boulevard I don't even know if we should do that either. Lets just simply reconnect the existing roads. Then turn those blocks into a greenbelt or more of a pedestrian promenade. This way TxDOT doesn't have to spend money building a new boulevard. Then they can sell all that ROW back to the city to help recover the costs.
  22. Luminare
    This maybe true, but for the life of me I can never understand the logic of giving up nice real estate at the front of the property and give it to asphalt or a large concrete frying pan in front. Luckily this attitude is changing....slowly -.-
  23. Luminare
    Has anyone called to ask whats the status on these?
  24. Luminare
    Come on Houston! Lets get over 100k baby!!!
  25. Luminare
    None of this was from a lack of imagination it was simply a product of the times. This is textbook modernism. Everything from the monumentality, to materiality as an outward expression of the program inside. These types of buildings even had Houston climate in mind with all the windows sunken in to shade the interior, and to give the outside an exoskeleton superstructure aesthetic. Architect's during this period wanted to stay as far away from "ornament" as possible and championed the crisp lines, geometry, and rigor modernism had to offer. These buildings represent the idea that the office is simply a machine to work in and so should look, feel, function like so. Now don't get me wrong, there are some good examples of this and bad examples of this. In my option it isn't a masterpiece of the time period, but I think it's a really great group of buildings of that period. Greenway plaza is almost a modernist ideal frozen in time. I think it's unique and should be preserved and not change "skin" to go with whats trendy at a point in time. This goes for a majority of them, at least ones that have been well cared for. The ones at the Allen are ok and not spectacular. It's a shame they have to be changed, but if it means the building survives and sees fresh start then thats just fine. As long as the renovation isn't simply skin deep then it sounds fine to me.
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