Museum Of Fine Arts Houston At 1001 Bissonnet St.

[DarklyMoron]

On 11/15/2020 at 11:24 PM, rgarza said:

Unfortunately not. I worked for the subcontractor that installed the cool jacket tube glass, the clerestory glass, and the curtain walls around the building. 

Then you may be able to explain this fun little anomaly in the glass tubes. Is there any reason for the inverted corner, or is it just because?

[rgarza]

19 minutes ago, DarklyMoron said:

Then you may be able to explain this fun little anomaly in the glass tubes. Is there any reason for the inverted corner, or is it just because?

Oh, that was just to give us recurring nightmares and to look cool lol

[monarch]

 

^^^ @rgarza my pal, you didn't tell us about this drop dead gorgeous 215-seat auditorium/theater at the soon to open MFAH.  what a remarkably/beautiful addition.  i am still struggling with the overall exterior of this burgeoning and yet monumental MFAH structure.  upon my most honest personal opinion... i think that the exterior consisting of that GOD AWFUL frosted glass tubing... is the most UGLY/HORRIFIC THING EVER for a newly modern day constructed museum edifice that is costing in excess of ($475mm).  with a price tag that steep, EVERY ASPECT OF THIS remarkable edifice should be something that DREAMS ARE MADE OF.  nonetheless, let's talk about the INTERIOR design.  once again, upon my most personal view, in lieu of observing many of the posted illustrations throughout this burgeoning MFAH thread, the interior design looks like a small slice of PURE HEAVEN.  the billowing and barrel ceilings, the seemingly never-ending space, the pure and unadulterated opulence... like, everywhere you look.  the way that the ART SEEMS TO COME  TO LIFE throughout this magnificent structure, the SOOTHING and yet state-of-the-art LIGHTING EFFECTS throughout, and the seamless flow of pure/raw energy emanating from the MFAH staffers as they prepare this place for it's opening.     HOUSTON, is a very fair, and yet, hard working blue collar city.  it always has been.  however, upon your visit, this small slice of PURE HEAVEN... is going to catapult your very soul and overall well-being into the stratosphere...

[DarklyMoron]

6 hours ago, monarch said:

costing in excess of ($475mm). 

Construction overall was actually around $385 million and that includes the new gallery building, the school, the underground parking and the new state of the art conservation labs. They very wisely raised an additional $90 million to support an operational endowment. So this building is not just bought and paid for, but they’ve ensured that the additional expenses are covered in perpetuity. That’s 650,000 square feet of new construction. Compare that to LA’s plans to spend $750 million to replace 3 buildings At LACMA with 1 building AND end up with less space. $475 million is a lot of money, but they have spent it wisely.

[rgarza]

I would also add that I don’t think pictures really do this building justice. Until you’ve seen it in person, I wouldn’t rush to make any judgements. In every video I’ve seen, Mr. Holl waxes poetic about light being so important for his structures and it is absolutely true with this one. The building changes as the light changes. It looks different on a cloudy day versus a sunny one. Even the angle of the sunlight changing throughout the day creates subtle and (I think) beautiful differences from morning to evening. I may be biased because I’ve literally put blood, sweat, and tears into it, but I think this building is beautiful and has definitely been a once in a lifetime project for me. 

[DarklyMoron]

A tour of the new building with the museum's director, Gary Tinterow:

 

 

Edited November 20, 2020 by DarklyMoron
fix link

[jmitch94]

So pumped to see this amazing space in person. 

 

On 11/18/2020 at 11:15 PM, rgarza said:

 I may be biased because I’ve literally put blood, sweat, and tears into it, but I think this building is beautiful and has definitely been a once in a lifetime project for me. 

 

I've always thought of how cool it would be to work on such a iconic and lasting building like a famous museum. It will be even more special I imagine in 20, 30, 40 years to revisit it and know you had a hand in its assembly. 

[cloud713]

The building is amazing. I wish I had more time to take everything in, but I had to run. Next time.. 

The guide recommended we take the elevator to the top and work our way down. With the flow around the open central atrium and stairs, I couldn’t help but think of Wrights Guggenheim. 
The Kusama infinity room is closed right now. I heard multiple variations for why, from not being able to manage capacity while it’s busy during this free grand opening week(?), but “should be open after that”, to the unfortunately more likely reason, covid. 
The skylights in the tunnel between the Kinder and Glassell buildings were very Turrell-esque. The other tunnel towards the Law building was already getting blocked by people getting their picture taken, with the rainbow colored light filling the backdrop. 

I’d post pictures, but the file size limit is ridiculous.

 

Oh, the Glassell rooftop is still closed, but the new awning shade doesn’t look too bad from the ground level.

Edited November 21, 2020 by cloud713

[monarch]

^^^ nancy and rich kinder

 

^^^ @DarklyMoron @rgarza and to any other HAIF stalwarts that are associated to whatever degree... to the newest MFAH CROWN JEWEL now open within our fair city of houston, tx... CONGRATULATIONS!  thank you kindly for your hard work, constant insight and updates, and all around knowledgeable contributions to this burgeoning MFAH thread.  SALUTE!  

[zaphod]

This thing really looks best at night and the way the glow reflects on the trees....The glass tubes were a risk but it really is very beautiful.

[DarklyMoron]

A couple glowing reviews of the building:

Rice Design Alliance: https://www.ricedesignalliance.org/mfah-kinder

Wall Street Journal (paywall): https://www.wsj.com/articles/a-triumphant-user-friendly-addition-11605960002?st=mzq14ojca68nzbk

Excerpt from WSJ:

As a place for viewing art, and in terms of sheer sensational impact, the Kinder is a triumph. It is impressive by day or night, adroitly integrated into its site, and—best of all—designed with special consideration for the ease and comfort of its users. It is also uncommonly well detailed (Mr. McVoy told me that they made extensive use of large-scale study models, and it shows). In short, the building delivers all that was asked of it, in abundance.

Edited November 22, 2020 by DarklyMoron
typo

[hindesky]

I took a pic of 7 pools of water. The lattice roof on top of the Glassel looks finished.

[rechlin]

Went yesterday and it was amazing.  Very well done. The architecture, the exhibits, everything.  Here are some photos:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Houston19514]

https://www.texasmonthly.com/the-culture/at-the-museum-of-fine-arts-houston-an-impressive-new-exhibition-space-opens-amid-hard-times/

 

https://www.papercitymag.com/arts/mfah-kinder-building-opens-houston-art-museum-campus/#317622

 

https://preview.houstonchronicle.com/art-exhibits/here-s-everything-you-need-to-know-about-15737084

 

[hindesky]

https://news.artnet.com/art-world/mfa-houston-kinder-building-1924500

[Twinsanity02]

Realizing quantity is not the same as quality the MFAH at 300,000 ft² has surpassed the Art Institute of Chicago to become the second largest art museum in the U.S. and I believe the 8th largest world wide. No mean feat.

[cloud713]

How are y’all adding so many pictures to a post? The mobile site only lets me add 3 pictures from my phone before there’s no room left. The max file size for me says 7.31mb, which isn’t even 1/4th the file size for one jpeg picture from my actual camera..?

[Yoda]

12 minutes ago, cloud713 said:

How are y’all adding so many pictures to a post? The mobile site only lets me add 3 pictures from my phone before there’s no room left. The max file size for me says 7.31mb, which isn’t even 1/4th the file size for one jpeg picture from my actual camera..?

Upload your pictures to Imgur then right click the image and click "Copy Image Address" then paste that into your reply and it should automatically change the image address into the image itself.

 

[Houston19514]

https://www.metropolismag.com/architecture/cultural-architecture/steven-holl-kinder-building-mfah/pic/100335/

 

[H-Town Man]

It's curious that NY Times has not reviewed the architecture of this building. They did an article on the Latin American art, but no mention of the architecture. Their architecture critic, Michael Kimmelman, seems immersed in politics these days, judging by his Twitter feed.

 

[rgarza]

https://www.mfah.org/exhibitions/steven-holl-making-architecture

 

 

[DarklyMoron]

16 hours ago, H-Town Man said:

It's curious that NY Times has not reviewed the architecture of this building.

Kimmelman seems more interested in the anthropological aspects of architecture than architectural criticism. My bet is one of the art critics, like Roberta Smith, will cover it but mainly focusing on the installation. It would be nice to see more reviews of the building. Not many papers have architecture critics anymore. I grew up reading Thomas Hine in the Philadelphia Inquirer. The Chronicle has poor Molly Glentzer covering everything from art to ballet.

[H-Town Man]

36 minutes ago, DarklyMoron said:

Kimmelman seems more interested in the anthropological aspects of architecture than architectural criticism. My bet is one of the art critics, like Roberta Smith, will cover it but mainly focusing on the installation. It would be nice to see more reviews of the building. Not many papers have architecture critics anymore. I grew up reading Thomas Hine in the Philadelphia Inquirer. The Chronicle has poor Molly Glentzer covering everything from art to ballet.

 

Well, they did an article already on the installation. Weird that they don't have a normal architecture critic anymore. Typically whoever their critic was was de facto critic for the country. I guess Blair Kamin in Chicago would be the closest thing to that now?

 

[Texasota]

The Inquirer has Inga Saffron but I don't think she gets out of the Philly area that often.

[DarklyMoron]

19 minutes ago, Texasota said:

The Inquirer has Inga Saffron but I don't think she gets out of the Philly area that often.

All I can say about Inga Saffron is that she wrote a pretty negative review of the Kimbell's Renzo Piano addition a while back. When I met the Kimbell's director (and this was years later), he was still smarting from that review. 

[DarklyMoron]

1 hour ago, H-Town Man said:

Well, they did an article already on the installation.

I would call that a pre-opening feature on Mari Carmen and MFAH's prescience in collecting Latin American art. I would hope they'd do a real review of the entire Kinder installation. What will be interesting is their take on our representation of modern and contemporary art. Houston does not follow the modern art canon like Moma. Each department was essentially doing its own thing until this building brought them all together. So they sometimes complement one another, sometimes not. They may find it refreshing or jarring. We'll see.

[jermh]

This is a seriously cool expansion. I only made it up the first two floors, so I'll have to go back since I ran out of time.

 

TIP: I found out the hard way if you wear a backpack, they will make you wear it on your front or carry it by the handle.

 

 

 

Edited November 26, 2020 by jermh

[cloud713]

4 hours ago, jermh said:

This is a seriously cool expansion. I only made it up the first two floors, so I'll have to go back since I ran out of time.

 

TIP: I found out the hard way if you wear a backpack, they will make you wear it on your front or carry it by the handle.

 

 

 

Ah yeah, the backpack policy is pretty standard for museums. We asked the same when I worked at the Blaffer, assuming the person wasn't comfortable with us holding their bag up front. Surprisingly, not one person made a comment to me on Saturday about my camera bag/backpack.

[mkultra25]

20 hours ago, jermh said:

TIP: I found out the hard way if you wear a backpack, they will make you wear it on your front or carry it by the handle.

 

15 hours ago, cloud713 said:

Ah yeah, the backpack policy is pretty standard for museums. We asked the same when I worked at the Blaffer, assuming the person wasn't comfortable with us holding their bag up front. 

 

As I don't normally wear a backpack, I've never encountered this before. It was enough of a "wtf" moment that it sent me in search of the rationale behind such policies, at which point I discovered that they are indeed very common and make a lot of sense:

 

In US museums, why are backpacks only allowed to be carried on one shoulder?

[Houston19514]

Review from CITE Digital (Rice Design Alliance)