That North Main St. Intermodal Terminal planned for just north of the UH-Downtown business school has been renamed a little more humbly as Burnett Plaza, according to a note on the Metro website. And . . . it’s going to be just a little simpler than the fancy rendering shown above.
Rail watcher Christof Spieler points to a few key sentences that describe the downgrade:
The initial phase will include a half-circle on the east side of Burnett Station. There will be vertical circulation down to a 4-bay transit center with access to a “kiss and ride.”
METRO intends to construct the facility in phases, commensurate with funding and environmental clearances. Phase I transportation services will include METRORail, and local bus service, along with shuttle vans and taxis.
Spieler translates:
What this means is Phase 1 is an elevated light rail station with an elevated half-circle plaza with stairs down to a small parking lot with 4 bus bays.
- Intermodal Terminal Frequently Asked Questions [Metro Solutions]
- On the Shelf: That Grand North Main Intermodal Center [Swamplot]
Rendering: Ehrenkrantz Eckstut & Kuhn Architects
Typical. Let’s just build a “phase” now when construction pricing is down 30-40% and wait until later to build the rest when it will cost at least 30-40% more. BRILLIANT.
Metro should not need to pay the architect too much since this is not an original design. This whole design looks very similar to the Experience Music Project (EMP) in downtown Seattle, see the link below:
http://www.seattleattractions.com/emp.html
Metro – Instead of trying to bring something of architectural significance to Houston, why don’t you construct facilities that people will actually use?
God forbid something should be both useful and architecturally interestin!
“Instead of trying to bring something of architectural significance to Houston, why don’t you construct facilities that people will actually use?”
What does that even mean? Do people not use Grand Central Station, the Guggenheim Bilboa, the Seattle Public Library,
S. Pancras Station, the Menil Collection, the Tate Modern, the Brooklyn Bridge, Millennium Park, the Modern – Fort Worth, MOMA, Musee D’Orsay, Paddington Station, the Sydney Opera House; ummm, shall I go on. There are thousands of architecturally significant buildings that people use all over the world. Just too few in Houston. WTF?
Ft. Worth already has a Burnett Plaza downtown. If they’ve gotta have that name, perhaps use the name of one of the terminating S-N sts. or ignore the inconsequential street names and shorten it to Burnet Plaza for early hero David Burnet, who stood up to S. Houston’s wiles.
Spieler’s translation deserves better wording. One might misunderstand elevated light rail station and think the light rail lines are elevated when in fact parts of the station are elevated. METRO’s system map does NOT show elevated rail near Burnett station. “Vertical circulation” means people get from one platform to another via overhead walkways, like at the Med Center TC.
I agree with John!