ULI | kaloyan-yordanov

Buffalo Bayou Development Urban Land Institute National Competition 2012 Houston, Texas Judith Meany,Ph.D., FIACP, Director of RED Concentration, Bill Sutton AIA

" All architecture is shelter, all great architecture is the design of space that contains, cuddles, exalts, or stimulates the persons in that space."

Philip Johnson

Sustainable Strategies

Introduction

Houston is one of the nation’s youngest, fastest-growing, and most diverse metropolitan areas. The 10-county Greater Houston Area is projected to add another 2.66 million people by 2030 to its current population of 5,946,800. The region is home to 29 Fortune 500 companies, with a gross area product of $403.8 billion. The Texas Medical Center, Houston’s regional cluster of anchor institutions which totals more than 21 million square feet of facilities over 49 institutions, has a larger land area than downtown Dallas. The City of Houston spans 624 square miles—in fact, New York, Washington, Boston, San Francisco, Seattle, Minneapolis, and Miami combined fit within city limits. The Port of Houston is the 15th largest in the world, first in foreign tonnage in the United States.

CHF has a large endowment committed to both the sustainable growth of Houston’s downtown and community development, and would like the site to generate a revenue stream for its endowment while also helping to shape a new downtown district.

Background

A 16.3 acre site that
2012 ULI/Hines Competition 10
encompasses most of this area is currently owned by the United States Postal Service and houses a post office distribution facility and office building that have been deemed obsolete to USPS operations. A local foun- dation, the Central Houston Foundation (CHF), has acquired the option to purchase the site.

Concept

The site has a mix of office and residential with ground floor retail corridors which would keep the place active throughout the whole day. The towers are reminiscent of the typical Downtown Houston high rise podium buildings. By creating naturally cooled exterior and semi - exterior spaces we want to draw people out and create a place with unique character that provides a much better than the regular conditioned mall shopping experience.