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Casa Di Modena: Residential Building At 145 W. Gray St.


hindesky

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4 hours ago, trymahjong said:

🥺geez.  .....please don't tell me, more concrete is the answer.....

Yes more concrete but utilized correctly. 

4 hours ago, Texasota said:

Eh, anything would be better than the "decorative" nonsense that's there now. Close the tiny bit of street that separates it from the apartments/restraurant and make it a usable space. Paving, seating, more trees...

It's so ugly . Even the one near Bagby is hideous. Perfect place of more pedestrian activity and instead it's a pile of dirt. I went ahead and sent the MMD an email regarding this and ways to improve these two medians. Right now they act as physical barriers to pedestrians more than anything,. 

Edited by j_cuevas713
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Good to see something finally happening there. I used to live a couple of blocks away. 
 

it would be cool if they used the 9 West Gray address. Maybe they can get it as a vanity address from USPS. Stranger requests have been granted. 
 

The green space should stay green. It's  good for slurping up storm water and cooling down the street.
 

I wish there were loss of neighborhood gardening clubs that could be given permission to maintain all these random slices of green all over the city. When they're done up nicely, they really add a lot to tree neighborhood. When they're left abandoned, they're just a trash magnet. 

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20 minutes ago, j_cuevas713 said:

Right now they act as physical barriers to pedestrians more than anything,. 

I think that's the point. The one along Bagby is designed to keep people from walking across an off-ramp and pushes them toward a protected intersection. I'm glad they're not planning any pedestrian improvements at this location because it's one distracted driver away from plowing through the upgrades and any people who might be using them. Though I'm not sure who would want to sit between two lanes of speeding traffic.

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12 minutes ago, phillip_white said:

  I'm not sure who would want to sit between two lanes of speeding traffic.

People sit at tables on sidewalks next to parking lots and pretend its "cafe dining" so I guess anything is possible. 

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30 minutes ago, phillip_white said:

I think that's the point. The one along Bagby is designed to keep people from walking across an off-ramp and pushes them toward a protected intersection. I'm glad they're not planning any pedestrian improvements at this location because it's one distracted driver away from plowing through the upgrades and any people who might be using them. Though I'm not sure who would want to sit between two lanes of speeding traffic.

And that's the problem, we keep catering to cars with this irrational fear of something bad happening. So it stops us from building the best city possible. Other cities don't seem to have this problem as much as we do and it's because they're forcing people to slow down. The more space you provide to pedestrians, cars will slow down. 

Edited by j_cuevas713
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19 hours ago, j_cuevas713 said:

we keep catering to cars with this irrational fear of something bad happening

♫ Because a virtual office
In a virtual home
Means you never have to drive
Through the wrong part of town.

Shut out the world.
It's getting worse.
Save yourself.
Don't leave the house. ♫

https://music.apple.com/us/album/pass-it-along-lp-version/1444056333?i=1444056843

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  • 2 months later...
1 minute ago, Amlaham said:

I think I found old renderings, thought it was very interesting since this same project (same name and address) was also on the Houston Planning commission in 2007 here: 

https://www.houstontx.gov/planning/Commissions/minutes_plan07/20070802.pdf 

https://www.condo.com/building/Casa-Di-Modena-HOUSTON-TX-77019-1683852

 

353446434_ScreenShot2023-06-13at3_11_26PM.png.2e8b70e0f8e64d269baaabfe4f80a9d7.png

Funky. Almost looks like it's in the same design/utility as the condos at where Westheimer becomes Elgin. 101 Westheimer. 

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On 4/11/2023 at 11:07 AM, j_cuevas713 said:

Yes more concrete but utilized correctly. 

It's so ugly . Even the one near Bagby is hideous. Perfect place of more pedestrian activity and instead it's a pile of dirt. I went ahead and sent the MMD an email regarding this and ways to improve these two medians. Right now they act as physical barriers to pedestrians more than anything,. 

I'm with Cuevas here. Forgive me for parrotting Chuck Marohn, but West Gray's maximal value at this point is in becoming a place in which it is pleasant to be (and spend money), not in maximizing the speed and capacity of cars passing through. 

(Obviously, there are roads where the calculus should be the opposite - Westpark comes to mind - but here I think the economics clearly favor the value of the place itself over the time it takes drivers to pass through).

To that end, the problem with eating "between lanes of speeding traffic" is the speeding traffic, not the eating. So that's the problem the city should be solving there.

Edited by 004n063
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  • The title was changed to Casa Di Modena: Residential Building At 145 W. Gray St.

^^^ upon referencing the aforementioned illustration, this development looks like something designed for the early eighties.  surely, they will re-approach this design... right?  i just cannot see this aging very well... my goodness.

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8 minutes ago, emmanume said:

I dig it!!

Yeah, I don't really hate it. There's a bit of a ski lodge / winery vibe that I don't love, but at least the corner engages with the street.

Now we just need to see something go up on the quarter-block lot at 225 W Gray and the full block at 255 W Gray.

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I actually like it. I’m not really getting 80s Postmodern vibes from it, though. Like something about it really screams early 2000s for me, architecturally. When I see 80s Postmodern I feel like the colors are much louder and the ornamentation is different, somehow?

Architecture nerds, plz don’t kill me. I’m just a layman

Also, if these are going to be condos, then that’s really great. I feel like Houston’s missing that middle-class condo segment that other cities have. 

Edited by BEES?!
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