I'm spending a week in Houston with my girlfriend before I head back to the hell hole that is Lubbock, TX. She is in med school right now, so I have plenty of free time during the day. I'm planning on going to see the Twombly and Menil while I'm here, but I don't know what else I should see. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Rice University is a picturesque campus, and the architecture building is in the academic quad.
If you are a James Turrell fan, the Quaker Meeting House is one of the best installations I have seen of his. It is open to the public 30 minutes before and after sunset on Fridays (weather permitting).
If you want even more museums, the CAM is across the street from the MFAH.
I have some more things, but I have to get back to work.
there is a nice funeral chapel on the west side designed by dan solomon. i believe its the beth israel funeral chapel. on the low brow tip, there might still be a flea market near there that hosts or hosted mexican wrestling every sunday for $5.00...
project row house in the third ward might have good installations. its a pretty interesting experiment that mixes art, community and preservation. Commerce Street Artist Warehouse may have some good art up. at least a few years ago, it was a stones throw from little vietnam/chinatown, so some good food and an asian grocer with good chrysanthemum tea (in a can!) could be had.
if you are into rock shows, handsuphouston is a pretty good list.
there should be a free weekly rag that lists all sorts of events. houston press, i think. also, contrary to what one may think, houston proper is quite bikeable, but not for the chicken hearted. since the city has or had no zoning ordinance, you happen upon some interesting and random things.
heights boulevard has a nice promenade, as does north and south boulevards, near rice university.Not sure about what the weather will be like, as it can be fickle, but Hermann Park could be fun-theres a zoo and a giant duck pond. its right by the natural science museum and the med center. if you are a wes anderson/"rushmore" fun, you could construct your own "tour", though it'd probably take some legwork figuring it out.
Has Houston seen a revival of it's downtown since the mid-late 80's? Are they having a loft condo boom like many other cities? When I was growing up there downtown was like an urban wasteland where nothing happened at street level. Haven't been back since probably 10 years ago.
yes, they are. you can probably find news articles about it in the Houston Chronicle. They're very proud of it.
Check out the Alabama Ice House. But only in good weather. And if you have a lot of time and dont care much about the environment, just drive around loop 610. You'll see a hell of a lot, but it takes a couple of hours.
Houston had already started to revive downtown about 6 years ago. I am not to happy that they are tearing out the historic shotgun houses to put in urban lofts.
The revival got kicked into high gear when the Super Bowl was in Houston. A light rail has been installed that goes down Main Street and Fannin from the Astrodome to UH Downtown. The light rail started to do interesting things to downtown. Instead of being the hang out for hipsters (only clubs, dive bars, etc were there besides the Theater District), the light rail has brought an earlier nightlife to Houston with new restaurants, etc (the light rail construction shut down a lot of businesses that sprouted up in ealy revitalization because it made them inaccessible). There is also an aquarium in downtown, which is quite a spectacle and kind of ugly.
I think that if Houston's downtown became more populated it would be awesome. From my studio research a few years ago, there were 100,000 who worked in downtown, but only about 30,000 who lived there (that included the homeless population).
i recently took a trip to houston and found this thread very helpful. In addition, i also discovered this oddity - but neverthelessit's cool: a miniature recreation of Beijing's Forbidden City .
Pray it doesn't rain: i missed the opportunity to see Turrell's Skyspace as a result.
And for the campy but unique, try the 'Level 9' VIP tour of the Houston Space Center
check out the "Orange Show", an environment of hand-made art/architecture. it is at 2401 Munger, off I-45, just suth of University of Houston.
713.926.6368 www.orangeshow.org
in terms of Philip Johnson, you should know that he also designed the University of St Thomas campus, which is a Miesean version of Jefferson's Univ of Virginia.
on the Rice University campus are buildings by Stirling, Graves, Pelli and others.
What to see in Houston???
I'm spending a week in Houston with my girlfriend before I head back to the hell hole that is Lubbock, TX. She is in med school right now, so I have plenty of free time during the day. I'm planning on going to see the Twombly and Menil while I'm here, but I don't know what else I should see. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Houston doesn't get enough credit.
I agree with j. The MFAH is worth seeing, and it is free every Thursday.
I would visit the whole Menil campus, which includes the main Menil building, the Cy Twombly, the Byzantine Chapel, the Rothko Chapel, and the Richmond building (Dan Flavin installation).
Rice University is a picturesque campus, and the architecture building is in the academic quad.
If you are a James Turrell fan, the Quaker Meeting House is one of the best installations I have seen of his. It is open to the public 30 minutes before and after sunset on Fridays (weather permitting).
If you want even more museums, the CAM is across the street from the MFAH.
I have some more things, but I have to get back to work.
Thanks for the suggestions, I'll see what I get into
I third sahar and j.
there is a nice funeral chapel on the west side designed by dan solomon. i believe its the beth israel funeral chapel. on the low brow tip, there might still be a flea market near there that hosts or hosted mexican wrestling every sunday for $5.00...
project row house in the third ward might have good installations. its a pretty interesting experiment that mixes art, community and preservation. Commerce Street Artist Warehouse may have some good art up. at least a few years ago, it was a stones throw from little vietnam/chinatown, so some good food and an asian grocer with good chrysanthemum tea (in a can!) could be had.
if you are into rock shows, handsuphouston is a pretty good list.
diverseworks , infernal bridegroom productions, aurora picture show might have some good performances, plays or short film/experimental film programs going on, respectively.
there should be a free weekly rag that lists all sorts of events. houston press, i think. also, contrary to what one may think, houston proper is quite bikeable, but not for the chicken hearted. since the city has or had no zoning ordinance, you happen upon some interesting and random things.
heights boulevard has a nice promenade, as does north and south boulevards, near rice university.Not sure about what the weather will be like, as it can be fickle, but Hermann Park could be fun-theres a zoo and a giant duck pond. its right by the natural science museum and the med center. if you are a wes anderson/"rushmore" fun, you could construct your own "tour", though it'd probably take some legwork figuring it out.
have fun.
If you are a big Philip Johnson fan, you can see a history of his career with Pennzoil Place, Transco Tower, University of Houston College of Architecture, Bank of America Building, Menil House, and St. Thomas's Saint Basil Chapel.
Has Houston seen a revival of it's downtown since the mid-late 80's? Are they having a loft condo boom like many other cities? When I was growing up there downtown was like an urban wasteland where nothing happened at street level. Haven't been back since probably 10 years ago.
yes, they are. you can probably find news articles about it in the Houston Chronicle. They're very proud of it.
Check out the Alabama Ice House. But only in good weather. And if you have a lot of time and dont care much about the environment, just drive around loop 610. You'll see a hell of a lot, but it takes a couple of hours.
A,
Houston had already started to revive downtown about 6 years ago. I am not to happy that they are tearing out the historic shotgun houses to put in urban lofts.
The revival got kicked into high gear when the Super Bowl was in Houston. A light rail has been installed that goes down Main Street and Fannin from the Astrodome to UH Downtown. The light rail started to do interesting things to downtown. Instead of being the hang out for hipsters (only clubs, dive bars, etc were there besides the Theater District), the light rail has brought an earlier nightlife to Houston with new restaurants, etc (the light rail construction shut down a lot of businesses that sprouted up in ealy revitalization because it made them inaccessible). There is also an aquarium in downtown, which is quite a spectacle and kind of ugly.
I think that if Houston's downtown became more populated it would be awesome. From my studio research a few years ago, there were 100,000 who worked in downtown, but only about 30,000 who lived there (that included the homeless population).
ah.. found it..
i recently took a trip to houston and found this thread very helpful. In addition, i also discovered this oddity - but neverthelessit's cool: a miniature recreation of Beijing's Forbidden City .
Pray it doesn't rain: i missed the opportunity to see Turrell's Skyspace as a result.
And for the campy but unique, try the 'Level 9' VIP tour of the Houston Space Center
Highbrow needs the Lowbrow. Good luck!
there is much more than this:
check out the "Orange Show", an environment of hand-made art/architecture. it is at 2401 Munger, off I-45, just suth of University of Houston.
713.926.6368
www.orangeshow.org
in terms of Philip Johnson, you should know that he also designed the University of St Thomas campus, which is a Miesean version of Jefferson's Univ of Virginia.
on the Rice University campus are buildings by Stirling, Graves, Pelli and others.
check out: www.houstonarchitecture.info
Block this user
Are you sure you want to block this user and hide all related comments throughout the site?
Archinect
This is your first comment on Archinect. Your comment will be visible once approved.