How long has that power station been there? Never have seen it when driving around downtown. It's really awful.

Not sure how long, my guess would be about 10 years. They do a SOMEWHAT decent job of covering it up at ground level with the high walls and surrounding trees.

Photos from today

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3366/...839b3180_o.jpg
Mainplace

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3397/...32ef7920_o.jpg
Hess

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3626/...e0bd2de1_o.jpg
Mainplace

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3618/...bf8a927d_o.jpg
Mainplace

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3583/...1cde5b25_o.jpg
I forget the name of this tower but its new and its the one in the background, the tan one with the terrible looking crown.

Well, I wont be back in town for a few more months again :(
Back to redneckville arkansas for now to do some chemistry. I cant wait to see Mainplace, ES, and Discovery Tower when I come back though!

^ memorial herman professional building. i just noticed 2nd baptist church in that pics (in the middle). where did you take that from?

btw, bill white is gettin' fat.

I took three of those photos from the Harris County Criminal Court Building. It has a free observation deck sort of thing at the top as does that building with the ugly round copula.

Loved the Med Center shot

really nice shots... buttt I hate all of those parking lots by the court house

www.thedomemovie.com

http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/story?se...cal&id=6834828


Studio plans Astrodome documentary Wednesday, May 27, 2009 | 3:47 PM HOUSTON

(KTRK) -- The company that wants to use the Astrodome as a movie studio has announced their first film project.

Astrodome Studios Productions, a division of Astrodome Studios, the proposed motion picture production facility for the re-use of the Houston Astrodome, has partnered with documentarians Chip Rives and David Karabinas to produce the company's first project, The Dome, a history of the legendary Eighth Wonder of the World itself. A trailer of the work, featuring President George H.W. Bush, Dan Pastorini, Bum Phillips, Nolan Ryan, Dene Hofheinz Anton and former mayor Fred Hofheinz, will debut Thursday evening, May 28, 6:30 PM, at the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston, 5216 Montrose. The filmmakers will be in attendance.

Astrodome Studios development partner J.L. Trahan was extremely supportive of the company's choice for their first film saying, "When astrodome studios founders Elise Hendrix and Cynthia Neely introduced me to The Dome movie creators, Chip Rives and David Karabinas, I couldn't have been more pleased. Like everyone that sees their trailer, I was moved emotionally and knew we would all work well together. It's a perfect match of like-minded teams working together to not only tell an important story, but also to bring about the best outcome for Harris County taxpayers and their beloved Astrodome."

Rives and Karabinas have won more than 20 Emmy Awards for their documentaries about many of sport's most amazing athletes. Both native Houstonians, currently residing in Austin, Rives and Karabinas have a profound admiration for the building that changed the worlds of both architecture and sports forever. In an age of monolithic retractable roofs, corporate luxury boxes, and multi-story high-definition "Godzilla-tron" screens, it's easy to forget where it all began. The producers and Astrodome Studios Productions will refresh those memories in grand style with "The Dome." To view the trailer on-line visit www.thedomemovie.com.

The May 28 screening of the trailer at the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston is part of an exhibition featuring two rarely seen documentaries about the Astrodome. Artist/curator Andrea Grover will present Geoff Winningham's 1975 film "The Pleasures of this Stately Dome" and the 1974 documentary "The Lord of the Universe," which chronicles the guru Maharaj Ji's appearance at the Dome and the much-hyped event, Millennium '73.

Astrodome Studios is a concept to transform the Houston Astrodome into a state-of-the-art film/video/sound production facility that would establish a center of commerce for the creation of moving image products in Texas. The project has been officially presented to Harris County officials and is under review.

Currently, Texas does not have a mega-sized soundstage facility. New legislation was recently passed that will be driving more production business to the state. If approved, the Dome's famous ball field would become the world's largest soundstage, an indoor "back lot," vast enough to build sets of whole towns unaffected by weather or time of day or night. Former concourse areas would be used for smaller soundstages, production offices, and offer tenant space to companies with industry-related services and equipment. Divisions of Astrodome Studios include Astrodome Studios Productions and museums for the histories of the Texas film industry and the Astrodome

^^^
Holy shit! That would be awesome! Whatever happened to that thing with making the astrodome into an indoor hotel/mall thing? I guess that fell through. Im glad though because this sounds like a way better use for it.

There has'nt been anything new on the proposed hotel for the astrodome since late last year. I also agree that this movie studio would be better for the Astrodome.

2008 allowed for two different visits to Houston. The first time I stayed at the JW Marriott by the Galleria. The second time had me at the Four Seasons downtown. Being from "Nobody Walks in LA" country, even I was astounded by the empty sidewalks, plazas begging for people. Where was everyone?

Sitting in traffic?

Possibly in the underground tunnel system.

:banana: The new Outpatient Care building has blue lighting!

http://www.instacam.com/instacamimg/khout/khout_l.jpg

yayy i saw that on my way back home from 59 south
I can't wait till downtown gets light up again, :)

wait why or how did the picture change? hmmm

Its the KHOU Webcam, if yu post a image that used their webcam, it will change. i do'nt know how but its kinda cool.

A couple quick photos of Main Place from today. They are starting to put glass up. Looks Very Nice...

http://i411.photobucket.com/albums/p...01/mp0605b.jpg

http://i411.photobucket.com/albums/p...01/mp0605a.jpg

:wizard:

Reply to Von
 

I hate to tell you this Von, but the nighttime skyline will not get much brighter than it is now. Most of the owners of the downtown skyscrapers have committed to energy reduction and one of the first things the owners did was to turn off the decorative lighting on the buildings. I am personally disappointed in their decisions to eliminate those lights, but in a progressive city such as ours change is inevitable. Hopefully one day these owners realize that our downtown looks like a ghost town and turn the lights back on. There is more information on the project to save energy downtown at this site. http://www.houston.org/lights-out-houston/

Thanks Complex01. The Glass looks awesome. :banana:

:rolleyes:

If Houston was truly progressive, it wouldn't look like what it does.

A truly progressive city would innovate and come up with green ideas to keep the exterior lighting on in downtown. LEDs are not that expensive and are utilized in many other cities. Houston does not have to use incandescent lightbulbs or argon/neon that Texas cities are so fond of to light the skyline during the evening hours...

I would hope the next time any of those buildings go through a renovation that they'd make the switch to LEDs. The Tower of the Americas in San Antonio went through one a little over a year ago, and they completely replaced all the exterior lights with LEDs. They even added more lighting to the tower than was there before and it looks so much better. Besides using less electricity and lasting longer, they also produce very little heat so they're also safer.

At least a few of the new buildings in Austin have used LEDs, and the ones that have look quite nice.

We still have buildings that use incandescent bulbs and neon of course. As much as I love the look of neon lights, they don't last long enough, especially for exterior lighting that can sometimes be exposed to the brunt of the elements. One building in Austin in particular, One Congress Plaza, has blue neon lights on the setbacks. The lights are constantly burning out. We had a strong line of storms that came through last year in May, and it busted out a lot of the neon lights on that building. They replaced them all a short time later, and now more of them are burned out.

As for the heat and safety issue, two of the minor high rise fires that have happened in Austin in recent years were caused by exterior lights.

I'm glad Houston isn't "progressive" (another buzz word people like to use), Dallas's skyline looks gaudy at night. What other Texas cities are lite up during the evening hours?

.

Really? I haven't been to Austin in a month but I don't recall lots of neon and brightly colored lights. I'll have to look at some photos in the other forums.

^ http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3271/...fd2a515c_b.jpg
Adrian World

.

Menil Expansion from HAIF...

Mansilon and Tunon proposal (tower boxed in r-e-d).
http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/m.../Landscape.jpg

http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/m..._institute.jpg

http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/m...auditorium.jpg




Herreros Arquitecos MasterPlan proposal

http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/m.../000_menil.gif

http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/m.../001_menil.jpg

http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/m...7/02_menil.gif

http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/m...7/03_menil.jpg

http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/m...004a_menil.gif

http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/m...7/06_menil.gif

http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/m...7/09_menil.gif

http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/m...7/11_menil.jpg

Europa at Houstonian Lakes
 

Europa at Houstonian Lakes, a 500-acre master planned community. LandQuest development group (or L Star, they've recently partnered with Starwood development) is the developer. If built, it will be located ssw of the Reliant Stadium.

http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/m...ckYah57/22.jpg

http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/m...ckYah57/23.jpg

http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/m...ckYah57/25.jpg


http://www.enzoinv.com/brochure/brochure.htm (pg. 20-23)

are they going to raze those gray houses surrounding the menil to make way for that?

L.E.D. lights
 

to Optimus Prime and Kevin from Texas;

The L.E.D. idea is great, the L.E.D. lights take up very little electricity and they are much brighter than traditional bulbs. The medical center has several buildings with L.E.D. lighting and the area looks awesome at night. The Mosaic towers on 288 are great examples of L.E.D. lighting done right. The towers each have two rows of colored L.E.D. lights on each floor going up. Going back to the downtown towers, maybe the new towers going up will be lit up. In the renderings for Main Place and the Hess Tower; they show the buildings lit up on the top floors. The Reliant energy plaza, Chase tower, Wells Fargo tower, Heritage plaza, and the WEDGE tower are the buildings that I would like to see lit up at night again. The Wells Fargo tower has a small section of neon that is on but the rest of the "halo" has been out for over a year now.

They look like future ghetto. How many public housing projects are planned to be nearly identical modern buildings with nice lawns around them and end up looking horrible in 20 years.

More renderings of regent square

http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/m...ondo-view1.jpg

http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/m...7/rs-view8.jpg

http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/m...ondo_hero1.jpg

http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/m...ew10_small.jpg

Link

niceee!! short but sleek tower!

Wow, those renderings look delicious. :cool: :notacrook: :banana:

Definitely impressive, but has the financing been lined up?

Man I hope that gets off the ground. I mean I REALLY hope it gets off the ground. How far along is it happening in the stages? I would really love to see this happen for Houston. This along with West Ave are very impressive projects inside the loop in Houston.

"Europa at Houstonian Lakes, a 500-acre master planned community. LandQuest development group (or L Star, they've recently partnered with Starwood development) is the developer. If built, it will be located ssw of the Reliant Stadium."

On Holmes Road.

Maybe I'm not visioning it right, but it's out in the middle of nowhere and doesn't really look like anything else in the neighborhood.

As for the Menil proposals, those boxy little midrises caught my eye. They look very European. I assume all residences?

Regent square renderings look awesome. Very Kewl...

:wizard:

It is with much sadness that i must say these will be my last pics of Houston. I am moving back to San Antonio and not at all happy about it. But hopefully it will only be temporary and i will find my way to some place else. It is exciting and yet frightful, but that's life. Please keep updating on all the great projects. Houston is a city like no other, and i will never forget it.

Best,

Andy...


I give you my last photos. Please Enjoy...

http://i411.photobucket.com/albums/p...2501/mp06f.jpg

http://i411.photobucket.com/albums/p...2501/mp06e.jpg

http://i411.photobucket.com/albums/p...2501/mp06d.jpg

http://i411.photobucket.com/albums/p...2501/mp06c.jpg

http://i411.photobucket.com/albums/p...2501/mp06a.jpg

DT rising in the distance...

http://i411.photobucket.com/albums/p...friends06a.jpg

http://i411.photobucket.com/albums/p...2501/dt06f.jpg

http://i411.photobucket.com/albums/p...2501/dt06e.jpg

http://i411.photobucket.com/albums/p...2501/dt06c.jpg

http://i411.photobucket.com/albums/p...2501/mp06b.jpg

http://i411.photobucket.com/albums/p...2501/DT06a.jpg

:cool:

Main Place glass looks greyish...I like i!

I don't think so.

They are waiting until Oct(?) 2010 to start construction.

Sorry your leaving to S.A Complex01, its a great city though hope you enjoy your time there and come back to visit Houston soon! Thanks for the update!

They may not have secured financing for Regent, but they're is a big step being taken by the city in offering I think a $17 million dollar tax break to get the project up and running. I saw two stories about it one of KHOU and the other in the Chronicle.

Great updates Complex and I'm sorry that you are leaving Houston!

Posted by DallasScape on his trip to Houston:
http://www.farscapefantasy.com/DFW/Houston/14.jpg

New Rendering of Five Allen Center

http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/m...enCenter-1.jpg

http://library.corporate-ir.net/library/91...ch2009FINAL.pdf

New renderings of EarthQuest
http://www.houstonarchitecture.com/h...3_64_71721.jpg

http://www.houstonarchitecture.com/h...3_64_49359.jpg

http://www.houstonarchitecture.com/h...23_64_6601.jpg

http://www.houstonarchitecture.com/h...3_64_24356.jpg

That is one ambitious project. Hope that gets off the ground and I hope it's sooner than later.

Yep

LED's & Fiber Optics are the way to go now days. We're starting to use LED's as neon replacement on our buildings here in Tyler out of all places which hasn't had its downtown buildings lit up in a long, long time...at least 20 years. Hopefully by the end of the summer we'll have Tyler's downtown skyline lit up pretty good. The Plaza Tower, Tyler's tallest at almost 300 ft. just got outlined in red LED's, next is the old Petroleum Building hopefully *crosses fingers* :tup:

Wells Fargo's neon was more than likely damaged from Ike & the owners either A. have not clue a small portion of it is still lit or B. they do know & don't care to do anything about it. Houston has so much potential its unreal. Too bad the building owners don't feel as strongly about their city's night time skyline as we do.

Dallas & Austin are doing an excellent job with their night skylines as usual.