Margaret M. Alkek-Williams Center For Dance At 601 Preston St.

[Urbannizer]

[Urbannizer]

As of today.

[Porchman]

what is that little garden area in the bottom right of the picture?

UH-D community garden

[jgriff]

I noticed some cladding is going up on the South side this week.

[Urbannizer]

Photolitherland

[lockmat]

a really nice rendering i have not seen before:

http://www.gensler.com/#aboutus/news/pressreleases/79

[rsb320]

They've started installing the cladding on the skybridge to the Wortham. It looks like stainless steel with slits in it.

It sounds like this will wrap up in the next couple of month. I saw a construction worker in my parking garage the other day. He said he was installing mirrors inside and was to finish by this weekend.

On another note (I'm not sure if this is worthy of a new topic). Just across I-10, on the northern bank of White Oak Bayou, there is a rectangular piece land on the bank that has been stripped. Anybody got any idea what's going on over there?

[barracuda]

A few photos from today.

Not quite as pretty on the windowless east side.

[bachanon]

curious as to why one side is completely windowless. it's an attractive building and then.....nothing on that side.

[houstonartstudent]

Does it go all the way to the corner? Or is there room for a potential parking garage or additional building?

[ttuchris]

curious as to why one side is completely windowless. it's an attractive building and then.....nothing on that side.

I believe that side faces an undeveloped lot. Who knows what will be built there and when. If someone wants to build a high-rise there, the windows would have to be covered up.

[rsb320]

curious as to why one side is completely windowless. it's an attractive building and then.....nothing on that side.

I remember reading that the Ballet sold back half the block to the developer (cut-backs or something). I'm curious what they'll finish those Georgia-Pacific board walls with. Maybe murals of giant ballet dancers or something.

[Houston19514]

I remember reading that the Ballet sold back half the block to the developer (cut-backs or something). I'm curious what they'll finish those Georgia-Pacific board walls with. Maybe murals of giant ballet dancers or something.

I don't think it had anything to do with cutbacks. And they did not sell it "back" to the developer. They bought the whole block downtown and then sold 1/2 of it in a package deal with their existing property on West Gray. I think the ballet just did not need the whole block.

[ricco67]

This hasn't been getting that much attention, but I had a little spare time to bring you these photos:

[Highway6]

Turning out pretty nice.

[fatesdisastr]

Besides that windowless side, it really is an awesome addition to downtown.

[rsb320]

What is going on with Congress St. just north of the Ballet Bldg? They've ripped out the bridge.

[LTAWACS]

I believe that side faces an undeveloped lot. Who knows what will be built there and when. If someone wants to build a high-rise there, the windows would have to be covered up.

the building looks good.

as far as the windowless side... someone should really building a nice glass tower there so it can help cover this bland side up.

[fatesdisastr]

What is going on with Congress St. just north of the Ballet Bldg? They've ripped out the bridge.

Isn't this area between the Ballet building and the bayou where the Boyle Hotel once stood?

Edited March 2, 2011 by fatesdisastr

[livincinco]

I drove by this building on Thursday night and there were several performers warming up in the practice rooms. Very cool..

[Jax]

Cool, you can see them practicing from the street?

[livincinco]

Cool, you can see them practicing from the street?

Yes - when you exit from I-10, you can look straight into the practice rooms while you're at the stoplight. They have barres mounted against the windows. I think it's a brilliant way to advertise the ballet and a great visual reminder of the cities' commitment to the arts.

[Tumbleweed_Tx]

the Grand Opening is April 9

http://www.houstonballet.org/CenterForDance/

[lockmat]

Will they have a performance that day? They don't have anything scheduled for that day unless it's by invitation only.

[Jax]

Yes - when you exit from I-10, you can look straight into the practice rooms while you're at the stoplight. They have barres mounted against the windows. I think it's a brilliant way to advertise the ballet and a great visual reminder of the cities' commitment to the arts.

Very cool! I'm going to look out for that next time I'm in the area.

[Highway6]

The Chronicle had an article on the building this morning - http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/7512279.html

There will be a ribbon cutting and open-house for the public this Saturday.

The following was nice to see, it appears the City, Buffalo Bayou Partnership, and Gensler were all working pretty close together on this one -

After the construction of the Congress street bridge along the building's north side is finished, stairs will connect the center to a new path alongside Buffalo Bayou.

That may seem insignificant, but the collaboration between Gensler and the Buffalo Bayou Partnership is "hugely important" in the scheme of how cities connect, suggests Downtown District executive director Bob Eury.

Without that stairway, he said, the opportunity to extend the bayou-scape that now dead-ends at Baker Common, the verdant tip of Sesquicentennial Park, would have been lost.

[bachanon]

so the ballet owned the other half of the block, sold it with the expectation of parking via a condo developer. condo developer out, now atlanta based bank owns what is now surface parking. i wonder what will become of the lot.

[livincinco]

Nice article in Culturemap on the new ballet building including an interview with the architect.

http://houston.culturemap.com/newsdetail/04-09-11-in-and-outs-of-the-new-houston-ballet-center-for-dance-from-architect-marshall-strabala/

Per the architect:

On the east side, you may notice a very simple wall that's planned to be a parting wall. There's planned to be a 20- to 30-story residential tower on that neighboring site by an Atlanta developer.

[citizen4rmptown]

I know this is an old thread, but the recent houston flickrstream shows a lot of good images of this building, I'd say it was a pretty good design that culminated quite nicely.

Downtown Houston, Texas by marideab photography, on Flickr

Downtown Houston, Texas by marideab photography, on Flickr

Downtown Houston, Texas by marideab photography, on Flickr

[asubrt]

That top picture is incredible. I love how clear everything is after a storm.

Are there any updates on the residential tower that was possibly going in next to this on the same block? This building looks great except for the side that would be facing the tower, which is incredibly boring.