TOUR COMPETITION e RDA ANNUAL ARCHITECTURE TOUR t The Splendid Houses of John F. Staub i Saturday and Sunday, March 29 and 30 1 - 6 p.m. each day. c 99K HOUSE COMPETITION

. 713.348.4876 or rda.rice.edu

8 LECTURES Rice Design Alliance and AIA Houston

0 The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Brown Auditorium announce finalists. 7 p.m. G 713.348.4876 or rda.rice.edu

N SANFORD KWINTER

I Far From Equilibrium: Essays on Technology and Design Culture

R A program by the MFA,H Bookstore Wednesday, April 2 IN FEBRUARY, FIVE FINALISTS WERE SELECTED FROM 182 and adaptability to reproduction as well as design.

P GWENDOLYN WRIGHT entrants proposing a sustainable, affordable house The winner will receive an additional $5,000 New York City that addresses the needs of a low-income family in stipend. The City of Houston through the Land S Co-sponsored by RDA and Houston Mod Wednesday, April 9 the Gulf Coast region. Each will receive a $5,000 Assemblage Redevelopment Authority (LARA)

R award and the competition will move forward to initiative has donated a site for the house located at THOM MAYNE, MORPHOSIS Santa Monica, CA Stage II. 4015 Jewel Street in Houston’s historic Fifth Ward,

A The 2008 Sally Walsh Lecture Program a residential area northeast of Co-sponsored by RDA and AIA Houston downtown. Once constructed, Wednesday, April 16

D the winning house will be sold or auctioned to a low- BOOK SIGNING income family. N WM. T. CANNADAY Five jurors, representing The Things They’ve Done E A book about the careers of selected graduates expertise in design, sustainabili- of the Rice University School of Architecture ty, construction of affordable L Thursday, April 10 housing, and Houston’s Fifth 5-7 p.m. Farish Gallery, M.D. Anderson Hall, Rice University Ward, selected the finalists and A will also judge Stage II of the competition: C EXHIBITION Bryan Bell, Jr., Founder and DESIGNED BY ARCHITECTS: METALWORK Executive Director, Design From the Margo Grant Walsh Collection March 15 - August 3 Corps, Raleigh NC; Richard The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston Farias, Executive Director, Tejano Community Center,

The following entrants were chosen from a field representing 29 U.S states and 16 countries: Stephanie Eugster, Houston TX; Paul Stovesand and Rebecca Cox, Chicago IL; Kirby Mears, Walter Murphy, Kyle Humphries, Jamie Miller, and Gina Lyons with Murphy Mears Architects, Houston TX; Robert Humble, Joel Egan, Ben Spencer, Owen Richards, Tom Mulica, and Kate Cudney, with Hybrid / ORA, Seattle, Washington; and Gail NEWS Peter Borden and Brian D. Andrews, with Borden RDA BAY AREA STUDY TOUR Partnership, Los Angeles, CA. RDA members toured San Francisco in February, In Stage II the five teams approved for Houston TX; David Lake, FAIA, Principal, visiting new architecture by Skidmore, Owings & continuation will have an opportunity to refine their Lake | Flato Architects, San Antonio TX; Michael Merrill, Stanley Saitowitz/Natoma Architects, Leddy Maytum Stacy, Morphosis, and Herzog & projects and must complete a set of comprehensive Pyatok, FAIA, Principal, Pyatok Architects, Inc., de Meuron as well as Bay Area landmarks by construction documents. The Jury will review these Oakland CA; and Rocio Romero, Owner and Bernard Maybeck, Julia Morgan, and Willis Polk. resubmissions for pricing by a Houston-area home- Principal, Rocio Romero, LLC, Perryville MO. 06 building expert allied with the competition organiz- Bryan Bell weighed in on the process:

e ers. The Jury will select the winner based on bids “Sustainability is not just about protecting our t i c . 8 0 0

2 TOP: Kirby Mears, Walter Murphy, Kyle Humphries, Jamie Miller, and Gina Lyons with G N I Murphy Mears Architects, Houston TX R P

S BOTTOM: Paul Stovesand and Rebecca Cox, Chicago IL ALL RENDERINGS COURTESY OF THEIR RESPECTIVE FIRMS f t b t c f c i b a a g f c a t p t t a H g w D c H f p g W n a h o a a r a i o a a l o n b w n o a i e o u r t i a i i i a v c e c r e l l o o n s o n m t l r e d d n n n a b l T S F g e a s e s l t e , h u u h s e t b s t e u f w o a i a a l d , r p i n o o a o h a t a t r s d f g i h s s r o l b b b e d r h c a u o s o o t n e c t t t r r o o t e n o b e n u t y i l l i i e o o i f h f i c r e n o p d u r l e e z o t n d e a m f y o . p A e c n n d h i c e A e m l , , s p o e s n N t l g s s t d r T e o , a a o , a i , m y a a o r o r s . E c t v l . g b f p s m a b t r t a e d t f f t e a l h r r t o T f h , i o h o r e i n s u h a f f n p l c o c e t r t o a a m e s e . a o o t p f d f e e n i e o t o i h r d r b r i o n o e n l i u r r s 9 d e e n n c o h g y h n d d i n p o c l b x n d d c 9 t t s e o s e b , w p g r o o o o m w a e i a f e s e y e h a a a k m e t e i o c r m l m m b u b t b h m n e l i b b f e e e h a m i i o t e t r o e i l r s b a r t o p - r h l l E n h n i l n e m e m p o i i p n o d e e p e f t e c i u u e e n o e e d u t a t e e n m l , , r o a e b n t i y h h a s i , p c n a g a n t m s o l d i r x R r a a w e u , h t i A t b r t n o o t e e , e t o t i n a n , o i l y i g t i i a , u . o u u i I g d n f s o o l m I m c l c w i w o d n n l o r s d b n y t t s s A e n e s o n e l n e i o a r e e e c u y i n i s m p , r f e i m o g h a n t c s u . n n o o s s n p e $ l h n a t , e r o g e r - e n b c g . r 9 a l v n o v a c u s n e l a j s a c e 9 n H i s s i u n d r e p a t s r e t d s o t t , s d e c e d e d 0 y s k o r d e f o o a t t e , a 0 t e c n e a i w t u h n t s o i t e v i 0 s h d i n m u n e a s e e v n e i e d t t d g l o s t - i d s h e o e G O h - a e t i r c s r n n e y e e a n s t o u g c l s u s i a t r ’ d e n s f t g i t a y l e b p g i o a o s f - s l n n h i s p n s a b t i l C t c a . d a o a o i - p a o e e h d t D n v t h e o r r l y b , a s d 1 i i r c a s a e c n u r 2 h l a i , o r s l l 4 a a s a o 0 f g s t u t e e f i b c 0 i l t . a 0 g s s n t m ” o a n r 0 l d s s o 7 n g e n o b i u e , e n i c S e e s e t i d s n r w - s g r s F n - i s h t , e o i - - - G a i l P e t e r B o r d e n a n d B r i a n D . A n d r e M R w o u s b l , i e c w r a t i , t H a h n u B d m o K b r d a l e e t , e n J C o P e u a l d r t E n n g e e a y r , n s w , h B i i t p e h , n L H S o y S p s b t e A r e n i n d p c g h e / e a r O , l n e O R i s e w A , C E e , A n u S g e R s a i t c t e t h l r a e , r , H d W o s A u , T s o t o m n T X citings 0

SPRING2008.cite 7 Ideson Building in 1955 to honor the city’s first librari- an, served as the Central Branch the Houston Public Library until 1976. In 1978-79 it was sensitively reha- bilitated by S. I. Morris Associates for the Houston Metropolitan Research Center (HMRC), housing the public library’s collection of archives, photographs, architectural drawings, rare books, and manuscripts. New glass-and-steel partitions were inserted for closed stacks and archival storage. Morris’ work, following established preservation standards, was gentle to the Central Library soon after opening in 1926. historic fabric of the building and is easily removed. In 2006, the Julia Ideson Library Preservation Partners (JILPP), an independent nonprofit corpora- tion that Houston Mayor Bill White asked to take on the job, began fundraising to expand and rehabilitate the library for continued use by the HMRC and to PRESERVATION showcase the building’s ornate interior spaces through exhibitions and event rentals such as receptions and weddings. The project—a new wing closely following the footprint of Cram’s original and the restoration of THE LIBRARIAN RETURNS compromised rooms and spaces—is led by architects Barry Moore and Paul Homeyer of Gensler. It will Rehabilitating Houston’s beloved include a state-of-the-art, climate-controlled archival storage area and a new public research and reading Julia Ideson building. room. The design of the wing will be differentiated from the historic portion of the building, following professional historic preservation standards. The restoration phase of the project will include reopening one of the original second-story loggias and construct- ing an outdoor reading garden (an idea conceived by the original architects but never carried out), as well as restoring one of the two original second-floor reading Y

rooms currently filled with three levels of steel book R A R B stacks as an exhibition hall. Plans for the building, list- I L C I

ed on the National Register of Historic Places and as a L B U

Recorded Texas Historic Landmark, will follow the P N

THE 1901 DISCOVERY OF OIL AT SPINDLETOP AND THE O

Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for Rehabilitation T S

opening of Houston's port resulted in the trebling of U

and seek a silver LEED certification. Most of the O H the city’s population between 1900 and 1920. Conse- , building will simply be preserved, as many of the R E T

quently, by the early 1920s conditions at the 1904 original reading and stack rooms and associated N E Carnegie Library were “almost intolerable . . . where C furniture, fixtures, and finishes remain intact and H C R

everyone gets in the way of everyone else,” reported unaltered. A paint analysis of the interior decorative A E S

librarian Julia Ideson to the local press. With support plaster elements—coffering, cornice, and friezes with E R N

from Mayor A. E. Amerman and other city leaders, roundels of the great libraries of the world—will be A T I L

Ideson led the charge to construct a new central conducted. O P O

library. By 1925 the library was under construction and As a testament to the rediscovered love of this city R T E

08 a new Civic Center, designed by the Kansas City land- landmark, the library’s current director, Dr. Rhea M N O e

scape architects Hare and Hare, had been proposed, its T t Brown Lawson, has requested that her office be relo- i S c . U 8 building keyed to the Spanish-style architecture of the cated to Julia Ideson’s namesake, where it was housed O 0 H 0 Y

2 central library. during the first 50 years of the building’s life. S G E T N I Designed by the Boston architectural firm Cram & R R U P O S Ferguson, the Central Library, renamed the Julia –Anna Mod C URBAN PLANNING s

THE CITY BEAUTIFUL? g

Form-Based Development Code n in Houston. i t i c

A PREDICTION: WITHIN THREE TO FIVE YEARS, IT’S LIKELY in context with other places. SmartCode Central defined as everything outside the Loop. This means the city of Houston will implement form-based (smartcodecentral.org) says this about itself: “The the second-ring suburb of Afton Oaks is urban, and development code for building projects in high- SmartCode is the only unified transect-based code the Uptown/Galleria area, which has more jobs than capacity transit corridors. This will allow and available for all scales of planning, from the region to downtown San Diego, plus 30,000 residents, is sub- encourage urban-style development at many scales the community to the block and building. As a form- urban. The regulations for each area are suburban in while protecting adjacent residential neighborhoods. based code, it keeps towns compact and rural lands nature, requiring setbacks for commercial buildings, Form-based code does not necessarily prohibit or open, while reforming the destructive sprawl-pro- excessive parking, and other stipulations that require any particular use of land, as zoning does. ducing patterns of separated-use zoning.” prohibit “urban” development. By those standards, Instead, it makes judgments about form issues, such Additionally, the U.S. Environmental Protection the 529-unit Post Midtown Square project, complet- as setbacks, curb cuts, building heights, building Agency has funded a process to produce a version ed in 2001, was basically illegal, and the Houston density, and many other elements. with the working title of Smart Growth Model Planning Commission had to issue variances to allow The Form-Based Code Institute has a draft defi- Code. Team member Jim Charlier, of Charlier the creation of the best recent urban project in the nition of its initiative: a method of regulating development to achieve a specific urban form. Form-based Natural Transect Zones Urban Transect Zones Districts codes create a predictable public realm by controlling physical form primarily, with a lesser focus on land use, through city or county regula- tions. Form-based codes address the relationship between building facades and the public realm, the form and mass of buildings in relation to one another, and the scale and types of streets and blocks. Houston is mov- ing toward the use of such a code because of the emergence of about 55 T1 NATURAL T2 RURAL T3 SUBURBAN T4 GENERAL URBAN T5 URBAN CENTER T6 URBAN CORE D DISTRICT transit-oriented station areas along The transect is a geographical cross-section that reveals a sequence of environments. It’s used to identify a set of habitats that vary by the new Metro light rail system that their urban character. This range provides a rational basis for organizing buildings, lots, land use, open space, streets, all elements of the begins service in 2012, as well as the human habitat. Form-based coding describes the desired volume of buildings and their interaction with public space. civic friction caused by projects such as the Ashby highrise. Associates in Boulder, Colorado, says: “The Smart city. Others are coming, but all required variances. The city’s Urban Corridors project, focused on the Growth Model Code is an effort to develop a It is easy to argue that Chapter 42’s definitions coming rail corridors, will propose standards for resource usable by any local government in the coun- and rules fuel nearly all development friction in transit-oriented development and will use form- try, regardless of what type of land development the city. Because the two sets of codes don’t differen- based code to guide such development. The report code/zoning/subdivision regulation they have in tiate between urban and suburban as different and recommendations of this initiative are nearly place and regardless of how large/small or sophisti- forms, rather than different geographic areas, resi- complete and are certain to spark lively debate as cated they are. The Code will embrace the three dential neighborhoods are constantly under siege they bring new language and ideas to the civic table. main approaches to local land use regulation: tradi- by undifferentiated residential density and commer- A knowledgeable land-use attorney has said that tional zoning, performance-based zoning (based on cial surprises. using form-based code is within the law. goal-oriented criteria rather than use and now in the It would be productive to begin a fundamental fix SmartCode Version 9.0 is the most mature model form of LEED-ND, which sets a green standard for to Chapter 42 that produces reasonable definitions of of form-based code. Created by New Urbanist archi- neighborhood design); and form-based codes, of urban and suburban, followed by a major overhaul tects and planners Andrés Duany and Elizabeth which the SmartCode is one example. of the regulations themselves. Form-based regula- K R

E Plater-Zyberk of Miami, it gives towns and cities a Actually, Houston already has a form-based tions that allow and require urban solutions, where B Y Z - complete code of ordinances that can be customized development code. Chapter 42 of the city’s Code of appropriate, and preserve and maintain suburban R E T

A to local conditions and values. SmartCode is based on Ordinances contains a set of rules governing “urban” solutions, where appropriate, will evolve within a 09 L P e Y the Transect of New Urbanism diagram, describing development and another set for “suburban” devel- decade. Certainly, as Houston begins to pursue a t i N c . A 8 U several urban-form “zones” and portraying how they opment. Unfortunately, the definitions of those two General Plan for the city’s future, this type of regula- 0 D 0 Y 2

S may relate to each other in cities. It brings order to conditions are based on geography, not form. tion will play a major role. G E T N I R such issues as scale and mobility, defining parts of the “Urban” is defined as “the area included within and R U P O S C toolkit to create a certain kind of place, understood bounded by Interstate Highway 610.” Suburban is –David Crossley