http://www.houstonchronicle.com/entertai...955669.php

Not Rice sports related I realize, but this building is obviously right next to a number of the athletic facilities so it's fair ground to talk about here. What are people's thoughts on the design? It's certainly different.....

I think I like the pinwheel-looking circles on either end but the parts in-between seem unfinished to me?

The architecture is trying to hard to scream, "Look at me! I'm a building for art!" It strikes me as hamfisted and gimmicky.

I like it. Don't mind the look since it's alone on the end of campus.

(02-25-2017 06:47 AM)Fort Bend Owl Wrote:  http://www.houstonchronicle.com/entertai...955669.php

Not Rice sports related I realize, but this building is obviously right next to a number of the athletic facilities so it's fair ground to talk about here. What are people's thoughts on the design? It's certainly different.....

I think I like the pinwheel-looking circles on either end but the parts in-between seem unfinished to me?

Can somebody explain why the pinwheel is higher up on the wall than the adjacent window (or alternatively, why the window is lower than the pinwheel)? It looks unbalanced.

Other than that, I like the Villa Savoye style (based on the photos, which is not the best way to judge architecture).

Paging LEOGUY. Paging LEOGUY.

(02-25-2017 09:46 AM)cr11owl Wrote:  I like it. Don't mind the look since it's alone on the end of campus.

I didn't like the picture at all. However, after visiting the campus this weekend and seeing it up close, it's actually attractive and interesting. If it was smack in the middle of the campus I might have a differ opinion. They picked a good location for it.

(02-25-2017 05:49 PM)greyowl72 Wrote:  

(02-25-2017 09:46 AM)cr11owl Wrote:  I like it. Don't mind the look since it's alone on the end of campus.

I didn't like the picture at all. However, after visiting the campus this weekend and seeing it up close, it's actually attractive and interesting. If it was smack in the middle of the campus I might have a differ opinion. They picked a good location for it.

Good to read this. I was hoping it looked better in person than in those gawd-awful artist's renderings.

The context, forms, materials, and function make it a successful design in my opinion. As others have written, in another location on the campus it would be objectionable. But it isn't elsewhere, is it?

That a building intended to unite disparate students/majors in an exploration of "art" yielded a building that is somehow unorganized and is certainly trying too hard to be noticed is not at all bad. It's unresolved.

The choice of brick is especially appropriate. Nothing normal here; it screams ICONOCLASTIC!!!!!!!!!

(02-25-2017 06:46 PM)Leoguy Wrote:  The context, forms, materials, and function make it a successful design in my opinion. As others have written, in another location on the campus it would be objectionable. But it isn't elsewhere, is it?

That a building intended to unit disparate students/majors in an exploration of "art" yielded a building that is somehow unorganized and is certainly trying too hard to be noticed is not at all bad.

The choice of brick is especially appropriate. Nothing normal here; it screams ICONOCLASTIC!!!!!!!!!

Thank you LEOGUY, for an archi's perspective.

(02-25-2017 06:54 PM)Da.Owl Wrote:  

(02-25-2017 06:46 PM)Leoguy Wrote:  The context, forms, materials, and function make it a successful design in my opinion. As others have written, in another location on the campus it would be objectionable. But it isn't elsewhere, is it?

That a building intended to unite disparate students/majors in an exploration of "art" yielded a building that is somehow unorganized and is certainly trying too hard to be noticed is not at all bad. It's unresolved.

The choice of brick is especially appropriate. Nothing normal here; it screams ICONOCLASTIC!!!!!!!!!

Thank you LEOGUY, for an archi's perspective.

You're welcome.

It's ugly and the grey brick looks like the paint used on every house flip in Houston.

I laughed!
I cried!
It was better than Lovett College!

they should have just stuck with the uniformity of most of Rice's buildings

It looks like a pile of boxes and odd-shaped toys thrown together in a toddler's nursery, whereby some moron had the idea to make an actual building out of the child's model. Where has the craft gone in architecture? Anything goes, it looks completely whimsical and childish. Architecture faces a profound professional crisis.

It looks a lot better in person than it did in any of the drawings I saw, but I'm still not a fan.