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Harris County Courthouses And Square


SpaceCity

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I would be surprised if they cancelled the plaza. They are going to have to do a lot of work on that lot anyway. They are going to place the jury pools under that lot. It is going to be connected by tunnel to all of the surrounding courthouses. It is supposed to make it a lot easier for all of the jurors to get around. Once the new civil building is complete I believe they are going to rennovate the family law building floor by floor. Not to mention the rennovations already going on at the juvenile law building.

Suzerain

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The rendering looks waaay different from the real thing. if you look, the real one has more arched windows. And I was wondering- is that borwn facade part of the new design, or will it be painted?

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The rendering looks waaay different from the real thing.  if you look, the real one has more arched windows.  And I was wondering- is that borwn facade part of the new design, or will it be painted?

You would hope it was the same color, to match the other building. Besides, a brown dome ontop wouldn't look very good in my opion. I like the one in the drawing better, but I guess I can't judge it until its complete.

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It blows compared to the first one...

estoy de acuerdo. in the first rendering it totally matched the other building. in the new one, it looks like some absurd casino. i like the old rendering much better. and they better not cheap out on the top, like they did with 5 houston center or whatever it's called.

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I find it so funny to see progress on this building. Especially after I got into an argument with a Harris County employee about the building. He insisted it wasn't going to be built. That there was no plan to build it. That it wasn't happening. For some reason he was in total denial.

This was the same employee who came up with all of the financial statistics the anti-rail movement used before the referendum.

Dumbass.

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I find it so funny to see progress on this building.  Especially after I got into an argument with a Harris County employee about the building.  He insisted it wasn't going to be built.  That there was no plan to build it.  That it wasn't happening.  For some reason he was in total denial.

This was the same employee who came up with all of the financial statistics the anti-rail movement used before the referendum.

Dumbass.

:lol:

Serious...

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I find it so funny to see progress on this building.  Especially after I got into an argument with a Harris County employee about the building.  He insisted it wasn't going to be built.  That there was no plan to build it.  That it wasn't happening.  For some reason he was in total denial.

This was the same employee who came up with all of the financial statistics the anti-rail movement used before the referendum.

Dumbass.

They don't look through the Phi Beta Kappa directory for county employees.

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The entire complex of new court buildings is pathetic. Boring. Derivative. Cliched. Poorly planned. Lacking any sense of grace or grandeur. Completely void of any architectural significance. In other words, a typical Harris County project.

As long as Houston and Harris County officials continue to disallow consultant contracts to "outsiders" (out-of-town architects who don't contribute big bucks to local politicos), and refuse to consider design competitions for major projects, we are doomed to having our tax dollars wasted on more mediocre buildings.

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The entire complex of new court buildings is pathetic.  Boring. Derivative. Cliched. Poorly planned. Lacking any sense of grace or grandeur. Completely void of any architectural significance.  In other words, a typical Harris County project.

As long as Houston and Harris County officials continue to disallow consultant contracts to "outsiders" (out-of-town architects who don't contribute big bucks to local politicos), and refuse to consider design competitions for major projects, we are doomed to having our tax dollars wasted on more mediocre buildings.

I'm no architect, but am I the only one who sees beauty in this building?

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I think they are both pretty. Although, I did like the original design of the Civil Court better.

Court buildings shouldn't look modern. They need to look imposing, because people can lose their liberty, money, children or spouse because of what happens inside. It's a serious place that needs serious architecture.

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The entire complex of new court buildings is pathetic.  Boring. Derivative. Cliched. Poorly planned. Lacking any sense of grace or grandeur. Completely void of any architectural significance.  In other words, a typical Harris County project.

As long as Houston and Harris County officials continue to disallow consultant contracts to "outsiders" (out-of-town architects who don't contribute big bucks to local politicos), and refuse to consider design competitions for major projects, we are doomed to having our tax dollars wasted on more mediocre buildings.

although i do like the two buildings, i agree with jtmbin's statement concerning the lack of design competitions. in my opinion, many of the best known and most beautiful buildings in the world are brought forth via design competitions. if a smaller city like Milwaukee can get Calatrava to design a freakin' museum extension, why can't big ol' Houston pull in some sweet international talent?

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I think they are both pretty. Although, I did like the original design of the Civil Court better.

Court buildings shouldn't look modern. They need to look imposing, because people can lose their liberty, money, children or spouse because of what happens inside. It's a serious place that needs serious architecture.

Why should court houses not look modern? According to who? These buildings are skyscrapers! They ARE modern. They should NOT be skyscrapers trying to look like ancient Roman/Grecian statehouses.

Have you been inside the Criminal Courts building? There is absolutely nothing "imposing" about it. It's just an office building. A big boring, non-imposing, non-majestic, non-important looking office building and that's a shame.

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