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Luminare

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Everything posted by Luminare

  1. Luminare
    Architects need to bring back shell limestone into some of these buildings. Such a great stone for the region and has a timeless quality to it.
  2. Luminare
    ah....okay. I see. Very illuminating response. At least your are brave enough to say what most progressives and those who fight for social justice actually want, but are too insecure to actually state it. At the very least to your credit, you are honest.
  3. Luminare
    Haven't seen anyone post a buildout permit yet on here from my understanding. Probably cleanup before they turn the keys to ownership.
  4. Luminare
    You do know that not everything has to be viewed through the lens of Social Justice, right? If these ideas you propose are so self-evident and so obvious, why does it always come off as a demand with the penalty of not doing so being social retribution and social excommunication? Why does it always come off as a call for privilege when it is disguised as a right? $6.6 million for vegetation....yeah in the manner of which they are implementing vegetation on the garage, its going to be expensive. This isn't exactly planting flowers in a small pot on a back porch. Landscaping is very expensive depending on what you plant, and how much density you plant, and in this case they are putting vegetation in suspended planters which requires its own structural support. The real question should be, what is your hypothetical dollar amount for vegetation where you think this is a too much and that money can go elsewhere. Not to mention isn't the talk that we should be making buildings and environments more green. Why does that all the sudden go out the window when so-called historically impoverished communities are involved. Do blacks and poor people not deserve to see green around them, oh thats right they are black and poor, so they must be hungry and can't find work, so we should be spending money on that, right? Because we should assume this is the default, right? $6.4 million for two "public plazas". Again isn't the argument always that there should be more open space, and spaces for people to congregate and create a sense of community, and especially in Houston where there is so little. I many cities depending on the zoning regulation a developer will have to designate space for a public plaza. Here there is no such requirement, and so actually we should see this as an improvement that companies don't need to be forced to create public space, and instead they are seeing a market benefit to do so on their own accord. Really quite astonishing in my opinion. This is always my issue with any argument is from the standpoint of Social Justice is that its never enough. Nobody can be Woke enough or promote Social Justice enough, and Rice University leans pretty hard into these ideas to a fault in my opinion, and again it isn't enough. In my opinion this is why they should just ignore all that crap and do what can serve their interests best, and if it helps others along the way then this will be even more of a success, and they would be smart to do so. As far as boundaries go. History isn't something you pick off a bookshelf and say, this is when we say history begins, or we think its this, but none of the other stuff happened. The highway exists, and its ramifications exist, and we have to move on. Learn lessons on what happened and try to do better in the future. These ideas of these so called historically black communities that you have in your head aren't there anymore and have moved elsewhere. Let that go. Montrose when I was living in it was changing as well. The gay community is leaving that neighborhood, but thats also a consequence of them being generally more accepted in mainstream society which is a great thing, and now they don't have to be in the same place. Most of these historically black communities where a direct response to segregation, and segregation isn't in law anymore, so why should they all live in the same place? History changes, so do cities.
  5. Luminare
    I've actually been to this Museum. The design for both the refurbishment of the original building and the inclusion of the more abstract addition was done by renowned Post-Modern Architect Daniel Liebskind. Like most post-modernist they tend to prefer asymmetry to symmetry, and have an irreverence to anything vaguely historical, and like to represent form in the abstract. Its definitely very striking when you approach it. You think you are losing it when you see it in the distance and thats kind of the point of it. But in regards to the addition to this one, I don't exactly agree. I think as far as renovation goes its a lot more subtle. Its a a very stark modernist building with a tailbone being added at the bottom. Not much of an interruption to be honest. Actually a more fitting comparison with this image above is the current renovation to the court house. Very traditional in style (even though it fails at that aesthetic, its a dumb ugly example), with a contemporary vertical corridor and entry slapped onto one side. Way more jarring. Then again thats just my design opinion knowing what I know and from experience. I'm sure some will like the tailbone and some people won't.
  6. Luminare
    ones a paper city article dated back to the day of the demolition. The former residence was a 1930's era mansion designed by John Staub for a John Mecom Sr. At this point I've heard this story in River Oaks to many times to count. Old wildcatter mansion designed by one of Houston's best Architects John Staub has been demolished. Heres the thing, yes are these mansions designed by John Staub amazing...yeah they are. He was a great architect. He also designed a lot of houses in that neighborhood in an era where most of housing, pre-densification, was all single family detached housing, and it was all for wildcatters, or industry giants of that era who had very electic european style tastes. The people moving in today just aren't those and so these old mansions, while very nice, just aren't going to appeal to the new money of today. Just how it is. The other link was simply a google street view of what is being built there now. So if this is asking whether any of the links show the design, none of them did, and unless these rich folk like putting their private light in the spotlight....most don't, then we won't know what it looks like till its done, which is typical.
  7. Luminare
    I've worked for a boutique firm that did residences in River Oaks, and for single family detached housing of any size you will rarely find documentation about designs for private homes unless it had to be presented to the city planning commission. At some point when a project is completed sometimes owners are fine with the publication of their residences. Many of these people from middle class to upper class would rather not have that information publicized. If you can find something then awesome definitely would like to hear more, but more than likely you won't unless you know inside info from different firms or you know the client who is building the residence.
  8. Luminare
    Hey welcome to the forum and thanks for posting. More than likely this will be moved to the Montrose sub-forum as that's where smaller projects in the area go or completed projects (We don't have a sub for River Oaks). Its not common that residential is built with Light Gauge Aluminum studs, but that's what I see in that google street view. With this being Lazy Lane this is probably someone's new mansion. The large concrete walls aren't that out there to be honest. They look like concrete walls that are both for aesthetics and load bearing of the roof above. My guess is this will be a very contemporary looking mansion. Again, I'm not on the project, and this is just from one image. I'm merely speculating based on my own design experience in the industry, and experience in architecture in general. Hope that helps.
  9. Luminare
    I'm more amazed at how consistent the lettering is. This person has a very particular and specific way of writing. Look how each letter is slanted like Italics, and the slant is remarkably consistent for each letter and number. My handwriting is almost always different depending on how fast or slow I'm writing, or what I'm feeling at the moment. I'm never this consistent. Hats off to that dude.
  10. Luminare
    I mean this is a flood prone city, so maybe its Johnna and the Whale? Oh maybe this will be an arc..... On the serious side. I think people underestimate just how long it takes for a project to break ground, how expensive it is, and also how proud a buildings owner is of what they built or want to build. Lets think about this for a moment, if this is going to be the only Aga Khan Islamic Community Center in the United States, I'm willing to bet that nothing big or small is being left to chance. Every single detail is being looked over with a fine tooth comb. Every part of the budget is being examined to be sure each dollar is worth it. Every single material is being examined to make sure it matches the quality the Aga Khan wants this to be. Yeah this is going to take a long time.
  11. Luminare
    I've always approached the world in this way: There is no such thing as a stupid question, but there is such a thing as a stupid statement. Understandable if someone asked this Chrome thing as a question, but as statement...if this person wants to believe that Chrome on a street lamp next to a 16 story building is going to be priority one for lightning over a tall building then I say let them be. Especially if they don't want to take advice from either people in the business or a photographer that flies drones. Best let them believe what they want to believe. @monarch You are totally right. I totally believe that those letters are dangerous, and so shall be struck by lightning to have them rid from the earth.
  12. Luminare
    Two things can be true at the same time. Just because you do core samples doesn't mean you then do construction the next day. If they are doing core samples then this is still very much alive.
  13. Luminare
    IBC 2018 Chapter 10 Section 1015 Guards: So no, guards are not required in that area you show in that first pic.
  14. Luminare
    Looks like they are doing color selections to me. Seeing how each color works in the daylight.
  15. Luminare
    Of course it happens all the time. I'm on an apartment job where there was a coordination issue between the ones pouring the slab and the guys doing the framing, so the area of the door didn't match where the door was going in the slab. They had to redo a portion of that framing. Construction is hard. Lets just be glad they knew what was wrong before anything was put on top of it.
  16. Luminare
    Ouch and that demo will not be cheap. Somebody on that job isn't going home with a paycheck. More than likely this will all be shouldered on the contractor. Then again I'm not on this job, and have no access to the specifications, but I would assume that most stock specs already have what is required, so this is bad sub work which would then fall on the GC.
  17. Luminare

    Allegiant Airlines

    Luminare replied to wxman's topic in Planes

    Interesting since both BYU and University of Houston were recently admitted into the Big 12 conference. This seems to be frontrunning that. Not to mention would pick up those who are going skiing. Probably not in Park City, but will instead maybe take the Frontrunner train to the southern part of the Salt Lake Valley and then take a bus up the mountain to Solitude or Alta. I might actually consider this flight in the future as an alternative to SLC if the price is right.
  18. Luminare
    yeah and their logo is what my eyes will look like trying to squint to see it.
  19. Luminare
    Maybe a little like this? This was Le Corbusier's idea for Paris back in the early 20th Century. Not too dissimilar.
  20. Luminare
    They need to put him with the tree at the top out ceremony. That would hilarious. Lets put this robot to work.
  21. Luminare
    I'm just curious who gets the penthouse. Talk about a stunning 360 view of town.
  22. Luminare
    please tell me they are going to use explosives or a giant wrecking ball. Please then tell me where the livestream is.
  23. Luminare
    TxTag. Its free. It works at every toll in Texas.
  24. Luminare
    I believe the part about the lag in permitting. When I was still working in Houston for a small boutique firm, even the "expedited" permitting route would take months, and that was pre-covid. Now that everyone and their mother is in a rush to build build build because who knows what will happen next, plus staff shortages?....yikes.
  25. Luminare
    Everyone in Houston loves no zoning when it works for them, but laments it when it doesn't. Houston is a growing city, and a densifying one. Yes that means people moving in with more stuff than they need, and yes that means they need to put it somewhere, and no that doesn't mean they want to drive all the way out to Katy to access it. This is the nature of the beast when it comes to Houston. All the rapid growth of new apartments and towers we cheer, and that is thanks to no zoning. Be prepared for side effects of it. You take the good with the bad, and hope that this cycle Houston gets more good than bad.
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