Cast Your Vote for Old Nueces County Courthouse

Image: DOC MCGREGOR/CC MUSEUM (Caller.com)

Click here to read the full article excerpted below and to cast your vote for what to do with the Old Nueces County Courthouse (tear down, restore, leave to deteriorate until collapse).

Old Nueces County Courthouse Structurally Unsafe, Report Says

by Mary Ann Cavazos
Corpus Christi Caller Times

July 27, 2011

CORPUS CHRISTI — A study of the old Nueces County Courthouse found that the structure is unsound and has severely deteriorated from more than three decades of exposure to the elements.

The findings were revealed to county commissioners Wednesday by officials from LNV Engineering, a company hired to conduct the two-phase analysis.

The 1914 courthouse has sat idle since 1977 and is protected from demolition until 2027 because of a stipulation attached to state grant funds.

It would cost an estimated $34.7 million to renovate only the 1914 building. To renovate the entire 86,400 square-foot structure including the 1930 addition, it would cost about $41.1 million.

By comparison, the nearby federal courthouse, which has nearly twice the square footage, was built in 2001 for $27.3 million.

“This county doesn’t have $40 million to spend on this project nor does the city,” Commissioner Mike Pusley said. “I think the point and time when we could have saved this building has passed.”

Buildings designated historical such as the courthouse are exempt from being brought up to current standards but there is an exception if they become safety hazards.

Pusley, who twice toured the site, plans to use the study’s findings to petition the Texas Historical Commission to lift the deed restriction. That would allow commissioners to decide whether to tear it down, which could cost $2 million to $3 million.

Pusley said that while he understands the building’s historical significance, it doesn’t change the circumstances: The building’s condition is unsafe and the lack of any foreseeable funding to renovate it has sealed its fate.

Click here for the full article.

Dallas Arts District Tour in October

The Dallas Center for Architecture, Nasher Sculpture Center, Winspear Opera House, and Wyly Theater are among projects to be highlighted on the Dallas Arts District Tour (Tour A, Thurs., Oct. 27, 9:30 am to noon) during the Texas Society of Architects Annual Convention and Design Products and Ideas Expo, Oct. 27-29, 2011. 

Several of the projects on the Dallas Arts District tour were featured in the March/April 2011 issue of Texas Architect magazine. Read about these projects in the issue posted below.

Winspear Opera House

Winspear Opera House

Wyly Theater

Wyly Theater

The Arts District is one of twelve tours that will showcase innovative designs by regional and nationally renowned architects. Stay tuned to the Society's blog and other communication outlets for more information on tours, Continuing Education sessions, and events.

Convention registration opens mid summer.

Below is a complete list of the 2011 Texas Society of Architects' convention tours:

Tour A: Walking the Dallas Arts District

Tour B: Classic Modern Dallas - The Rose Residence

Tour C: Oak Cliff Community Renewal

Tour D: Victory Park - Urban Redevelopment

Tour E: Backstage Pass - Winspear and Wyly Performance Venues

Tour F: On Campus at SMU - Past, Present, and Future

Tour G: Trinity River Audubon Center

Tour H: Designed for Learning - Three Special Schools

Tour I: Mind, Body, and Soul (a library, research lab, and chapel)

Tour J: Urban Reserve - A Modern Neighborhood

Tour K: Cowboys Stadium

Tour L: Perot Museum of Nature and Science

Harold Box, Former Dean of UT Architecture School Dies at 81

Hal Box, former UT dean

By Jeanne Claire van Ryzin
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF

May 9, 2011

"It is hard to overstate the significance of this loss to our community," said Fritz Steiner, current dean of the UT School of Architecture. "Hal was an extraordinary architect and scholar and visionary leader, as well as a loving and generous person. His imprint on our school and Texas will endure."

John Harold Box was born in 1929 in Commerce, where his father was on the faculty of East Texas State Teachers College. Precociously smart, the young "Hal" Box completed a five-year architecture degree at UT when he was 20 and spent a brief period as an apprentice to leading Texas regional modernist O'Neil Ford, an experience Box would later credit as profoundly inspirational.

After a stint in the U.S. Navy Civil Engineer Corps as an aircraft designer, Box began his professional practice in Dallas, where he co-founded the firm of Pratt, Box and Henderson Architect in 1958. The firm's projects included the master plan for the State Fair of Texas, as well as buildings at numerous college campuses around the country.

In 1971 he was recruited to be the first dean of the School of Architecture and Environmental Design at UT-Arlington. At the time, the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex was the largest urban area in the United States without an architecture school. In 1976, Box was appointed dean at UT-Austin, a position he held for 16 years, followed by six years as a professor until his retirement in 1998. Box was a fellow of the American Institute of Architects. In April, UT named Box a dean emeritus.

During his tenure as dean, Box upped the national profile of the architecture program significantly and raised a $6 million endowment for the critically underfunded school.

An advocate of New Urbanism, Box coined what became known as the "five-minute Popsicle rule'' — that an ideal urban neighborhood is one in which a child can go to the store to buy a Popsicle and get safely back home within five minutes.

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AIA Conducting Design Assistance Project in New Orleans

The American Institute of Architects' Center for Communities by Design, in accordance with the AIA's long-standing commitment to public service, will conduct a pro-bono design assistance project on the Elysian Fields Avenue Corridor in downtown New Orleans.

The effort, known in the architecture world as a charrette, will take place May 8 through 11, just before the AIA's annual convention in New Orleans convenes May 12-14. It culminates in a final presentation to the community on May 11 at Dillard University at 6:30 p.m.

The AIA will lead a multi-disciplinary team of national experts, in partnership with Eskew, Dumez & Ripple, a leading New Orleans firm. The team will be led by Todd Scott, AIA, who has been involved in and led design assistance projects in places as diverse as Oregon, Vermont, Virginia and Maine. Scott will work with city officials, residents and corridor stakeholders to analyze existing conditions along the corridor and form a set of design recommendations for its future.

The charrette will involve public tours, stakeholder work sessions, public workshops, interviews, and design studio sessions with partners from the New Orleans design community. The team's work will focus on both the corridor as a whole, as well as strategic sites that lend themselves to urban design interventions. The project will build upon the current momentum in New Orleans to revamp its major streets for livability and economic revitalization.

Click here to continue reading.

Architecture is Focus of Downtown Walking Tour

 Mark Wellen will lead a tour today that will highlight some of the historic mid-century to modern architecture design of buildings, like the Bank of America building on Wall Street, during Downtown Midland Walking Tour. Cindeka Nealy/Reporter-Telegram

mywesttexas.com

April 29, 2011

Audrie Palmer
Midland Reporter-Telegram

Residents will be able to view mid-century to modern architectures on a walking tour this morning around the downtown area.

Midland architect Mark Wellen (Texas Society of Architects member) will lead the free tour, which is open to the public. Those wanting to participate should meet at 10 a.m. in Centennial Plaza.

The tour is being held in conjunction with the Inaugural Texas MODern Month, and Wellen said he hopes to raise awareness of the need to preserve some of Midland's buildings.

"There are great examples of mid-century and modern architecture here," he said looking across Centennial Plaza Friday afternoon.

The tour will be about a mile of walking covering a two-block-by-four-block area and will include about 20 buildings officials have identified as buildings from that period. It's expected to last between one and two hours, Wellen said.

While there are a lot of residential projects in Midland that could be included on the tour, Wellen said officials wanted to keep this first one simple, but they could expand it over time.

Read more here.

Architecture Students Have 'Designs' for Sudan

Students and faculty of Texas A&M University System's College of Architecture meet with staff from the Norman Borlaug Institute for International Agriculture to show their designs for Rehab Nova -- a multi-purpose rehabilitation, health and agriculture facility proposed for southern Sudan. (Texas A&M College of Architecture photo).

COLLEGE STATION — Texas A&M University System’s College of Architecture and Norman Borlaug Institute for International Agriculture have collaborated to produce designs for a new multi-purpose health, training, and agriculture facility for southern Sudan.

“The Rehab Nova-International multipurpose facility is designed to be built in three phases,” said George J. Mann, AIA, a professor of architecture at the college who worked with the students in developing their designs. “The facility would include land for agriculture, livestock, boarding houses, guest houses, labs, classrooms, and facilities for physical rehabilitation, occupational therapy, and vocational rehabilitation.”

Mann added the facility also would have offices and a health clinic to help orphans, women, and the physically disabled in the rural Sudanese communities of Birka and Bor.

Designs for the facility were developed by architecture students after doing extensive research on Sudanese culture, climate, materials, and methods of construction, and incorporating these elements into their designs. Five students – three men and two women – participated in the architectural “studio” with each developing their own individual design for the facility in one of the designated communities.

Read more here.

AMOA Presents ART + ARCHITECTURE: New Architecture in Austin

The Austin Museum of Art (AMOA) presents the third installment of ART + ARCHITECTURE today, April 28, and will use the format of New Art in Austin as a blueprint for this edition. J.C Schmeil, AIA, is one of the speakers. 

New Art in Austin, which is on view at AMOA-Downtown from Feb. 26 -May 22, 2011, is the fourth in a triennial showcase that introduces emerging and lesser-known artists from Central Texas whose work stretches the boundaries of contemporary art.

Austin Foundation for Architecture: Request for Grant Applications

The Austin Foundation for Architecture (AFA) requests applications for its 2011 June grant cycle. AFA's two-part mission is to:

1) develop the general public's education, awareness, and appreciation for architecture, and to promote responsible stewardship of the Central Texas environment.

2) develop sustainable architectural leadership for AIA Austin, and other public, professional, and community organizations in Central Texas.

Recent grants have awarded scholarships for participation in Leadership Austin, sponsored an Architecture Film Series, provided funding for an international design competition, and supported a volunteer-led Architecture in Schools program. Average grants have been around $1,200. The amount of any grant award is determined by the Board based on the available funds and the degree to which the grant will further the mission of AFA as demonstrated in the application.

Applications are due by June 1, 2011. The application form can be found here.

Questions regarding the application process may be directed to the Grant Awards Committee Chair, Al York, AIA, at ayork@mckinneyyork.com.

Graduate Students Working on Projects at Cutting-Edge Development in South Africa

archone

Texas A&M University

April 20, 2011

Texas A&M College of Architecture students studying abroad in South Africa are designing a study center and developing a business plan for a nonprofit utility company while working on a groundbreaking real estate development located on the coast of the the country’s Eastern Cape.

Graduate students in the college’s architecture and land development programs have spent the spring semester at Crossways Farm Village, a 1,400-acre residential development located on a dairy farm; the first project of its size in the country. They are collaborating with Chris Mulder and Associates, an architecture and land development firm that is designing and managing the project. 

The study center is being designed to initially house students and professors from the Texas A&M colleges of architecture and agriculture. It will include a high-tech milking building, seminar rooms, library and design studios to enable future study abroad participation by additional Texas A&M colleges, said Glen Mills a professor of architecture who is leading the South African study abroad program.

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Houston's Eco-achievements are Mounting

According to an April 21, 2011, article on Chron.com, "Houston has 118 buildings that are LEED certified by the U.S. Green Building Council. The Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design rating points to energy efficiency, water savings, use of green materials, sustainable site development, and more. Houston ranks sixth in the country for cities with green buildings."

City's eco-achievements are mounting
Recycling, building and vehicle initiatives are expanding, mayor says

Chron.Com
April 21, 2011
By Maggie Galehouse

Houston's mayor wants people to get outside.

"We're trying to find more ways to get people out of doors," Mayor Annise Parker said at an Earth Day Breakfast held outside City Hall earlier this week.

That effort includes everything from encouraging residents to grow vegetable gardens — the city grows herbs and vegetables in huge pots around city buildings and parks - to enabling more city dwellers to recycle.

At the breakfast, Parker updated a green-leaning crowd on Houston's environmental accomplishments.

"One-third of city residents have curbside, single-stream recycling," Parker noted, adding that she herself is a "rabid recycler" whom staff has pulled away from trash bins when she sees recyclables that have been thrown away.

"We are the oil-and-gas capital," Parker said, "but we want to be the energy capital."

Among the city's green accomplishments:

The City Hall Farmers Market, launched last year, sells local produce from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Wednesdays at 901 Bagby.

Houston is the largest municipal purchaser of wind energy in America.

Houston has 118 buildings that are LEED certified by the U.S. Green Building Council. The Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design rating points to energy efficiency, water savings, use of green materials, sustainable site development and more. Houston ranks sixth in the country for cities with green buildings.

More than 300 organizations are registered with the Houston Green Office Challenge, which recognizes achievements in energy usage, waste, water and tenant participation (sign up at HoustonGOC.org).

Continue reading here.

DWR Fourth Annual Modern + Design +Function Austin Furniture Now Competition

Design Within Reach is holding its Fourth Annual Modern + Design + Function Austin Furniture Now juried competition this month.

M+D+F's purpose is to discover and "promote innovative modern furniture." In addition to this year's lighting and furniture categories, a special green category has been added featuring furniture that incorporates environmentally conscious designs by using green processes and materials. Jurors include furniture craftsman Mark Macek, bookbinder Lindsay Nakashima, and University of Texas Assistant Professor of Architecture Tamie Glass.

Deadline for submissions is 6 p.m. April 26, 2011. Winning designs will be displayed at Design Within Reach, 200 W. Second St., Austin, on May 26. Interested participants should contact Vickie Collins at vcollins@dwr.com or call 512-472-7200. Visit the Austin studio link at www.dwr.com for more information, submission requirements, and entry applications.

UH to Provide Solar Powered Adaptive Containers for Everyone (SPACE) to City of Houston

The Cypress Times

April 18, 2011

As a coastal city, Houston remains in constant preparation mode for possible severe weather emergencies. To be ready for storms or other crises, city officials are tapping into the talents of University of Houston Green Building Components (UHGBC) applied research program in the Gerald D. Hines College of Architecture for disaster relief solutions.

Through a new partnership with the city, a UHGBC-supported team of faculty researchers and industry partners will provide city parks, schools, fire stations and other locations with 17 of its Solar Powered Adaptive Containers for Everyone (SPACE). The city recently awarded a $1.35 million contract (funded by a grant to the city from the State Energy Conservation Office) to UHGBC to construct these SPACE stations. The units are scheduled to be constructed and completely in place for the 2011 hurricane season.

SPACE units are recycled shipping containers equipped with solar generators. They are rated to withstand hurricane force winds and can be quickly deployed using helicopters or flatbed trailers. Two people can put a single unit into service in approximately 30 minutes.

Click here to continue reading the article.

Architecturally Significant

Local homes built by nationally known architects showcased

March 27, 2011

by, Isaac Garcia

Valley Morning Star

HARLINGEN — Open spaces, cool colors, structural steel columns and huge expanses of glass were in high praise Saturday afternoon as a group of architects toured some of Harlingen’s most architecturally significant homes.

The tour highlighted homes built by John York and Alan Taniguchi from 1949 to 1953 in a style known as mid-20th century modernism.

The tour, made up of members from the Texas Society of Architects and guided by architectural historian Stephen Fox, started in Brownsville Saturday morning and arrived in Harlingen at noon.

The first stop here was the Wilson R. Palmer House, 1910 South Parkwood St. A York house built in 1950, the house was the subject of praise and marvel as homeowners Nydia Tapia-Gonzales and Lupe Gonzales opened their doors to the group of architects.

Click here to continue reading the article.

In Texas, a Fight Between Architects and Engineers Goes to the State Capitol

Fred A. Bernstein

Architect magazine

March 22, 2011

A decades-long battle in Texas over whether engineers can provide architectural services has moved from the courts to the state Legislature.

Under Texas law, engineers can perform design work on projects that fall below certain thresholds: 20,000 square feet for commercial structures, $100,000 for new public buildings. But that isn’t enough for the engineers, who have persuaded allies in the Legislature—including two with engineering backgrounds—to propose laws that would allow engineers to engage in what they call “comprehensive building design.”

The fight has been brewing ever since the Texas Legislature passed a “practice act,” restricting architecture work to architects, in 1990. But some engineers continued doing architecture, and in 2005 and 2006 the Texas Board of Architectural Examiners began enforcement actions. In 2008, the board issued cease-and-desist orders to three engineers it found to be practicing architecture.

Click here to continue reading the article

DCA Traveling Fellowship Presentations

Traveling Fellowship Presentations

 March 23 at 6:00 p.m.
 

A highlight of the Dallas Center for Architecture Foundation's scholarships is the program of traveling fellowships which enable architecture students and graduates to pursue a research agenda in all corners of the world.
 

On March 23 at 6:00 p.m., several 2010 Traveling Fellows (Jeremy Babel- Kolb-Berglund Traveling Fellow and John Ritter-Swank Traveling Fellow) will make presentations on their projects at the Dallas Center for Architecture.  
 

Jeremy Babel will present on his travels to Finland and an examination of the architecture of Alvar Aalto and the way Aalto uses detail to connect the human body to architecture and architecture to landscape.
 

John Ritter will discuss his two weeks in Curitiba, Brazil where he investigated public spaces, the transit system, and the architecture of the city.
 

To RSVP, please send an e-mail to info@DallasCFA.com.
 

The application deadline for the 2011 Traveling Fellowships is March 31.  For more information and application materials, visit DallasCFA.com and click on the Scholarship link.

AIA Austin Hosts Photography Exhibit

For more information, visit www.aiaaustin.org.

Architecture for Humanity at SXSW 2011

2010 TSA President Heather McKinney, FAIA, with Architecture for Humanity co-founder Cameron Sinclair during the TSA Convention in San Antonio, October 2010. Architecture for Humanity is a volunteer nonprofit organization set up to promote architecture and design to seek solutions to global social and humanitarian crisis.

Cameron Sinclair speaks to a standing-room only crowd in San Antonio.

Last October during TSA's convention in San Antonio, Cameron Sinclair of the nonprofit design services firm Architecture for Humanity, spoke about his organization's efforts throughout the world to build a more sustainable future through the power of professional design. With today's somber news of the 8.9-magnitude earthquake in Japan, Architecture for Humanity's mission has been underscored. Below is a message posted by Sinclair on his organization's Web site.

"A massive 8.9 quake has struck off the coast of Japan. The effects could be felt as far away as Beijing and a tsunami with 33ft waves has devastated the Japanese coastline. 4M people are without power and over 1000 people are feared dead.

The chapter members from Osaka and Kyoto are keeping us updated on this current disaster. Please follow us on twitter at @archforhumanity or Osaka chapter organizer Kana Kondo at @koncham

Our thoughts are with those in the region right now and we will announce on Monday what action we will be taking."

Architecture for Humanity is participating in Austin's annual South by Southwest (SXSW) Conferences & Festivals beginning today through March 20, 2011. 

Architecture for Humanity on Frontline/The World 2008

Greenest Homes Are Those Near Public Transit

by Wendy Koch
USA Today

Homes near transit use less energy overall than those in conventional suburbs, according to a new study released by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Location, location, location -- it's a well-worn mantra in real estate. New research shows yet another reason why it's important: it decides how green a home really is. Housing near public transportation uses less energy than homes in the suburbs, even Energy Star-rated ones.

That's the finding of a study released this week by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, which supported the data analysis. The EPA says location is vital because buildings and transportation together account for about 70% of U.S. energy use and 62% of its greenhouse gas emissions.

Click here to read the article.

UT Austin Hosts Symposium: LATITUD3S

The University of Texas at Austin School of Architecture hosts "LATITUD3S," a two-day symposium reflecting on Architecture in the Americas. March 31 + April 1, 2011. Mebane Gallery in Goldsmith Hall.

Speakers:

Mauricio Pezo
Sofia Von Ellrichshausen
Mónica Bertolino
Carla Juacaba
Daniel Bonilla
Mauricio Rocha
Charles Renfro
Pat Hanson
Patricia Patkau

For more information, click here.

RDA Grants Program:Initiatives for Houston 2011

Rice Design Alliance announces its twelfth annual grants program for students and faculty of the Rice School of Architecture, the University of Houston Gerald D. Hines College of Architecture, the College of Architecture at Prairie View, and the Department of Urban Planning and Environmental Policy at Texas Southern University.

RDA will make separate awards of up to $5,000 each to a student and a faculty winners.

The Initiatives for Houston grants program focuses on Houston’s built environment, its history, present condition, and future development. A variety of regional projects will be considered, including historic research, speculative studies and projects, problem solving and planning projects, and studies that document the conditions of the city and its architecture. Proposals will be evaluated in terms of their potential for making a significant contribution to our understanding of the city and/or the region.

More information can be found here.

Applications are due by March 25, 2011.