The Museum of Fine Arts Houston’s redevelopment, budgeted for $450 million, is “buoyed by some of the largest donations in the city’s history,” the Houston Chronicle reported.
Two new buildings will be constructed, designed by Steven Holl Architects, to complement the existing structures. The new extension will be named the Fayez S. Sarofim Campus, after the Texas billionaire who donated $70 million for the project. Another hefty donation is the $50 million from the museum’s board chairman, Richard Kinder, and his wife, Nancy.
Holl designed the campus’ north side to be a pedestrian-centered cultural hub on a lively landscape with ample underground parking. One new structure planned, which the Chronicle dubbed the redevelopment’s “most prominent,” is the Nancy and Rich Kinder Building, a 164,000-sf, three-story structure shaped like a puzzle piece with a luminous canopy.
“It’s all about shaping space,” Holl told the Chronicle. “The collection of buildings there is already outstanding. It’s very delicate, not a site that calls for over-exuberance.”
More on the design at the Houston Chronicle.
Related Stories
| Sep 30, 2010
Luxury hotels lead industry in green accommodations
Results from the American Hotel & Lodging Association’s 2010 Lodging Survey showed that luxury and upper-upscale hotels are most likely to feature green amenities and earn green certifications. Results were tallied from 8,800 respondents, for a very respectable 18% response rate. Questions focused on 14 green-related categories, including allergy-free rooms, water-saving programs, energy management systems, recycling programs, green certification, and green renovation.
| Sep 22, 2010
Michael Van Valkenburg Assoc. wins St. Louis Gateway Arch design competition
Landscape architect Michael Van Valkenburgh and a multidisciplinary team of experts in “urban renewal, preservation, commemoration, social connections and ecological restoration” have been picked for the planning phase of The City+The Arch+The River 2015 International Design Competition.
| Sep 22, 2010
Satellier, Potential + Semac close investment deal
Satellier, a world leader in providing CAD and Building Information Modeling (BIM) outsourced services to the architecture, engineering and construction industry, announces a strategic minority investment from India-based top engineering firm Potential + Semac, ushering in the next evolution of the global architecture support industry.
| Sep 21, 2010
New BOMA-Kingsley Report Shows Compression in Utilities and Total Operating Expenses
A new report from the Building Owners and Managers Association (BOMA) International and Kingsley Associates shows that property professionals are trimming building operating expenses to stay competitive in today’s challenging marketplace. The report, which analyzes data from BOMA International’s 2010 Experience Exchange Report® (EER), revealed a $0.09 (1.1 percent) decrease in total operating expenses for U.S. private-sector buildings during 2009.
| Sep 21, 2010
Forecast: Existing buildings to earn 50% of green building certifications
A new report from Pike Research forecasts that by 2020, nearly half the green building certifications will be for existing buildings—accounting for 25 billion sf. The study, “Green Building Certification Programs,” analyzed current market and regulatory conditions related to green building certification programs, and found that green building remain robust during the recession and that certifications for existing buildings are an increasing area of focus.