George R. Brown Convention Center Redevelopment, Office Building & W Hotel

[wxman]

Wow, this is a class act. Loving it.

[cloud713]

I still say they should build a top golf and public sports complex on the roof for the urban dwellers.. But I'm digging these plans.

[j_cuevas713]

FInally getting the city we always dreamed of, great planning by the city!

[j_cuevas713]

Not to be a downer, but when I see shovels in the ground for this and the Marriott, then Ill be happy, until then Im just hoping for the best.

[ClutchCity]

And from what the HBJ reports this is supposed to break ground in April with the Marquis? They lump them together, but that is great news that they are getting things together so well!

http://www.bizjournals.com/houston/news/2014/01/30/houston-first-ghcvb-talking-about-best-strategy.html?page=all

[H-Town Man]

Thanks Triton, and agree with cuevas.

[Howard Huge]

So giant screens playing sports visible from street level are allowed, but jumbotrons arent.

Edited January 31, 2014 by Howard Huge

[Moore713]

So giant screens playing sports visible from street level are allowed, but jumbotrons arent.

 

Hoping this is one of the changes the retail task force told Houston they need to make.. I remeber a part in the report where they flat out told the city limiting signs heights and billboards need to be changed...

[Moore713]

Not to be a downer, but when I see shovels in the ground for this and the Marriott, then Ill be happy, until then Im just hoping for the best.

 

Hoping the fools can show real vision for once.. They are suppose to vote on it, but like discovery green their will always be those who are convince it will be a big waste of money.. even discovery green had it distractors on the boards who were sure no one would want to go to a park in downtown Houston... Some people just lack vision

[monarch]

opening the grb to panoramic views of downtown houston, shall be a state of the art...   and yet novel approach.   the new hotel on top of the garage / tower shall be the official icing upon the cake.  

 

this new concept as per the grb...   shall catapult downtown houston into the tourism stratosphere.   oh boy, it's on!

[HtownWxBoy]

 

http://www.houstonchronicle.com/business/real-estate/article/Big-changes-could-be-coming-to-downtown-5190503.php#/1

 

 

 

Anna Wintour seems to be enjoying herself. 

[Nate99]

I hope they budgeted $55mm for the Jeff Koons Balloon Dog in the first picture.

 

There's a lady in Deerbrook Mall that will make them for $5 per. 

[Subdude]

Lol at Anna Wintour.  I mean really? 

 

That north block has been earmarked for parking for a long-time; nice to see them think of using the airspace for a hotel.  Even with the four new nearby hotels planned to come onstream in the next few of years (Hampton Inn, Hyatt Place, Marriott, Green Street) I think that the GRB still might be only on the cusp of having enough nearby hotel rooms to support really large conventions.  

 

I like the idea of narrowing Avenida de las Americas and using it somewhat for public space.  I might add, though, in a tiny little voice, that as ever I have some reservations about remodeling; specifically glazing a large chunk of the GRB facade.  Yeah, yeah, it looks all modern and cool and stuff, and I recognize that the GRB has never been exactly beloved from an architectural standpoint.  When it was first built a lot of people, myself included, thought it was a bit of a white elephant.  However, after a quarter century I think it seems to have come into its own as a nice example of 1980s post-modernism.  Building Discovery Green, for whatever reason, really helped how it fit in with the environs, compared to the previous sea of surface parking.  I can live with refacing Two Shell because I don't think it is of any particular architectural merit, but GRB is different.  

 

Oh well, in twenty years, when Houstonians are decrying how we let ourselves deface such a perfect example of 1980s architecture, I'll log in from the old folks home and say "I knew it!"  

 

 

 

 

[Avossos]

I too have mixed feelings about the GRB. I don't know about the materials used, I dont know about the Ship references (color, shape, and smoke stack things), but with all that said - it isn't bad or offensive. I think this proposal would be great if they could ensure they don't ignore the building's existing features... I tend to not like buildings if they have parts from different eras and it is obvious. But the if the GRB can still look like a seemless, complete package after the work is done, I think it is worth the risk..

[ArchFan]

I kinda like the GRB, but it always seemed to be a rather blatant copy of the earlier & more-famous Centre Pompidou in Paris:

 

 

 

Edited January 31, 2014 by ArchFan

[HoustonIsHome]

I kinda like the GRB, but it always seemed to be a rather blatant copy of the earlier & more-famous Centre Pompidou in Paris:

I don't see it

[Subdude]

I too have mixed feelings about the GRB. I don't know about the materials used, I dont know about the Ship references (color, shape, and smoke stack things), but with all that said - it isn't bad or offensive. I think this proposal would be great if they could ensure they don't ignore the building's existing features... I tend to not like buildings if they have parts from different eras and it is obvious. But the if the GRB can still look like a seemless, complete package after the work is done, I think it is worth the risk..

 

That's the thing though.  How can they not ignore the building's existing features? After they graft on a new facade how can it look like a seamless, complete package?  I'm not saying GRB is one for the ages, but it's a really good period piece, the best in Houston, so it's a shame to mess it up.  

[Avossos]

That's the thing though.  How can they not ignore the building's existing features? After they graft on a new facade how can it look like a seamless, complete package?  I'm not saying GRB is one for the ages, but it's a really good period piece, the best in Houston, so it's a shame to mess it up.  

 

ugh, now I am critical about it.

[Montrose1100]

That's the thing though.  How can they not ignore the building's existing features? After they graft on a new facade how can it look like a seamless, complete package?  I'm not saying GRB is one for the ages, but it's a really good period piece, the best in Houston, so it's a shame to mess it up.  

I have to disagree sub. It is extremely post modern but certainly not the best example. You might be right, later down the line we might regret the upgrade, but not for a few more decades. 

[Sky-guy]

I think it'll be fine as long as they don't touch the other side of the building facing 59.

[H-Town Man]

Have you ever heard anyone say, "My jaw dropped when I saw the George R. Brown Convention Center?" Have you ever heard that sentence?

[H-Town Man]

Have you ever heard anyone say, "My jaw dropped when I saw the George R. Brown Convention Center?" Have you ever heard that sentence?

 

This is not meant to express an opinion on whether it should be altered, btw. I just thought it was a funny sentence.

[Subdude]

Have you ever heard anyone say, "My jaw dropped when I saw the George R. Brown Convention Center?" Have you ever heard that sentence?

 

Well, not in a good way, no.  

 

Look, I didn't say that it was a prize piece or the best example of the style one could find.  But it is a pretty decent and emblematic example of post-modernism, certainly one of the best in Houston (along with Bank of America) that has survived this long.  If it were the Wortham Theater, for instance, which looked dated the day it opened, I'd yell "Remodel away!"  But does a structure need to be best-in-class to merit preservation?  Of the list of 1960s "modernizations" that I posted in the Two Shell topic, I doubt that any were considered prime examples of their respective genres.  Some, like the West Building, I would categorize as positively dumpy.  Still, what replaced them was in almost every case worse and ultimately detracted from the economic value of the buildings and the architectural character and heritage of Houston. 

 

Again, I'm not saying that every remodeling is a mistake, just most of them.  I'm just afraid the GRB would fall into the latter category.  

[Montrose1100]

Well, not in a good way, no.  

 

Look, I didn't say that it was a prize piece or the best example of the style one could find.  But it is a pretty decent and emblematic example of post-modernism, certainly one of the best in Houston (along with Bank of America) that has survived this long.  If it were the Wortham Theater, for instance, which looked dated the day it opened, I'd yell "Remodel away!"  But does a structure need to be best-in-class to merit preservation?  Of the list of 1960s "modernizations" that I posted in the Two Shell topic, I doubt that any were considered prime examples of their respective genres.  Some, like the West Building, I would categorize as positively dumpy.  Still, what replaced them was in almost every case worse and ultimately detracted from the economic value of the buildings and the architectural character and heritage of Houston. 

 

Again, I'm not saying that every remodeling is a mistake, just most of them.  I'm just afraid the GRB would fall into the latter category.  

I think what makes the remodel attractive is I don't see the color blue. Mixing Red, White, and Blue is very hard to pull off, and eliminating it brings it up to speed. I'm happy though they are keeping some of the elements of the original design (As I said before). The current glass wall on the GRB is pointless, it opens up to a blank wall on the inside, and this redo makes it flow.

[H-Town Man]

Well, not in a good way, no.  

 

Look, I didn't say that it was a prize piece or the best example of the style one could find.  But it is a pretty decent and emblematic example of post-modernism, certainly one of the best in Houston (along with Bank of America) that has survived this long.  If it were the Wortham Theater, for instance, which looked dated the day it opened, I'd yell "Remodel away!"  But does a structure need to be best-in-class to merit preservation?  Of the list of 1960s "modernizations" that I posted in the Two Shell topic, I doubt that any were considered prime examples of their respective genres.  Some, like the West Building, I would categorize as positively dumpy.  Still, what replaced them was in almost every case worse and ultimately detracted from the economic value of the buildings and the architectural character and heritage of Houston. 

 

Again, I'm not saying that every remodeling is a mistake, just most of them.  I'm just afraid the GRB would fall into the latter category.  

 

You are right that very few renovations are seen long-term as improvements. I disagree about the Wortham, I've always kind of liked it, and it got some good national reviews when it opened. And the George R. Brown isn't terrible, there's actually a rather flattering photo of it on wikipedia. But I think convention centers are pretty much destined to be transformed, reshaped, repurposed. They're just way too big and pragmatic by nature to ever be given the amber treatment as period pieces, much like airports or perhaps sports stadiums.

 

Plus, this renovation leaves much of the original 80's facade intact, and it's not like you need the whole thing left intact to get the point, the front facade has that sickening repetitiveness and a-centeredness that one normally associates with college dorm hallways. We'll have a section of 80's style and a section of 2014 style, it'll be like one of those Gothic cathedrals that was built and reworked across different periods!

[ArchFan]

I don't see it

I've been in both buildings more than once, and the similarities (and differences, too) have always struck me.  I've heard the Pompidou Centre described as resembling an oil refinery or a building turned inside-out, with the ductwork being exposed on the outside and painted bright colors. The GRB has similar ductwork, but it is mostly in the lobby, as I recall, not on the outside.  OTOH, the exteriors of both buildings are painted with bright primary colors and have ventilation ducts that are very ship-like.

 

When GRB was built, I had already seen the Pompidou Center and immediately saw that the latter had influenced the people who designed the former.  I couldn't find a pic online of the GRB lobby, which has lots of brightly colored ducts.  But, at least the 2 pics I attached here show the "ship smokestacks" they both share.

Edited January 31, 2014 by ArchFan

[HoustonIsHome]

I've been in both buildings more than once, and the similarities (and differences, too) have always struck me. I've heard the Pompidou Centre described as resembling an oil refinery or a building turned inside-out, with the ductwork being exposed on the outside and painted bright colors. The GRB has similar ductwork, but it is mostly in the lobby, as I recall, not on the outside. OTOH, the exteriors of both buildings are painted with bright primary colors and have ventilation ducts that are very ship-like.

When GRB was built, I had already seen the Pompidou Center and immediately saw that the latter had influenced the people who designed the former. I couldn't find a pic online of the GRB lobby, which has lots of brightly colored ducts. But, at least the 2 pics I attached here show the "ship smokestacks" they both share.

Night and day

[Urbannizer]

Improvements to the GRB will begin later this year (4Q 2014), construction on the new garage will also begin around that time.

http://downtownhouston.org/site_media/uploads/attachments/2014-03-05/140303_Downtown_Houston_Development_Map_11x17.pdf

[kdog08]

Hooray for Superbowl!

[j_cuevas713]

This is going to be perfect for downtown! We just need to continue to connect Midtown with Downtown

Edited March 20, 2014 by j_cuevas713