Architects James Richards and Ben Olschner, dissatisfied with the current talk of turning the Astrodome into the world’s largest air-conditioned park, have started drumming up support (and selling t-shirts) for their own idea for overhauling the long-empty structure: stripping the building of all but its core steel structure (“like the Eiffel Tower in Paris”, the duo’s website reads) and adding a spiraling hike and bike trail up to the center of the roof. The duo estimates the project would cost $180 million to execute ($62 million less than what the indoor park plan is estimated to cost); they expect the work could be paid for as a public-private effort like the one that funded Discovery Green (and branded all of its features).
The plan (which also removes all nonessential letters, redubbing the place A-Dome Park) calls for the replacement of some 13 acres of existing Dome-side parking lot with live oaks, planted in alignment with the building’s steel columns (as seen here from above). Below are a bunch of renderings showing the trees and walkways in place, and some zoomy depictions of the stripped-down ‘Dome back in action:
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Some elevator-accessible boardwalks would ring the structure’s sides, while a single ramp wrapping around just inside the ex-walls would lead to the roof level and the spiraling Dome Walk:
The A-Dome plan keeps the below-grade parking garage idea central to Judge Emmett’s plan, but appears to keep the raised floor above that relatively blank. Here’s what appears to be a depiction of that floor going all Cistern-style reflective after a bit of rain (or perhaps during mild flooding):Â
The floor could be used for big events, like carnivals or concerts:
Here’s one last look from above, from Fannin St. toward NRG Stadium:
- Houston Architect Puts Forward Unique Vision for Astrodome Overhaul [Urban Edge]
- How to Help [A-Dome Park]
- Previously on Swamplot: Astrodome coverage
Images: A-Dome Park
YES! Now this is why we love Houston… Some spirited free thinkers have taken to doing their own reinterpretation of what should definitely happen to the old girl… Very impressive, the only thing better would be to moor the battleship Texas in dry-dock at the center of it.
However, like ALL/ANY great thinking conceived in Houston’s modern era, the proposed reinterpretation will only be to the benefit of the County and City’s ‘Approved’ re-use strategy. My how I wish people like Mr. Hofheinz and Ms. Demenil were still around to provide our ‘Great?’ city with some honorable philanthropy!
You should note that this idea is essentially identical to one proposed by UH grad student Ryan Slattery nearly three years ago. Swamplot has even written about his plan on a number of occasions.
http://swamplot.com/here-now-a-few-more-ideas-for-the-astrodome/2013-03-28/
http://swamplot.com/astrodome-stripped-bare-by-the-architects-even/2013-05-01/
https://swamplot.com/cmon-knock-it-down-i-dare-you/2013-05-28/
Uh, have these people ever spent a summer in Houston????????? This place would be hotter then hell and the steel would burn people. The refracted light would be blinding and it would make the steel searingly hot. Cool design, ridiculious idea. This isn’t Moscow.
Oh wait part of it is under cover, still you couldn’t walk around the top in the summer. No way would Houstonian’s use this. Just tear it down already. Geez.
It’s cool and all, never going to be feasible like all the other ideas, but interesting. I’m more interested in how they plan on leaving just the steel skeleton and at what point it’s more feasible to just tear the whole thing down and rebuild the steel framing all over again.
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….but yeah, please tear down this shining example of wasted taxpayers money.
Cool idea but Bob McNair and the Texans would never consider giving away that much parking. And the Rodeo uses the orange lot extensively.
Stop with the plans for the Astrodome. Every idea from theme park to museum to steel sculpture has been tossed around and not a single one has ever got any traction because none of them are economically feasible. The only solution that makes sense is to tear this thing down. Just like Yankee Stadium, Kingdome, Tiger Stadium, Wembley, Boston Garden, and so many more. It’s not a work of art….it’s a huge piece of dilapidated concrete sitting on valuable real estate. It’s an interesting piece of Houston history that should be remembered fondly in pictures and stories.
This needs to be combined with the Buffalo Bayou corkscrew. Place the corkscrew in the middle of the dome structure; at twice the height (if FAA admissible) and a larger top observation deck.
Tear it down. Start a private campaign to commission artists to use the steel to create pieces at the “entrances” of major Houston hoods. Doneski.
This is an amazing idea! But please change the name. A-Dome is too close to A-Hole
Houston – Home of the Jiffy Pop Dome!
Tear it down? You are kidding me, right?
All these NEW commenter’s names makes me feel like someone is really fearful that we might find a use for the dome and is now in a panic that they might have to walk a little further to their skybox.
These comments have me thinking about S O L A R !
We’re the Energy Capital right!? (sure the moniker’s always meant ‘petrochemical’ but that’s going to end at some point)
The Solar Dome.
Uhmmm, you are not about to get rid of that much parking!
In addition to the Skeleton idea being stolen without credit, the Boardwalk is a little iffy. The circumference of the Dome is about 2300 feet. You’re looking at an 8-10 mile hike at an incline to make it to the top. Not sure if that’s feasible.
Do people actually pay for parking at the Astro* complex, er, Reliant, er, NRG Stadium? Every time I go there, I park in Midtown and take the train for $1.25 each way. It’s a bit of a hike across the stadium parking lot, but there’s no way in hell I’m paying $20-50 to park for a game.
By far the coolest idea I’ve seen. And if the the idea was fully executed, I can see it. But I doubt that would happen. The green space is important. Who wants to spiral up around a sea of cement? So I’m still in the tear it down camp. But would support this if the whole concept was built out.
Fit Dad: If you look down you can see a vast expanse of stained concrete for some reason.
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Wheezing Kid 1: *gasp*
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Fit Dad: Be extra careful not to slip between these railings. Don’t they look cool though?
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Wheezing Kid 2: *wheeze* I can’t feel my fingers *wheeze*
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Wheezing Kid 1: *gasp*
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Fit Dad: Go ahead and take your selfies. We should start heading back down before the crowds show up.
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Wheezing Kid 2: *wheeze* If I could just lie down in some shade with an XBox … *wheeze*
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Wheezing Kid 1: *gasp* *thud*
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Fit Dad: I’m sure the crowds will show up any minute. Don’t lay down there Logan honey.
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Wheezing Kid 2: *wheeze* face drooping, arm weakness, speech difficulty *wheeze*
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Fit Dad: Alright, enough horsing around. Time to walk 8 miles down. Stop playing possum Logan. Logan? Hailey, help your brother up while I get one last look at all this stained concrete. My god it’s spectacular.
I park by the complexes off 610. Bit of a walk as well, but can at least avoid the worst of the traffic by not having to funnel out of a parking lot.
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And yeah, trying to take the 2-1/2yr old up the circular walk at centennial gardens has assured me that I’ll never walk up a similar path with a kid again. Even that short walk bored him to death. These tower ideas with circular paths are not fit for families, that’s for sure.
Let’s face it, this ting will become a parking lot sooner or later. I hope sooner, I’m tired of hearing about this thing. No other options are economically feasible and outside of a small number of Dome Zealots, nobody really cares about it enough.
When architecture schools glorify the absurd and impractical, we get mist buildings proposals at rice and this. Unlike the most building, this one does look neat. But, no. No need to pile on as to why it’s a bad idea. As another said, tear down this junk pile.
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sell the cleared lot to someone who will build a hotel or something.
just as cool as the original concept. maybe marry the two. both steel structures, a park-like atmosphere, concrete pads in certain locations for stages. and a way to access the very top to enjoy the view.
What we really need to work on is the future Astrodome museum ideas. After it’s eventually torn down, we could have a little building (double-wide trailer perhaps?…) that would house two exhibits – one for photos/models of the dome from planning stages to the day it was imploded/dismantled/whatever, and another to showcase the hundreds (thousands?) of ideas to save it. I’d be there opening day!
I am with CS make it a covered parking lot. Done.
Both this design and the Buffalo Bayou Corkscrew (and Raven Tower BTW which was recently shut down by the Building Department) conveniently ignore one of the fundamental tenets of the building code, which is the requirement for TWO exits. This proposal manages to propose a solution with NO exits, and the worlds longest dead-end corridor (50′-0″ is the maximum length for a dead-end corridor, BTW). I enjoy theoretical architecture as much as the next guy, but calling this architecture is stretching it. Incidentally, there have been several pricing studies done on stripping the ‘dome back to it’s structural shell, and lo-and-behold, it’s MUCH more expensive than one might think (10’s of millions of dollars more expensive) Surgically removing all the existing layers of structure, concrete, etc. without damaging the structure is almost impossible.
The total distance to the top of the dome on our proposed flat and inclined boardwalks is 9208 feet or 1.7 miles or 2.8 kilometers NOT the 8 miles calmed on Swamplot. LOL
To anonymous MT:
Dead end corridor rules do not apply to our project because under our proposed preservation approach The Astrodome would be transformed from a enclosed building to an unenclosed structure. Access to the dome ramp would be limited by park rangers depending weather occupancy counts. Below the dome ramp we provide two exits in the form of stair/elevator towers located on the north and south sides. According to several demolition contractors we consulted with cost will not be as you suggest ” 10’s of millions of dollars more expensive” and tons of valuable materials like steel, copper, and aluminum will sold to salvage entities and the stadium seating and astroturf, etc will be sold to the public.
To anonymous MT:
Dead end corridor rules do not apply to our project because under the proposed preservation approach The Astrodome would be transformed from a enclosed building to an unenclosed structure. Access to the dome ramp would be limited by park rangers depending on weather and occupancy restrictions. Below the dome ramp we provide two exits in the form of stair/elevator towers located on the north and south sides. According to several demolition contractors we consulted with, the cost will not be as you suggest †10’s of millions of dollars more expensive†Tons of valuable materials like steel, copper, and aluminum will sold to salvage entities and the stadium seating and astroturf, etc will be sold to the public.
Houston’s weather is fickle. It can be sun shining one minute and pouring down rain the next. Why not at least leave the iconic roof? How many times have the rodeo grounds numbers have been down because the carnival is closed due to rain?
Hell, put a bunch of of solar panels up there and generate some power for NRG.