Jump to content

Luminare

Full Member
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    3,960

  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    12

 Content Type 

Everything posted by Luminare

  1. Luminare
    1) these are likely overly compressed jpeg versions. As an example I normally export from render programs at 4k because its always better working with more pixels in photoshop, but to get everything out to our clients I at least export down to 1080 or "Desktop" size. For some reason after that is where things get fussy. I think a lot of marketing crews just mindlessly compress images down further because they always get fussy after they leave any office. For me the renders just look overly compressed or were exported at really low res. 2) lighting seems fine to me, but lighting is always tricky in renders. Its all about mood at the end of the day. I remember the last place I worked at my renders tended to be on the darker side, and my boss would be like "is there any way to make this look...happier?" Moussavi strikes me as a very serious architect, so I'd imagine she likes her images more moody and quiet. 3) As far as bland, I do think they probably could up the saturation of the image to show of the subtle blues and other colors. Maybe its an overlay problem? I don't think the building looks bland, but the colors aren't really shining through like we are seeing already with the exterior mockup of the pigmented concrete (I'm guess thats what it is, might be cast stone). 4) I don't know what your expectation of a religious building is, but even the most modernist interpretations of religious buildings, spaces are really clean and even where you do have structure its well integrated to be the aesthetic or hidden nicely, and MEP is designed in a way so it can be unseen. This just isn't a building to show case that, and I'll be real with you, most architects do not have the time to put that into their models. My office I currently work for never puts in families of MEP items and rarely structural (though I put them in to coordinate). Most offices are like this as well, unless you are an architect that really likes to highlight these things. Otherwise they will be absent. Its just not important and lets be real when you are in a space with these items you mind normally "hides" them yourself, so you only see the aesthetics of the space minus the light switches and registers, just like our brain selectively reads, or remembers faces.
  2. Luminare
    Not every development needs GFR. This is actually a pretty quite area, an edge between two districts with little car traffic. Imagining myself Architect on this job, which I'm not, but if I was, and the client wanted GFR I'd probably would advise doing a catchment study. Likely the study would've resulted in stating that anything other than a small coffee shop would've been tough to put in GFR. Maybe in another 10-15 years with more density and foot traffic then others could consider it. You can't force GFR. There has to be a need. Otherwise its just going to be wasted empty space. Don't plan from above. Plan from the ground.
  3. Luminare
    And its a chore. Usually with a lot of strings attached. City's always feel they can ask for way more from a street abandonment when it comes around. Lets just say I've gotten some experience in this department lately. Not to mention the major utility work required post abandonment. Lived and worked in the area for around 2 years. Frequently walked across the Menil, Rothko, and St. Thomas. I gotta say those two houses that will be removed won't really impact the feeling and view of the Menil in my opinion. Those two houses (which were turned into small office buildings) always felt awkward, and are not as good bungalow examples as those in the area. I don't think they will be missed. Most don't even approach the Menil from the East anyway. Most approach the Menil from the North and South. You also have to consider looking at the drawing above that their has been a replant of River Birch which flanks the Broken Obelisk, which is a great upgrade when I visited in April. As more people move into Montrose its to be expected that Rothko is getting pushed to be more pronounced, but I think the additions of late are welcomed. It still feels like that lost treasure nestled in a neighborhood, but with some light touches.
  4. Luminare
    Holy Cantilever.... Yeah that ain't happenin. I'm no structural engineer, but I did take physics. Last I checked, gravity is still a thing. The sketchup model and elevation don't really show much either. Looks very preliminary. If you want a deep cantilever like that you would need to do some funky stuff with large steel trusses basically from the under ceiling to the roof, and then really anchor that sucker in the back. Really expensive. I would love to be surprised though! Please prove me wrong. MetaLabs is a good firm. Always glad to see them get work.
  5. Luminare
    Seems to make sense. I bet many developers because of covid lockdowns had a bunch of projects in inventory that they need to offload. Even with FED rates rising, real rates are still ridiculously low, so even with lead times through the roof, and material prices through the roof, it still pays to take construction loans. Real estate while starting to drop is still way up as well. I do see this window closing sooner rather than later. I'm just glad projects are still activating. These days, take what you can when you can seems to be the truism.
  6. Luminare
    Also in the nick of time. I was worried this one was taking a little longer.
  7. Luminare
    Interesting. Curious how this plays out. I actually know Kevin Barden of RiversBarden as an acquaintance, cool guy. Looking forward to what is presented.
  8. Luminare
    Man that is a messy Deck Coating application, or someone got murdered haha
  9. Luminare
    *AT THE DRIVE-THRU* Yes I'd like one Extra Tall Building with a side of Parking Garage. *AT THE WINDOW* No no no. I said I wanted an Extra Tall Building with a side of Parking Garage...Not an Extra Tall Garage with a side of Building. Ugh...
  10. Luminare
    That dirt wall is to mark off the "Drip Line" of the tree. Any grading that is done can not breach that drip line or the tree will die. This is usually a process coordinated between the Architect, Landscape Architect, Civil Engineer, and GC. As far as moving them, not sure myself. I don't remember seeing any markings on a previous site plan noting which trees were marked as "Existing Tree to Remain" or "Existing Tree to be Relocated". I guess we will know soon enough.
  11. Luminare
    I call it "Design Research", or "Constructability Research".
  12. Luminare
    Solar takes up a lot of space. I'm only in favor of employing solar if its in areas that are already taking up space, and would be enhanced with extra utility such as parking lots and roofs. Other than that I don't think solar justifies the cost in terms of power output to acreage of land. The applications seen above are great examples. As far as out west...yes. Particularly when I was driving through Arizona on my way up to Utah, they definitely throw solar around there a lot which makes sense.
  13. Luminare
    Very true. I was just bored at work, and feeling slightly sadistic in a comedic way haha. Construction documentation can be a real grind.
  14. Luminare
    Funny thought. I wonder if that concave curtain wall will melt cars below like the famous car melting building in London.
  15. Luminare
    They missed a great opportunity to make one of these white and the other black. That way whenever I fly into Houston again I can point to the literal play on the famous yen-yang symbol. Oh well.
  16. Luminare
    Interesting how we now have two buildings in Houston that are essentially Boolean forms of one another. This building and the new MFAH building. One with an entirely convex facade, and this one an entirely concave facade.
  17. Luminare
    Oh lord. Another long extensive thread about mass transit in a thread that probably doesn't need it. I've been on this forum enough that I see the same conversation happen all the time with the same anecdotes, examples, and themes highlighted all the time. I've said this to others irl a number of times, but it goes without saying. The moment the train crowd, bike crowd, the walk crowd, etc... talk about removing cars, lessen cars, banning cars, changing cars in anyway you immediately loss the argument because the very people you are trying to convince or you need support for your cause is immediately going to either A) punch you in the face, or B) politely tell you to F-off, and you will lose that persons support forever. This is human nature, and its also key to understanding markets and business. Unless you are a person that is an extreme control freak, or hell bent on power then there is no reason to ever turn this topic into a tribal issue. I just tell people to go to Germany. Germans love their cars. Germans love their trains. Germans love their bikes. Germans love their boats. Germans love their planes. Germans love their vehicle to get drunk...beer. I immediately learned from that experience that this whole debate was pointless because its possible to embrace all, maybe not at the same time, but if we simply made a national commitment to improve all modes of transit and service those a multiple levels in multiple ways and people found each alternative convenient for their needs then all manners of travel lead to success. Transport really is a "we can make our cake, and eat it too." Everyone always treats this as a zero sum game, and it doesn't have to be that way. So if your thoughts are...we need to get rid of X to do Y you should consider this, transit in all of its forms is about building connections. You might even say its about building "bridges". So it seems counter-intuitive to be burning bridges in the process. That's my 2 cents. I'm out.
  18. Luminare
    and the best post of 2022 goes too...
  19. Luminare
    1. If this is what students can do these days then thats significant progress from when I was in school haha 2. We all have our sense of aesthetics, you have yours and I have mine. To me its just fine. I'm not a fan of realistic architectural renders, nor do they wow me since most people have the capability to produce these. The quality looks good to me. I think someone up'ed the bloom a bit to much. Just a tad washed out, but it seems to me they want to impart an idea that this is nice bright open space. 3. General design is fine. Its industrial chic and that is very in line with Method Architectures thing. It seems to be good approach for them. Is it my thing? .. Seen way to much now. Not that I don't like it. Just seen to much at this point. 4. Color scheme is definitely...eclectic. Its the kind of eclectic that seems to have a purpose though. I personally think this variety of color is a tad distracting for an office environment. This scheme for a candy store? Yes. This scheme for an arch firm? Not my cup of tea. It is fun looking though. Guess thats the vibe they want. If this were me right now grading this at a criq. for final review, I would say there is nothing "wrong" with any of this, but its definitely not something I would immediately appreciate. This is simply a very specific and particular approach they want to go which I both admire, but it means it narrows the scope/amount of people whom could appreciate it.
  20. Luminare
    Now that is a fun color! @hindesky to your point about the space between the hotel and this new building, they likely won't need to get back there at all. I don't have access to the Construction Documents, but in these situations that wall is simply a rated fire wall, and will most likely be made of CMU. I would assume it would be a Single or Double Wythe wall of CMU. Maybe they then put the Rigid Insulation on the interior side and then fur-out with 3 5/8" Aluminum Studs? Just a hunch.
  21. Luminare
    compared to what exactly?
  22. Luminare
    Clearly we are moving into a recession next quarter. If anyone wants to disagree you are free to do so, but this will not be my question to you guys. We have been lucky thus far to see a string of project activations when in past cycles even the slightest sniff of a recession brought a wave of cancellations. What are still some projects out there that are close to activation, but need to activate now, or they will be likely canceled in the next 3-6 months? Curious as my focus has been off the Houston market for awhile now.
  23. Luminare
    Man, some of these projects are activating just in the nick of time.
  24. Luminare
    On the flip side, while frustrating, Detailing is hard. It really is. Transitions like these are tough to catch, and its usually missed in construction documents because the last thing typically firms touch. A young draftsman is just not considering how this looks or even how this edge condition works. With that being said this is pretty common edge condition that one would think the firm has done a dozen times and knows how to execute, but you'd be amazed "corporate knowledge" wise what firms have in their detail libraries and what they don't. I'm still learning as well. My approach would have been to take the Fiber Cement Board (Hardi Plank for layman) down either flush with the bottom side of the slab which you could then flash, or just beyond it and then wrap it as a soffit and retouch the slab. People often don't realize that what is the "floor" on the interior is often not, and should not be represented literally on the exterior.
  25. Luminare
    That small banding of stone veneer really annoys me.
×
×
  • Create New...