infinite_jim

Everyone on sports talk radio today can't figure out why the Rockets would do it. Maybe the GM knows something we don't. I don't follow them very closely, I haven't really heard of any of the players.

I think they made a trade just to make a trade. Or maybe Rafer's mouth finally caught up to him.

Thanks for that NYtimes article posting, Lockmat. Long but good read.

As of today they have done mostly utility excavation at the Cemo site, and are beginning to build the formwork and lay the hot & cool water pipes coming from the central plant. I'll get pics next week. They are also starting to level grade the parking garage across from the Calhoun Lofts.

Anyone else think this thing is boring? Kind of disappointing.

I do not.

The 3 rooftop gardens (2 habitable and 1 with a reflecting pond) with blinder walls will be interesting to say the very least. This is a quality 100 year building, built to exacting (1/64") standards, and the amount of effort it takes to get projects like this built is a war of attrition for architects.

How many buildings in Houston of recent can you say that about?

Edit: 54' x 128' reflecting pool

Recommended.

The lithograph prints are a real treat to see (& these phone pics does not do justice)

edit: Does anyone know where to find the jukebox he designed?

Dang, I was hoping this thread was about something interesting in Dallas, like Cunningham or Levy's work.

-The Science and Research Complex (UofH)

?

Maybe PGH?

I believe SR1 was designed by Mckee and Kamrath,very Wrightian & SR2 is of similar design and obviously built later. And HSC is by the same architect as the GRB convention center and reflects as much.

Farish Hall is great example of Brutalism. I did my first shading device studies on the fenestration.

For those whose don't know, anytime you see the patterned tie indentions in the concrete surface it's Brutalism. While it's easy to pick on these buildings b/c they are not outwardly "pretty" they are very important to the architectural profession relative to the time of their advent by the Smithsons and later perfected by Kahn

Anywho, the Architect who designed the Hobby Center. I was browsing through a book they made, and almost all of their projects were so interesting. The interior design was so detailed & ornamented nicely. Except I didn't like the Disney Boardwalk, or Tokyo Disney Hotel. And a few of their college campus buildings.

Robert AM Stern; and yes this means you have bad taste in architecture

j/k it does mean you have very conservative tastes though (think regent square). Stern was well published by the late '70's and has taken the market approach to architecture much like Andy Warhol took to art in the '70's and '80's. Still can't hold a candle to the intellectual prowess that was Charles Moore.

My favorite architect changes faster than my doors, atm I'm really into the tactile effect of David Adjaye's work. There was a great exhibit at Artpace in SA last fall that convinced me of this.

LULZ @ the internet jurors..

Remind me to never post any of my projects.

W/R/T SouthPointe; these types of utopian schemes never fully address the programmatic values of users and are mere monuments to client egos. It really has a ship in a bottle effect in the creative design process.

I'd like to see this property parceled out into smaller properties.

Neo-kitsch

I'm thinking "the giant cross against the city, the mega church against the world..."

speaking of copywrite violations

http://www.bit-tech.net/news/bits/2009/02/...ght-kerfuffle/1

I feel sorry for the girl that waits tables upstairs.

A couple weeks ago my wife and I were there celebrating and more than one couple had various accessory items of clothing strewn about, people straddling people, and the backroom was bodyguarded to say the least.

http://www.davidchipperfield.co.uk/

After reviewing some of the architect's previous master plans and bldgs, I get a distinctive signature in his work where he "groups the volumes together to form a greater sense of solidity." Typically his volumes are boxes and have a push-pull effect in their spatial relationships. Even in his more delineated plans, the squares maintain a distorted proportional relationship as if the amoebic stasis of the San Michele Cemetery, Barcelona Justice, or Segovia Project were stretched thin like Cantera Cultural Centre or Museum Island in Berlin.

Given the current campus amassed by the Menil Foundation, his planning tendencies will have a positive effect on the plan's outcome. His Des Moines public library is less than inspiring but judging from the pics it's site looks small and the bldg's budget appears modest but well dressed. I am not too concerned w/r/t the Menil Foundation's precedent for building and a master plan is something I'm surprised they had not already done. I am interested with how they will generate profit from a more public, campus style bldg in light of the forthcoming Richmond Ave. transit upgrades.

Edit: Speaking of Chipperfield, maybe he could tap Adjaye to do a bldg in Houston.

Reverse order the name.

Downtown Houston University (DHU)

Same name, sounds different ;-)

wow

modern corporate architecture = too many cooks in the kitchen

The Moonlight Ramble

I recently just got a freestyle bike with pegs in addition to my folding bike. Only ate dirt twice last weekend at Tinsley; though they won't let you in the skate park, the adjacent bldg plaza's and park slopes are just as fun anyways.

Apparently, after talking to some friends tonight, Facebook is the new place to flyer for parties. I believe this is the beginning of the end for your beloved FB.

It's all about the hugs, but I don't really know b/c I stopped giving my content to fly-by night social networking sites back in 06'. I feel for you folks who have to be connected like that to society, phones are a great way to kill time on the net.

I concur with previous poster's assertion that a true professional, has their own unique web address. Less suspect or fixed gear, even if you have a construction site for years at a time I say your in better programming shape than html slumdoggin' it on the myface.

I had a chance to finally check this place out last weekend. Here's a few phone pics.

Considering that the mall has not filled most of it's spaces, I'll wait and see before judging it's success as a place.

nothing will make a difference until you address the "people" that "bez chillin der"....until that is cleaned up no one will want to come near there for anything

This is why I do not think that Sharpstown needs to be redeveloped more so than the circumscribing neighborhoods that have a greater influence on the area as a whole. A twenty year community redevelopment program is needed to both rise the tide of education in the public sector and IMHO serious tax incentives needed to "de-densify" the suburban scaled and internal cloistered development patterns of the apartment complexes in the area.

I'm thinking on the scale of the tear-downs of downtown and midtown in the late 60's - 70's. The problem has always existed, by way of short sighted, poorly designed developments of 2-4 storey stick frame complexes in the late 70's-early 80's. If more oversight were present at the time of their planning this area would not have had the "dross" effect it currently represents; but that is hindsight now and not a genuine concern of our city.

FWIW I do not have a problem with low-income housing at all, but when clustered largely in one part of town like Gulfton, it breeds an unhealthy ghetto like environment. That is a detriment to the generation being raised in the area. With diverse demographics and socioeconomic housing options, neighborhoods benefit from the equalizer that is public space and the public life that comes with it. An example of this goodwill is when people drive courteously it tends to influence other drivers in proximity to drive courteously, however the the same is true for bad driving and it's infectiousness. This where gov't should reward good behavior from developers and ignore (or punish/tax in extreme cases) bad behavior w/r/t urban planning in a non-zoned city.

The only reason I can think of for improving the mall would be to attract more affluent residents in it's adjacency.

That clarification was necessary.

I was beginning to think that vertigo was really nmainguy.

I'll admit that I'm just a sophisticated chat program proxied to a static IP to look like a human.

I'm not an architect but an intern.

If the CD's have already been produced then the spec sheet needs to be red lined and changed. If you are the client, just request such a change and the architect will tell an intern to make the change on CAD.

Architects determine products by their performance, cost, and/or aesthetic taste; depending on which factor weighs most significantly into the clients vision.

Yes, many architects work closely with suppliers, this is true for many aspects but usually for door & hardware schedules, window schedules, finish schedules etc.

Talented architects have been known to either use unconventional materials (read not from a product catalog) or conventional materials in an unorthodox manner but this breed is extremely rare or extremely expensive in such a conservative place such as Texas.

FYI, first and last Friday of every month 1820 (bar at 1820 Franklin, stone's throw from Minute Maid) opens up the neighboring pinball/arcade machine store so you can play games. Nice bar, fun arcade, GOOD TIMES.

Yes, it's $15 for all games you can play, last time I went was in january of this year. I believe Charle Kalas of 804 fanin fame runs it.

I personally like Warrens (sentimental) or Hans Bier Garden (boccie ball and that towering condo)

I will make the effort, but I have truly awful awkward social skills and might get scared.

congrats mr chenevert & memebag

http://www.lonestarglass.com/

713-661-0091

They are off of bissonnett inside the loop.