i.e., tearing down Martel Center/Art Barn:
http://artsblog.dallasnews.com/2014/03/r...mark.html/

I remember the old building as a chance to do something different on campus when I was a student. I could go over to look at some of the best of modern art from the Menil collection such as Max Ernst. I would hate to see it go away.

Where is this building located? I don't remember ever seeing it.

(03-02-2014 11:47 PM)Baconator Wrote:  Where is this building located? I don't remember ever seeing it.

Next to the media center, across RUPD.

(03-01-2014 07:18 PM)MrMxyzptlk Wrote:  i.e., tearing down Martel Center/Art Barn:
http://artsblog.dallasnews.com/2014/03/r...mark.html/

These buildings were intended as temporary so the Menil's could move certain parts of their collection to Rice very quickly after a falling out with St Thomas Univ. They were always ugly, and I am somewhat dismayed that Stephen Fox thinks they are now worth keeping. The Anderson Clarke Hall renders them redundant, I would think , and would lead to a re-use of this space. I am particularly appalled to be lectured by some **** from Dallas, since I grew up there and know they pretty much know and care nothing about Houston.

Eugene Aubry has the moral authority to lecture Rice? He must be blessed with long-term memory loss.

(03-03-2014 08:55 AM)grol Wrote:  Eugene Aubry has the moral authority to lecture Rice? He must be blessed with long-term memory loss.

What's the scoop on Aubry? He was involved with the Menil's, but what's the Rice connection beyond that?

(03-01-2014 07:18 PM)MrMxyzptlk Wrote:  i.e., tearing down Martel Center/Art Barn:
http://artsblog.dallasnews.com/2014/03/r...mark.html/

Geez, talk about a lack of proportion. If the removal of 45-year old temporary structure by its owner is "obscene vandalism", I wonder what words this guy uses to describe acts that actually are vandalism and actually are obscene.

I appreciate -- and use -- hyperbole as much as the next guy. But this case is ludicrous.

Harris county showed Deep Throat there to a sociology class, to see if there was any "redeeming value" to movie, before they raided the skin flicks in Houston. Class had 16 students, over 150 showed . Prof was proactive in moving class.

Does he want to be in the running for being the architect of the longest-lived temporary building? Two that come to mind are the Navy & Munitions Buildings on the Washington (D.C.) Mall (1918-1970; 52 years) and the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco (1915-1964; 49 years ... after which is was largely razed and rebuilt as a more permanent structure).

Good riddance. The only thing obscene about this was the building itself, not the removal.

Could be more parking for baseball games.

I am big fan of architecture, but I gotta tell you neither of those two buildings are anywhere a big deal, IMHO. Hell, tearing down old Weiss was much more of an obscene vandalism and it was an example of the horrors of post WWII architecture through some time in the late 60's.....

One way to avoid architectural criticism is just to wait a few years, when the critics will have changed their minds.

Which reminds me of a joke my dad (an Engineering professor) used to tell about his colleagues in Economics: they give the same exam questions every year; they just change the answers.

(03-03-2014 06:53 PM)georgewebb Wrote:  One way to avoid architectural criticism is just to wait a few years, when the critics will have changed their minds.

Which reminds me of a joke my dad (an Engineering professor) used to tell about his colleagues in Economics: they give the same exam questions every year; they just change the answers.

Nice one.

I do not think I ever noticed this building, much less set foot in it. Was it promoted as much as the gallery in Sewell?

Noah Cross: 'Course I'm respectable. I'm old. Politicians, ugly buildings, and whores all get respectable if they last long enough.'

Chinatown

(03-04-2014 01:00 PM)Caelligh Wrote:  I do not think I ever noticed this building, much less set foot in it. Was it promoted as much as the gallery in Sewell?

It's the "other" tin building, between the Media Center (tin building #1) and the hedges.
During your time, it might have already been in use by Continuing Studies, hence its invisibility to you.

It was not promoted as much as it could have been since it contained much of the best of modern art when the Menils were involved. It really was not the building that was so special but the art that was in the building. I am thinking it is like the Astrodome where the past is more important than anything that could be done with the building in the future. The building served its purpose but it is still a temporary building that reached the end of its useful life. When Rice built the new stadium and Autry in 1950, the old gym and most of the stands at the old stadium were torn down. Those had a lot of memories but it was not worth keeping them.

(03-04-2014 01:00 PM)Caelligh Wrote:  I do not think I ever noticed this building, much less set foot in it. Was it promoted as much as the gallery in Sewell?

There's a model for this: Delay the demo by three months, and offer the building for free to anyone who demonstrates the ability to move it to a new location. That's what was done with the Peter Hurd mural in the Prudential building in the med center. If there's truly support for preserving the building, then Rice saves the money they would of spent on demolition. If not, then at least they tried.