pytheus

Instead of monorail, how about high speed express mag-levs from downtown to all the outlying communities? And then more above ground rail instead of buses. Some city in Russia or EU has these trains elevated above the streets by this insane infrastructure. Subways in Houston aren't viable due to flooding. For residential, I would build using quality materials, like stone; brick, 'crete, etc. How long will these quarter million townhomes last when made out of pressed particle board? The lifespan isn't too long with anything wood in this humid town. The pricing of them is pretty outrageous too. I love the pocket parks idea, but many of the great ideas in this thread are fantacy, sadly. What saddens me most are the residential developments in suburbia. Up around Spring, developers have a parcel for a new subdivion, and just doze *all* the trees down. The Woodlands and other old subdivision developmens built around trees and small greenbelts. Its sooo tacty and classless, not to mention less attractive to have no mature trees, and it makes it all hotter with less leaves around. Such a crying shame.

One of my favorite places ever in H-town is the Aurora [www.aurorapictureshow.org] and the screenings at The Axiom for the www.microcinema.com if memory servers. The AlamoDraftHouse far out Highway 6 way occasionally have some good ones, but not at all as International and ecclectic as the Alamo in Austinland. The Aurora is having another Media Archeology coming up in late Mar. or April, which was a laugh riot last year. See ya there!

Thank you 27!! So, basically PF stole the idea, and almost the entire lame structure from someone else, adding only a flourish of a square instead of a circle. Hero worhship for previous work has its moment, but come on. From my admittedly myopic perspective, that does not save PJ from critism of that structure: A glorified barn with an absurd roof ornamentation. And more importantly, the UH board members who decidedly choose that design. I agree with subdude that "I used to be disgusted, now I'm just amused." after reading that thread. Sorry to scratch at an old scab, but I still find that building a laughable travesty. Can anyone share some insight as to UH's school or Architecture as in if its good, better/worse then others, or judged by the building in which it resides?

I realize this is probably an already tired and exhausted topic, but new to me. I visited for the first time the Arch Dept. at UH to see the underground arch exhibit 'Ant Farm' next door in the Fine Arts center, and was struck at the pointlessness of the crowning pillars of UH's arch bldg. One can not access the view from up there, so its only to be admired from afar. Seems pretenscious and absurd to me. An homage to the classics in an unfunctional and pompous nod. Am I way off base in my layman and negative critique asaid edifice? Does the decision favoring that building's design speak unfavorably about the school itself?