19th Street, photos by Heather Korb
In this Hear Our Houston audio tour and contribution to Unexpected City, documentary filmmaker Heather Korb acquaints us with some of the Heights’ charm. This one way, looped route is as packed as 19th Street itself with recommendations, introductions to the locals, and interesting tidbits of both historic interest and everyday fabulousness.
The SoHo of Houston: 19th Street (mp3, 9.6 MB)
by Heather Korb
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In this Hear Our Houston audio tour and contribution to Unexpected City, Artist Ayanna Jolivet McCloud takes a walk through the Third Ward where she grew up taking art classes and now runs her own experimental art space, labotanica, at 2316 Elgin, just beneath the historic El Dorado Ballroom. In Jolivet’s words “labotanica responds to the need to have super diverse, flexible, forward-thinking and community-driven platforms for the arts,” a relevant thought in the Third Ward as you pass by Project Row Houses, an internationally recognized model of art in community development. McCloud appreciates the Southern pace and tradition of porch sitting while making her way to S.H.A.P.E. Community Center where she grew up as a Summer program attendee and student in West African dance classes. Be sure to stop in for a delicious healthy meal or fresh smoothie at The Vegan Cafe inside S.H.A.P.E. Center. Listen by clicking on the link below:
Third Ward El Dorado to SHAPE Centerby Ayanna Jolivet McCloud
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In this series, Christof Spieler gives a daily report on his trip to China for a special issue of Cite. Read more about RDA’s China initiative here, which includes a knockout lecture series in the Fall.
Beijing South is an immaculate and well-organized high speed rail station as you’ll ever see. This is the Beijing hub for high speed rail, including the new line to Shanghai. It’s a shiny new building, completed in 2008. It’s a perfect oval in plan, though that’s best appreciated in satellite photos, not in person. Two concourses — one below the rail tracks and one above them — connect to bus terminals, taxi lanes, underground parking and a subway station. Inside, there are ticket offices, waiting areas decorated with palms, and retail — food, books, gifts — catering to travelers.
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In this Hear Our Houston audio tour and contribution to Unexpected City, Musician Pete Gordon takes us on a looped walk around Midtown where he has owned and operated The Continental Club for ten years. 3700 Main used to be a general store in the 1920s and is now a thriving music venue and bar run by Pete, who loves preserving the old architecture while importing some of Austin’s quirkiness after the original Continental Club. I personally recommend stopping by on a Monday night to hear the masterful contemporary tango composer and piano man Glover Gill. Sink into a Southern pace and the pats of Pete’s cowboy boots while he recalls the area’s evolution over the past ten years, marvels at his favorite buildings, and hopes for preservation of historic architecture moving forward. Listen by clicking on the link below:
Midtown by Pete Gordon
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In this series, Christof Spieler gives a daily report on his trip to China for a special issue of Cite. Read more about RDA’s China initiative here, which includes a knockout lecture series in the Fall.
Right next to the office towers of the CBD is another world of back alleys, lined with older, smaller buildings, some six stories tall, some only one. These are not the historic Hutongs — this land was not even part of the city 50 years ago. But they retain some of the same spirit. The roads are narrow. Gates open onto walled courtyards. The stores are small. The buildings feel lived in. Cars, bikes, mopeds, and pedestrians mix freely. There’s a remarkable urban life here, sometimes directly across the street from the granite drives and manicured lawns of office towers.
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In this series, Christof Spieler gives a daily report on his trip to China for a special issue of Cite. Read more about RDA’s China initiative here, which includes a knockout lecture series in the Fall.
At times, Chinese urban planning circa 2000 seems like American urban planning circa 1970. This is Jianwai SOHO, completed 2005, with 7.5 million square feet of retail and residential on 42 acres in Beijing’s CBD area. One level is reserved for pedestrians and retail; access roads, parking, loading docks are placed below, and 2,110 residential units occupy a series of matching towers above. It’s like Embarcadero Center in San Francisco or Peachtree Center in Atlanta, only bigger. (That analogy seems all the more relevant since John Portman & Associates, who designed both of those complexes, have done multiple major projects in China, including a 3-tower complex next door to Jianwai Soho.)
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In this series, Christof Spieler gives a daily report on his trip to China for a special issue of Cite. Read more about RDA’s China initiative here, which includes a knockout lecture series in the Fall.
The first impression of central Beijing, emerging from the subway station at Chongwenmen, is one of massive scale. Here, the street (an arterial, not a freeway) has frontage roads. At Tian’amen Square (above) Chairman Mao looks out over 18 lanes of traffic at grade; pedestrians must go down the stairs to cross underneath. Westheimer looks like a side street by comparison. At this size, streets become major obstacles. Crossing on foot takes some courage, especially since pedestrians are expected to yield to cars, bikes, mopeds, and buses. At major intersections, orange-vested traffic wardens try (to varying degrees of success) to keep order. I get a sense that the city has been reshaped to fit cars — and, judging from the speed of traffic, that the attempt has not entirely succeeded.
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Shenzhen Central Business District, photo from Wikipedia
Mind-blowing statistics about China’s urban growth abound. Here’s one. Shenzhen grew from a small town of about 300,000 to over 14 million in just 30 years, making its sister city, Houston, look like a stone on the side of the highway. How can we make sense of numbers like that? Several great books, including Thomas Campanella’s The Concrete Dragon, have brought in-depth analysis to the destruction of China’s classical and vernacular architectures, and the resistance that destruction engendered. In glossy design magazines, we see skyscrapers and highways jammed with traffic, evoking both contempt and envy. China is outdoing the United States at our own excesses.
More recently, the Chinese government and firms working there have argued that new projects engage traditional styles and preservation in innovative ways, and that pedestrian-friendly place-making take precedence. Most publications, however, only provide a cursory look at China from above. Reviews focus on the most expensive, highest profile, star-architect-designed projects. What is happening beyond the frame of the Bird’s Nest beauty shots?
Cite and OffCite are sending Christof Spieler, one of Houston’s brightest minds, to China to report on the ground. Spieler is an award-winning engineer, Rice School of Architecture lecturer, and METRO Board Member. Over the next two weeks, Spieler will be traveling from Beijing to Hong Kong, riding the world’s fastest high-speed rail along the way. Stay tuned to OffCite for a series of posts by Spieler as records his thoughts.
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