HOUSTON | New Houston Ballet Dance Center | Completed

[diskojoe]

Sorry about weak renders. they are all i could find. But project should be interesting.





image hosted on flickr


image hosted on flickr


In a move designed to propel Houston Ballet to the next phase of its development, the company broke ground on July 15, 2009 on the Center for Dance, a new 115,000 square-foot facility located in downtown Houston at the intersection of Smith and Preston Streets. The building, which will cost $53 million, is set for completion in the spring of 2011.

The six-story building will boast nine dance studios, a black box dance laboratory for presentations as well as rehearsals, and artistic, administrative and support facilities for Houston Ballet and its Ben Stevenson Academy. The new facility will more than double the space that Houston Ballet has at its current home, located at 1916 West Gray in the Montrose section of Houston, which the company renovated in 1984 and features six dance studios.

The new structure will be the largest dance facility of its kind constructed in the United States. The Houston Chronicle has observed that the building "could be the most exciting new architecture Houston has seen in decades." (July 31, 2009)

The architect for the project is Marshall Strabala, director of design for Gensler, who has designed three of the world's tallest buildings, including China's 632-meter-tall Shanghai Tower, which is under construction, and 420-meter Nanjing Greenland Financial Center, as well as the 160-plus story Burj Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. Richard Maxwell is the project principal. The project manager is Irvine Team.

The co-chairs of the ongoing capital campaign are John C. Bass, Jesse H. Jones II & Anita B. Stude. (Mrs. Stude served as co-chairman of the campaign until her death in July 2009.)

The general contractor managing the construction is W.S. Bellows Construction Corporation.

Houston Ballet is America's fourth largest ballet company, an ensemble of 53 dancers with an annual budget of $17.7 million and an endowment of just under $46 million (as of July 31, 2009). Hailed by The New York Times as "one of the nation's best ballet companies," Houston Ballet has toured over the last decade to New York, London, Montreal, Hong Kong, the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow, The Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., and to cities large and small across the United States.

Houston Ballet is deeply grateful for the generous philanthropic support received for this project. Please join us as we take Houston Ballet to the next level and make a major impact on the state of the arts in Houston.

[diskojoe]

Construction on this project has started as well. I think it will be a nice addition to downtown.

[SRG]

That will add a lot of direly-needed street level architecture to the streets of downtown Houston.

[SouthmoreAvenue]

Just asking, but shouldn't this go in the Developments Section?

In either case, heres a link to the webcam:http://www.oxblue.com/pro/open/houst...centerfordance

And a Webcam
Update

[SouthmoreAvenue]

Originally Posted by SRG

That will add a lot of direly-needed street level architecture to the streets of downtown Houston.

Direly needed in SOME PARTS,
because this depends if your looking in the right places, in the Historical District and the Main Street Square there is plenty of notable street level architecture.





















But yeah, i agree with you this does add to it.

[SRG]

Well Southmore, obviously this and the Houston Pavilions are the opposite bookends of downtown. That said, Main Street is obviously a clear outlier in my deriding of downtown Houston's streets. Main Street is beautiful and very pedestrian-friendly.

Then you post pics of Bayou Place, which I never really liked. I thought its architecture was dated and very Pei-esque. Reminded me too much of downtown Dallas with its stark, unfriendly "plazas" everywhere that do nothing but shield the commercial fortress from the street activity.

[diskojoe]

well it will be a great addition to where its is going to be. I especially like this project because it is replacing a parking lot that was there. We all know there are way to many parking lots downtown. Plus the building is so hot. great design.

[diskojoe]

Originally Posted by SouthmoreAvenue

Just asking, but shouldn't this go in the Developments Section?

probably, but i thought the forumers here would appreciate it. so i put it here.

thanks for the web cam link too.

[desertpunk]

Originally Posted by diskojoe

well it will be a great addition to where its is going to be. I especially like this project because it is replacing a parking lot that was there. We all know there are way to many parking lots downtown. Plus the building is so hot. great design.

No kiddin'. Parking lots are a plague everywhere and this design is really cool. It's surprising also to see cultural projects moving forward while so many others are getting cancelled or put on hold.

As to the street level architecture in Houston, so much of the older areas of Downtown still have that cowtown flavor from so long ago. It's a great reminder of how quickly the city grew and pushed upwards. Like Downtown LA, I would expect Houston to return to these areas and rebuild them with many new lofts, condos and attractions. In fact, it looks like that is exactly what is already happening.

[diskojoe]

Originally Posted by desertpunk

No kiddin'. Parking lots are a plague everywhere and this design is really cool. It's surprising also to see cultural projects moving forward while so many others are getting cancelled or put on hold.

As to the street level architecture in Houston, so much of the older areas of Downtown still have that cowtown flavor from so long ago. It's a great reminder of how quickly the city grew and pushed upwards. Like Downtown LA, I would expect Houston to return to these areas and rebuild them with many new lofts, condos and attractions. In fact, it looks like that is exactly what is already happening.

its inching along that way. But any progress is good progress and this new projects is a big leap. especially for the location. It will be one of the first buildings you see when you pull into downtown on smith from i-10. so its presence will be an instant change to the scenery to the surrounding area there.

[eweezerinc]

9 studios. That's pretty incredible for a company to have that much space. A luxury few institutions in the world can boast. Does the project only include a black box in terms of performance spaces? In what theatre does the ballet perform in Houston?

[diskojoe]

Originally Posted by eweezerinc

9 studios. That's pretty incredible for a company to have that much space. A luxury few institutions in the world can boast. Does the project only include a black box in terms of performance spaces? In what theatre does the ballet perform in Houston?

This building is to be the new dance studio. Performances will still be held at the Wortham Center across the street. Its the brown building in the first construction picture.

[diskojoe]

wortham center in foreground

image hosted on flickr

[desertpunk]

Found this shot:

[diablo234]

Not a bad looking building if I say so myself.