Luminare

Yep, you are right Urbannizer. It's two floors lower, The blackish element and the open air element have essentially flipped. So now the blackish element is now next to the garage while the balcony has been thrown onto the roof.

Urbannizer, Do you know if this one is also going to try to push for Super Bowl in 2017 or it's going on it's own timeline?

It's literally a copy of the Dolce Apartments that are going up on Gray St. That shouldn't be something that is in Downtown. It might be affordable yes, but that's only because of it's proximity to the highway.

You might be able to get a high res, but to be honest this is clearly VERY early in the process. That's literally a Sketchup model thrown onto a google maps plane. I will admit. For a Randall Davis project it's certainly an improvement.....so far. This one has a long way to go, but it's going in the right direction.

definitely the most disappointing one of the bunch and I think it only got approval because this is right next to the highway....what a bummer.

Wonderful. I like the continued effort to mimic the colors of Minute Maid. We truly could have a "ballpark district" as others on the forum have suggested. 

Hmmm. This is actually something interesting to pick up. We are actually starting to develop a sort of materiality and feel in different parts of downtown. While the design is once again historicist in nature at least it is playing off of the foundation or palette of materials established by Minute Maid Park. It would be nice if some of these developers were a little more daring with the brick and mortal they are using (there are plenty of examples where you do crazy cool stuff with brick) instead of reverting to past styles. Of course the other argument is that there isn't a precedent period so why not infuse some of the old styles to build up a diverse palette of architectural styles before everyone moves into contemporary and that might be the case. It's certainly safer for these developers who have never done mid-rises to go to proven styles.

On the flip side you have the sleek glass exteriors and more contemporary approaches (still pretty safe for what they could do) near discovery green.

No @bobruss 30 is Camden.

@Avossos But Catalyst is a Ziegler Cooper project, not a Camden one. Sky House for instance has been repeated a bunch of times (which is silly) but they are the ones with the development so they can repeat it if they want. What Camden is doing is essentially copying Ziegler Cooper and adjusting a few elements. Architecturally, it looks good. The floor plans look great. I see lots of retail etc, but the fact of the matter is that of ALL the possible designs you could think up it happens to look eerily similar to one that is literally a few blocks away. That's insane!

I don't know folks judge for yourself! I mean this is dipping into the uncanny valley... They straight up took this design and retooled it. I'm not going to judge right at this moment, but this may end very badly. They didn't even try to make it look different.

Sexy!

That is correct Triton.

The building across from 59 is part of the GRB's master plan. I'm curious if they are even going to do that anymore because it was merely one of many options for expansion. Now that they are going to be linked up with the Greater Houston Building and building pad for the future hotel I don't think that the building across 59 is necessary.

Hmm I didn't know they weren't covering the full lot. Looks like they will have plenty of room to expand in the future.

I wish I had the time to do stuff like this I would be doing so many drawings and stuff like this it would be ridiculous.

From ze planning agenda draft:

Looks like we need a bit of a refresh If anyone has access to the latest and greatest renderings and siteplan that would be awesome.

EDIT: Derp images didn't follow -.- I'll fix this later....

hmmm smells like a base pour is comin.

*sigh* I'm sorry but don't businesses make money off of what people want? Or is this some alternate reality. You act like customers have no influence over what companies do at all which is flat out wrong. Sure, yeah, it's a private company and they will do what they want, but understand that it's a balance also between customer and company.

I like hearing that. Great news. The building's body seems a little flat / simple to me, but we will see. This sounds like this is still very much happening. Good for Houston.

 

Side bar: Will this building kill 6 Houston Center?

Its generally flat to maximize space. I think people often forget that we have pretty small sized city blocks in downtown so it certainly limits what can be done sometimes. In this case it's a spec building so you have to maximize the space where you can. Apparently they looked several different configurations including some stair step looks, but settle on something like what is now the final design. Often times as designers you have to chose where you are going to have your most impact. Sometimes in architectural discussions you will hear the term thrown around called a "big move" which is essentially a key moment in a design that they chose to concentrate on to have the greatest impact. This building's big move is it's bottom floor, grand space that leads into the tunnel system, and maximizing the street presence of the bottom floor. They did try to work some stuff for the actual tower portion. What will breakup the facade a little bit are thin vertical fins that will go along the building from top to bottom which will act as solar shading. This should give the building an interesting look in the morning and afternoon, but we will have to see. Most renders have shown it only in Daytime or Night and not Dusk or Dawn.

As far as killing 6 Houston center...no. Office buildings each have their uniqueness to it or reason why they draw tenets. Sometimes its simply the brand of a starchitect who designed it, or a radically unique design concept, maximized floor space, amenities, etc... In this case the selling point of this building will be its LEED accreditation and other green components. So for instance if you run a company that is very environmentally conscious and you want to project that value in terms of where you work. This will be the place for you. Both buildings will serve different clientele. 

I agree. They definitely tweaked this buliding a bunch and it's for the better. Those letters though.....I'm....That's going to have to grow on me lol Just not feelin the letters.

I'm noticing some very nice architectural details on second look at the actual photo. That main entrance is desirable, archway and canopy. see the rendering. I would have used a sculpture out front though. No pink bedding plants (rendering). Those look like cypress trees, and I hope redbuds. Please, no more crepe myrtles and oaks. Lets diversify. Italian cypress would do nicely, worked in somewhere, here. Yes, growing weary of the warm, yellow shade of beige, but I still like to see a cool grey-beige stucco accompanying dark green Italian cypress trees. Nice contrast. Overall, I think it's going to be good. 

Exactly. Spot on analysis. Lots of the motifs are toned down in this one which works better in the grad scheme of the entire building. So many times do you see people try to rub in classicism in everyones face just so they can say LOOK AT ME! LOOK AT ME! I'M CLASSY! This is more understated. I.....I'm sorry I just can't do beige anymore. Once you been at A&M for 4 years it kills whatever appeal beige once had

As for the trees. I'm all for diversifying just as long as we aren't throwing in a bunch of palm trees so we can look like we are on the beach or Miami -.-

At least it's more contemporary than the faux classicism of it's superblock neighbor.

So I was at Imagine this past saturday at GRB which is the TSA (Texas Society of Architects) Design Expo. Went to a lecture of sorts which talked about the building in some detail particularly about it's design intent as well as it's incredible LEED Platinum pre-certification. I want y'all to know that this building is going to be awesome! They really made this the Cadillac of spec buildings lol, but at the same time it should be very much affordable for tenets. It's also leading the charge nationally in terms of how people persue the newest version of LEED which is LEED v4. It will be one of only 3 buildings in America that will be classified as LEED Platinum under this new version which is only in Beta trails. That's a pretty big deal. Those distinctions alone will set it miles apart from other buildings downtown which will make it very attractive to tenets. It's presence at street level is going to be fabulous. I'm sure all of you have seen the renders of the two level open space that is at street level down to the tunnels. That's something that no building in downtown has approached the tunnel system in that way. It also has retail on street level. This one will be awesome to see when it's finished!

Ummm. Maybe you should reevaluate what you said about London, etc... While most EuroStars do mostly go to St. Pancreas they also go to other stations such as Waterloo which is RIGHT ON THE THAMES! Even St. Pancreas gets you deep in the thick of things. That's the real sticking point with any rail project is that it takes you into the thick of everything or the densest of places that otherwise would be difficult to get too or be time consuming by any other means. Sure NW mall site might become fully developed later on, but seriously if you look there now its a wasteland. Not exactly an attractive stop. Not exactly one that's connected to a lot of different systems which Downtown is starting to develop.

Once again you perfectly illustrate that for literally no reason you are limiting the scope of the project when it's still in it's infancy. I could go on and on about cities in Europe too, but that's not the point of this thread nor should it go down that road. Another thing I simply don't get is all this talk  about this fictitious budget we keep trying to calculate in our collective minds. The only people that need to worry about costs on this project is TCR. Not any of us.

Am I insane for wanting to continue to inject optimism into a thread were everyone seems to want the bare minimum? Isn't the Texas persona to think big, act big, and build big. Isn't it a Houston thing (or once was) that we push the limits of what can be done.....oh yeah I remember that latest advertising run claiming Houston is a city without limits. Maybe I interpreted that as meaning more than just endless sprawl....

Hi all,

My group moved to a different side of my building, which means my view is a bit more exciting, so I've decided to set up a little webcam on my desk, facing all the construction on the east side of downtown.

Right in the middle is the new HSPVA campus, but just behind it you will be able to see the 500 Crawford apartments as they go taller.  There's also a good view of the Hampton/Homewood Suites, and the renovation of the old Texaco building.

If you look in the background, you can see the new GRB garage construction.  The cranes for the Marriott Marquis are visible, and once it's more than a few stories tall you should see it as well.  To the left of it you can see where the Nau Center will be built.  You may be able to see Catalyst, too, once it gets tall enough.

If 6 Houston Center is ever built, you should be able to see it from this webcam too (in fact, it would block my view, so hopefully it will be a while before it's too tall!).

I can't guarantee how long I will keep this up, but for the time being I will have it taking photos every 5 minutes during the day.  I'm going to be out of the office for the next week, though, so hopefully nobody will knock it over in the meantime.

 

http://webcam.rechlin.net/811main/

 

Here's the view at the time of this post:

Awesome! We love you long time :3

Fix the parking podium and then it might...might be alright.

yep so much history in that parking lot! We truly lost something wonderful...