Houston CultureMap contributor Barbara Kuntz collected all the project proposals the website covered in 2014 and recapped four daring developments that could alter the cultural landscape in Bayou City:
Â
A New Swimming Hot Spot
In December, three entrepreneurs proposed a natural public swimming pool in Houston, Kuntz reports. Today, the project already has more than 270 backers making pledges on the project’s Kickstarter page. The project is also receiving support from civic leaders and organizations, including the Buffalo Bayou Partnership, the Greater East End District, the city of Houston Sustainability Office, and the Shell Center for Sustainability at Rice University.
Grand Texas: The Lone Star State’s New Entertainment District
Back in 2013, developer Monty Galland announced that the Grand Texas theme park is just a single component of a larger plan that involves 450,000 sf for retail, dining, an RV area, and a 6,000-seat stadium for minor league baseball games. As of last fall, bulldozers have started clearing out space on the site along Highway 59. By 2020, officials expect 4.5 million annual visitors to this theme park district.
Farming in the Astrodome
The Urban Land Institute presented what Kuntz called an “ambitious plan” to repurpose the iconic stadium after Houston voters rejected a $217 million bond to transform it into a special events center. This plan involves constructing an oak-lined promenade from the METRO light rail station to the Astrodome, where the space could be used for functions including a park, sustainable farm, farmer’s market, festivals, and museums. The dome’s top area would include a vieweing area with zip-lining, hike-and-bike trails, and indoor rock climbing.
Memorial Park Long-Range Master Plan
This April, the final design for Houston’s Memorial Park goes before the Houston city council for consideration. The so-called Long-Range Master Plan by Thomas Woltz, principal with Nelson Byrd Woltz Landscape Architects, highlights updates from public input, such as 8.5 miles of mountain bike trails and 17 miles of paved walkways for bikers and pedestrians.
Related Stories
| Dec 29, 2014
Reef Worlds to build world’s largest underwater theme park for luxury resort [BD+C's 2014 Great Solutions Report]
Dubai is known for its gargantuan commercial building projects. The latest to be proposed is the world’s largest underwater theme park, designed and built by Reef Worlds. The project was named a 2014 Great Solution by the editors of Building Design+Construction.
| Dec 29, 2014
New data-gathering tool for retail designers [BD+C's 2014 Great Solutions Report]
Beacon technology personalizes smartphone messaging, creating a new information resource for store designers. It was named a 2014 Great Solution by the editors of Building Design+Construction.
| Dec 29, 2014
Leo A Daly's minimally invasive approach to remote field site design [BD+C's 2014 Great Solutions Report]
For the past six years, Leo A Daly has been designing sites for remote field stations with near-zero ecological disturbance. The firm's environmentally delicate work was named a 2014 Great Solution by the editors of Building Design+Construction.
| Dec 29, 2014
Wearable job site management system allows contractors to handle deficiencies with subtle hand and finger gestures [BD+C's 2014 Great Solutions Report]
Technology combines a smartglass visual device with a motion-sensing armband to simplify field management work. The innovation was named a 2014 Great Solution by the editors of Building Design+Construction.Â
| Dec 29, 2014
From Ag waste to organic brick: Corn stalks reused to make construction materials [BD+C's 2014 Great Solutions Report]
Ecovative Design applies its cradle-to-cradle process to produce 10,000 organic bricks used to build a three-tower structure in Long Island City, N.Y. The demonstration project was named a 2014 Great Solution by the editors of Building Design+Construction.
| Dec 29, 2014
14 great solutions for the commercial construction market
Ideas are cheap. Solutions are what count. The latest installment in BD+C's Great Solutions series presents 14 ways AEC professionals, entrepreneurs, and other clever folk have overcome what seemed to be insoluble problems—from how to make bricks out of agricultural waste, to a new way to keep hospitals running clean during construction.
| Dec 29, 2014
HealthSpot station merges personalized healthcare with videoconferencing [BD+C's 2014 Great Solutions Report]
The HealthSpot station is an 8x5-foot, ADA-compliant mobile kiosk that lets patients access a network of board-certified physicians through interactive videoconferencing and medical devices. It was named a 2014 Great Solution by the editors of Building Design+Construction.
| Dec 28, 2014
Robots, drones, and printed buildings: The promise of automated construction
Building Teams across the globe are employing advanced robotics to simplify what is inherently a complex, messy process—construction.
BIM and Information Technology | Dec 28, 2014
The Big Data revolution: How data-driven design is transforming project planning
There are literally hundreds of applications for deep analytics in planning and design projects, not to mention the many benefits for construction teams, building owners, and facility managers. We profile some early successful applications. Â
| Dec 28, 2014
AIA course: Enhancing interior comfort while improving overall building efficacy
Providing more comfortable conditions to building occupants has become a top priority in today’s interior designs. This course is worth 1.0 AIA LU/HSW.
