Archive for May 2009

Houston Needs a Mountain by Lysle Oliveros, recipient of a Rice Design Alliance Initiatives for Houston Grant

  • Raj Mankad
  • May. 31, 2009
  • 12:07 AM

Houston Needs a Mountain

This project was Lysle Oliveros’s 2009 Masters Thesis project. The concept originated as a point of humor during a dinner party. “I asked my neighbor if he recently mulched the yard (due to a pungent odor), and he replied that the smell was from a local landfill established previous to the housing development.”

more >


"Bicycle Freedom," an art work made from Hurricane Ike debris by Nicholas Auger and hung on the Hazard street bridge over I-59

  • Colin Tangeman
  • May. 30, 2009
  • 12:38 AM

Shedding the Training Wheels: Houston Bikeway Plan Phase Two

In Amsterdam, Berlin, or Shanghai, masses of men, women, and children bicycling together would be nothing unusual. Why not Houston? Though the climate and flat terrain are ideal for bicycling, inadequate accommodations on Houston’s abundant roadways limit their use by “vehicular cyclists.”

An update of the City of Houston’s comprehensive Bikeway Plan is under way to boost Houston’s efforts to become a bicycling-friendly community.

more >


Possible site of future "gateway" to the Menil, Richmond Hall (left) and the Richmont Square Apartments (right) at the corner of Loretto and Richmond [Photo Raj Mankad]

  • Raj Mankad
  • May. 29, 2009
  • 9:43 AM

Chipperfield and the Menil Masterplan: An Interview with Josef Helfenstein

In the May issue of Cite (78), Marc El-Khouri wrote about the recently announced selection of David Chipperfield Architects by the Menil Collection to create a new master plan. You can download a pdf of the article by clicking on the title, “Art Urbanism: Chipperfield and the Menil Master Plan.” Below is my interview of Josef Helfenstein, director of the Menil.

Raj Mankad (RM): How would you describe the currents stage of the master planning process?

more >


Cite 78, May 2009 [Facade detail of Wyly Theatre cover photo by Jason Grant, nostalgicglass.org]

  • Rafael Longoria and Michelangelo Sabatino
  • May. 29, 2009
  • 6:07 AM

Cite 78: Texas Reaches for the Stars

Let’s start at the end. In order to set the context for the work featured in this issue, we asked Stephen Fox—the preeminent historian of Texas architecture—to trace the descent of architectural stars upon the state. His essay on the last page of this issue reveals just the tip of the iceberg. Visit his post on this blog for a comprehensive list of projects built in Texas since 1886 by prominent architects from other parts of the world.

We visited Dallas and San Antonio to follow up on the latest batch of stars transforming the Texas landscape.

more >


Detail from the book cover [above], Elsie De Wolfe and a room designed by her [below, Wikimedia Commons]

  • Ben Koush
  • May. 28, 2009
  • 12:28 PM

Home, Workplace, and Identity

Since there are few serious studies of interior design, The Modern Interior, however slight and scantily illustrated, is a welcome addition to the library. Penny Sparke, an English critic, has written on the subject for several years, including Elsie De Wolfe: The Birth of Modern Interior Decoration (Acanthus Press, 2005). Sparke’s book is not a visual tour of modern interior design. Rather it describes the way people live in an industrialized world and identifies in different characters of the spaces they create for themselves the locus of the “modern life.”

more >


2009 art car parade passes by Federal Reserve Building designed by Michael Graves [Photo by SMercury98]

  • Raj Mankad
  • May. 26, 2009
  • 11:27 AM

Carnival: Headlines May 9 to 22

OffCite has been quiet the last couple of weeks because we have been so focused on getting the print magazine out. Looking back at the built environment headlines in the Chronicle, the biggest news came out of the carnivalesque Texas legislature where bills manifest out of nowhere or appear to be inevitable until the timer runs out on the absurdly short, once-every-two-years session. I’m excited that a bill protecting bicyclists and other vulnerable road users will likely become law. Together with this transportation column, there was some good reading about local bicycling in the paper.

Friday May 22

Fire at Gallery Furniture: McIngvale on site as furniture warehouse burns

Hurricane forecast is promising. After our pounding last year, expectations are for a normal season in ’09, with 9-14 named storms season: Question is, where?

more >


The above add is from the Burghli Homes website.

  • Raj Mankad
  • May. 11, 2009
  • 8:30 AM

Solar for the Masses: Headlines May 2 to 8

Solar-powered housing for the masses is happening in Houston. At least, it’s on Houston TV. Besides the above commercial for subsidized affordable housing built by Burghli Homes, there was a Fox News report on the Rice Solar Decathlon House that David Dewane wrote about on this blog here and was part of the RDA Small Houses Tour.

Friday May 8

HOUSTON PAVILIONS — Downtown project gets upbeat news: Bowling, Lucky Strike Lanes back on track after capital infusion
[Houston Chronicle] “The stylish bowling alley, bar and cafe concept was originally to open late last year, but in early February the company announced that the project had been put on hold due to a lack of financing. It is now scheduled to open in September.”

more >


April 28 scene at Katy Freeway (I-10) and Beltway 8 [Photograph by finna dat]

  • Raj Mankad
  • May. 2, 2009
  • 11:37 PM

Wet: Headlines April 25 to May 1

Besides fears of a flu epidemic, the biggest news of last week was the drought-ending torrential rain, which left behind sinkholes, flooded houses, stories of heroic rescues, and one dead motorist who was swept under the newly expanded I-10 into a drainage channel that was uncovered because of a drawn-out grating redesign.

Friday May 1

DUCK CREEK PARK? Bear Creek Park, Texas 6 still waterlogged by storm. Area could reopen early next week unless there’s another round of water: Overflow shunted into creek [Houston Chronicle] “An early-week deluge that dumped more than 7 inches of rain on northwest Harris County has driven the water in Addicks Reservoir to the second-highest level in the flood-control facility’s 61-year history, flooding area roadways and a county park.”

more >