Museum Of Fine Arts Houston At 1001 Bissonnet St.

[(Otto Mation)]

bill barfield has added a photo to the pool:

Steven Holl architect

View the full article

[(Otto Mation)]

bill barfield has added a photo to the pool:

Steven Holl architect

View the full article

[(Otto Mation)]

bill barfield has added a photo to the pool:

Steven Holl architect

View the full article

[Urbannizer]

Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. Kinder Building construction by bill barfield, on Flickr

[Urbannizer]

https://www.houstonchronicle.com/entertainment/arts-theater/article/when-does-the-new-mfah-kinder-building-open-14814071.php#photo-18567502

 

Forklifts beep non-stop, power tools whir, generators hum and hammers pound inside the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston’s newest building-to-be, echoing through the concrete walls with a sense of urgency.

 

There’s no time to waste. Museum director Gary Tinterow announced Wednesday that the Nancy and Rich Kinder Building will open to the public next fall.

[corbs315]

Yeah, the museum sent an email yesterday:

 

JUST ANNOUNCED The Susan and Fayez S. Sarofim Campus will be completed in fall 2020 with the opening of the Nancy and Rich Kinder Building Gary Tinterow, Director and Margaret Alkek Williams Chair, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, today announced that the institution’s multi-year project to expand and redevelop its Susan and Fayez S. Sarofim Campus will be completed in fall 2020 with the opening of the Nancy and Rich Kinder Building. With more than 100,000 square feet of space, or 56 percent, dedicated to the presentation of works of art, the Kinder Building increases overall MFAH exhibition space by nearly 75 percent.  A series of major site-specific commissioned artworks will be inaugurated with the Kinder Building, serving as portals that connect this new structure with the other components of the campus. Commissioned artists are El Anatsui, Byung Hoon Choi, Carlos Cruz-Diez, Olafur Eliasson, Trenton Doyle Hancock, Cristina Iglesias, and Ai Weiwei.

[X.R.]

I drive by this, and the Ion building, every day. Both have hit the overdrive button on working, 15+ people on site every morning doing various things when previously you would go a few days with very minimal movement on the site. The glass tube wrapping seems to now only have one large side and one tiny side left, when like in early September they had only done one side.

 

Probably good for the construction guys and gals, Christmas is coming and overtime sounds pretty good right now.

[Urbannizer]

http://www.allusanewshub.com/2019/11/07/steven-holl-designed-kinder-building-nears-completion-at-the-museum-fine-arts-houston/

 

 

 

 

 

[Avossos]

is this building... brutalist?

 

😲

[MarathonMan]

9 hours ago, Avossos said:

is this building... brutalist?

 

😲

I  don’t think the Kinder building is brutalist.  Whatever the style, though, I have to say that the overall aesthetic falls flat for me.  The tubes on the outside are not very striking (hopefully they’ll be lit well at night — the evening photos above offer SOME hope) and the most interesting lines are the curved contours on the roof, which you can’t see.  🤷🏻‍♂️  I think the new Denver Art Museum is a lot more bold.
 

IMHO the Glassell topples the Kinder Building aesthetically.  

[Angostura]

13 hours ago, Avossos said:

is this building... brutalist?

 

😲

 

I would say the glass-tube façade (covering most of the raw concrete) would rule out brutalism. Maybe deconstructivist, at least in the massing and roof line.

 

I hope I'm wrong, but I fear this building won't age well. There's still a lot of exposed raw concrete in the nooks and crannies, and these surfaces tend to stain and streak over time. It will also take a lot of maintenance to keep the backlit façade looking new.

 

 

3 hours ago, MarathonMan said:

I  don’t think the Kinder building is brutalist.  Whatever the style, though, I have to say that the overall aesthetic falls flat for me.  The tubes on the outside are not very striking (hopefully they’ll be lit well at night — the evening photos above offer SOME hope) and the most interesting lines are the curved contours on the roof, which you can’t see.  🤷🏻‍♂️  

 

It's another example of a building designed to be striking as a model or rendering (or as viewed from a passing helicopter, I guess). This is not uncommon when the main function of the design is to convince potential donors to build it. How the building will actually be perceived by visitors and passers-by is a secondary concern at best, and entirely irrelevant if the thing never gets built.

[Luminare]

2 hours ago, Angostura said:

 

I would say the glass-tube façade (covering most of the raw concrete) would rule out brutalism. Maybe deconstructivist, at least in the massing and roof line.

 

I hope I'm wrong, but I fear this building won't age well. There's still a lot of exposed raw concrete in the nooks and crannies, and these surfaces tend to stain and streak over time. It will also take a lot of maintenance to keep the backlit façade looking new.

 

 

 

It's another example of a building designed to be striking as a model or rendering (or as viewed from a passing helicopter, I guess). This is not uncommon when the main function of the design is to convince potential donors to build it. How the building will actually be perceived by visitors and passers-by is a secondary concern at best, and entirely irrelevant if the thing never gets built.

 

In general it would fall under the label of Post-Modernism, of which Steven Holl was most influenced by, and looking at other Steven Holl works, he has normally approached architecture from a deconstructionist angle. You are most likely right, I'm simply buttressing your argument with what Steven Holl has been historically, and how he has approached architecture historically.

[jmitch94]

4 hours ago, Angostura said:

How the building will actually be perceived by visitors and passers-by is a secondary concern at best, and entirely irrelevant if the thing never gets built.

 

 

It was designed to have as much natural light coming in from the ceiling to make the inside bright and airy. How the building is perceived by visitors was very much a concern. 

[Houston19514]

6 hours ago, Angostura said:

It's another example of a building designed to be striking as a model or rendering (or as viewed from a passing helicopter, I guess). This is not uncommon when the main function of the design is to convince potential donors to build it. How the building will actually be perceived by visitors and passers-by is a secondary concern at best, and entirely irrelevant if the thing never gets built.

 

2 hours ago, jmitch94 said:

It was designed to have as much natural light coming in from the ceiling to make the inside bright and airy. How the building is perceived by visitors was very much a concern. 

 

 

jmitch, you are correct.  Likewise, how the building will be perceived by passers-by was very much a primary concern.

[Angostura]

6 minutes ago, Houston19514 said:

 

 

 

jmitch, you are correct.  Likewise, how the building will be perceived by passers-by was very much a primary concern.

 

 

Yes, yes, I'm sure they thought about it. But all the press materials show the building as viewed by someone passing by 200 feet in the air.

[Houston19514]

2 hours ago, Angostura said:

 

 

Yes, yes, I'm sure they thought about it. But all the press materials show the building as viewed by someone passing by 200 feet in the air.

 

Even if true, that hardly demonstrates that little or no thought was given to how the building will be perceived by visitors or passers-by.  Sorry, but your initial claim was just false.

Edited November 8, 2019 by Houston19514

[Naviguessor]

I actually don't see a lot of renderings viewed from above, unless from the top of the Glassell School and that is from a viewers perspective.  Sure there are photos of models...but that is how people generally take photos of a models.  There are also some drone photos of the construction site, but they tell a construction story, not a portrayal experience.  

 

Do a simple google search " MFAH Kinder Rendering " and it is almost all from a grounded viewer's perspective. 

 

https://www.google.com/search?q=mfah+kinder+renderings&sxsrf=ACYBGNRlIkw2f9PSXkGNwTq-vZfnMeKhSw:1573249113475&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjE27TUydvlAhVJCKwKHZQYARkQ_AUIESgB&biw=1781&bih=879

[hindesky]

[hindesky]

[MidCenturyMoldy]

I was skeptical when I first saw the renderings and model...even when I saw the first glass tubes going up. Now I CAN'T WAIT for this sucker to be finished. 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited November 19, 2019 by MidCenturyMoldy

[Houston19514]

I walked around the building today.  It is coming together beautifully.  I love the effect the project is having on the sculpture garden and contrary to the hasty (mis)judgments rendered above and elsewhere on HAIF, the interaction with passers-by was clearly very high on the priority list for this design.  The public-facing sides (Montrose, Main and Binz) are probably at least 75% glass with, wide, sheltering overhangs.  Looking very inviting.

Edited November 19, 2019 by Houston19514

[MidCenturyMoldy]

2 minutes ago, Houston19514 said:

 I love the effect the project is having on the sculpture garden 

 

YES! Exactly my thoughts as well. 

[H-Town Man]

26 minutes ago, Houston19514 said:

I walked around the building today.  It is coming together beautifully.  I love the effect the project is having on the sculpture garden and contrary to the hasty (mis)judgments rendered above and elsewhere on HAIF, the interaction with passers-by was clearly very high on the priority list for this design.  The public-facing sides (Montrose, Main and Binz) are probably at least 75% glass with, wide, sheltering overhangs.  Looking very inviting.

 

lol, that comment seems to have really gotten to you! Keep it in its own thread... and grow a thicker skin. Not everyone will have the same aesthetic judgment.

 

[Houston19514]

It might be upthread somewhere, but I don't recall seeing this rendering before. 

 

 

[Houston19514]

 

[Houston19514]

[BeerNut]

15 hours ago, MidCenturyMoldy said:

 

 

 

 

These people are straight out of an artist render.

[Houston19514]

/\   No joke.  I totally thought it was a rendering the first couple times I looked at it.

[Luminare]

2 hours ago, BeerNut said:

 

These people are straight out of an artist render.

because @MidCenturyMoldy is clearly one that knows how to handle a camera. Great shots by the way. I can't wait to take some good architectural photography shots for myself once this is done. Especially at night.

[BeerNut]

2 minutes ago, Luminare said:

because @MidCenturyMoldy is clearly one that knows how to handle a camera. Great shots by the way. I can't wait to take some good architectural photography shots for myself once this is done. Especially at night.

 

The shots are great but this one photo checks all the boxes that renders usually have: compressed(to give it that off look), random couples, diversity, cool people in shades, people staring at stuff, kid(s) in fun poses...