August 7, 2009 – 10:10 am
Reporting live from the Battle of Buffalo Speedway, Allison Wollam scrutinizes the new Buffalo Market arsenal: “’We are based in Texas so we have certain items that we know Texans eat,’ [H-E-B Houston president] McClelland says. ‘We have an inherent advantage because we know how Texans think better than a grocer based …. anywhere else would know.’ For example, McClelland points out that H-E-B carries a brisket that can be fully cooked in 45 minutes that garnered more than $25 million in revenue for the chain last year. The grocer also offers crawfish sushi as well as Texas-shaped cheese and hamburgers.” Plus, why campus might seem a bit tighter this year: “Because parking is also limited, the grocer has reached an agreement with nearby Rice University to allow its employees and vendors to park on the campus parking lot and be shuttled to the store.” [Houston Business Journal; previously on Swamplot]
Read more about: 77005, Grocery Stores, Parking, Retail, Rice-University, West University
Why is it so hard to get a definitive image of Rice’s new physics building? There’s no real uncertainty about it — it’s already under construction. It’s just that the thing is going in so close to its neighbors it’s hard to find a good angle for a solo portrait.
The Brockman Hall for Physics, funded in part by $11.1 million of — yes, stimulus money doled out by the National Institute of Standards and Technology — and designed by Philadelphia architects KieranTimberlake, will plug up an unnamed courtyard on the fifties-and-science-themed north part of the campus.
Here’s a rendering showing the 110,000 sq.-ft. building blocking the path between the legs and through the open portal of 17-year-old George R. Brown Hall:
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Read more about: 77005, Institutional Buildings, New Construction, Rice-University
March 26, 2009 – 12:50 pm
A joint statement just out from the presidents of Rice University and the Baylor College of Medicine: “We are pleased to announce that the governing boards of Rice and BCM this week approved the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) that lays out a broad framework for formal negotiations about a possible merger of our two institutions. While no decision on a merger has yet been made and many issues remain to be resolved, our boards have concluded that a closer affiliation has abundant potential benefits for both institutions, as well as for our home city of Houston.” [Swamplot inbox]
Read more about: 77005, 77030, Baylor College of Medicine, Rice-University, Texas Medical Center
February 19, 2009 – 12:07 pm
Trailer sculptor Paul Villinski, on the difficulty of procuring the raw material for his Emergency Response Studio, now on display at the Rice Art Gallery: “I thought, OK I’m going to go get a FEMA trailer, because they’re selling them online through the government - you know, the GAO Web site - at that very moment, it seemed, FEMA basically stopped releasing the trailers into the marketplace. And not only did they do that, they bought back all the ones that they had already sold. . . . And the back story with that is basically that the plaintiffs in this class-action suit need a couple of FEMA trailers so they can really study the indoor air quality and FEMA and the manufacturers do not want them to have them. So they’ve been ordered by the judge in the case to release the trailers, and they haven’t done it yet. So that made it impossible for me to actually get a FEMA trailer, which is why I wound up finding a 30-foot Gulfstream Cavalier, but it was built a couple of years before the FEMA trailers were.” [Arts in Houston; previously in Swamplot]
Read more about: 77005, Air Quality, Art, Attractions, Green Design, Home Design, Manufactured Homes, Rice-University, Temporary Housing
February 9, 2009 – 3:43 pm
A few fun pics from around and about town! First, this crowd of black vultures ponders its next real-estate venture from atop a communications tower parked in a gated community in Cypress. Photographer Karen Morris happened upon the scene on Eldridge near Grant Rd.:
It was an awesome sight. Personally, if they adorned my rooftop every evening, I’d clean the roof, sell the house and move to the other side of town. . . . Black Vultures/Buzzards are a bit smaller and less colorful that the Turkey Vulture. They tend to follow the Turkey Vulture because it has a keener sense of smell and can find it’s meal through use of that sense. They eat dead animals and occasionally capture small live animals (field mice, etc.). Although they do not build a nest, they will take an abandoned nest. Often roost together as seen in this set of photos. If startled while roosting, they will regurgitate with power and accuracy.
More local habitat:
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Read more about: 77005, 77070, 77550, Art, Attractions, Critters, Cypress, Development Strategies, Disaster Aftermath, Galveston, Hurricane Ike, Rice-University, Utilities
September 24, 2008 – 6:45 pm
If you’re looking for some hot deck-on-deck action, look no further than this little 1968 number on Institute Ln., just north of Rice. Sure, the house looks like a tight little box — what self-respecting Mod pod from the swingin’ sixties didn’t? — but it’s . . . full of decks!
Check out the deck choreography in the photo above, taken from the upstairs screen porch. You’re looking onto a slightly lowered deck that’s open to the sky. Beyond and below the screens is a two-story courtyard — with a covered patio beyond.
Uh . . . where’s the indoors? Through the sliding door on the right. The red chair is in the upstairs Den.
After the jump: decks, decks, and more decks!
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Read more about: 77005, Homes for Sale, Interiors, Jandor Gardens, Patios
Workers at Rice University are lifting 178 7-foot-by-7-foot bathroom pods into place in the two new student residences now under construction on campus. The pods, which arrived with all fixtures already installed, are meant to be among the “green” features of the new Duncan and McMurtry College buildings, say the designers. Because construction takes place offsite, the pods are expected to eliminate construction waste — as well as traffic to and from the site by subcontractors.
The Rice pods were manufactured by Off Site Solutions in the United Kingdom and Kullman Buildings Corp. in New Jersey.
The pods’ outer shell is constructed of glass-reinforced plastic and connected to a steel frame. The interiors are all white with 9-foot ceilings, wall-hung plumbing fixtures, light fixtures and a smooth ceiling and wall finish. Installation requires being hoisted into place by a crane and just a handful of plumbing and electrical connections.
After the jump: an exciting bathroom-pod photo tour, including overhead views!
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Read more about: Bathrooms, Construction Materials, Green Design, Institutional Buildings, Prefabrication, Rice-University
Two separate news releases update yesterday’s report of the wall collapse at Rice’s McMurtry College construction site. From the University:
As construction crews saw the lightning strikes from the rapidly developing storm, they began vacating work sites and securing them for the storm. A small group was finishing work at McMurtry College, one of two residential colleges under construction on the north side of campus, when the site was struck by powerful wind gusts that are reported to have measured more than 60 miles per hour in some areas. Five concrete block walls under construction for rooms on the second floor toppled. . . .
OSHA has conducted an investigation of the accident. The worksite remains closed for further investigations. Based on what is known to date, the accident is believed to have been caused by the sudden severe windstorm.
More details below.
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Read more about: 77005, Construction Accidents, Hazards, New Construction, Rice-University
An email forwarded to us from the Rice University president’s office:
This afternoon around 4 p.m. cinder-block walls under construction on the west side of the second floor of McMurtry College collapsed during a severe thunderstorm. According to police reports from the scene, eight construction workers are believed to have been injured: one was pronounced dead at the scene, four were taken from the site on stretchers and transported to the hospital and three walked from the scene and were treated at the site before being taken to the hospital. No further information is available about the injured people at this point. Everyone at Rice University is shocked and saddened by the accident and sends their prayers and best wishes to the workers and their families.
Read more about: 77005, Construction Accidents, Hazards, New Construction, Rice-University
More buildings brewing on campus at Rice: The new Brochstein Pavilion, behind Fondren Library, opens later this week!
Designed by architect Thomas Phifer, the 6,000-square-foot building features natural lighting from light scoops, plasma screens, couches and chairs, all surrounded by floor-to-ceiling windows that look out on a 10,700-square-foot wraparound plaza. This exterior seating area is covered by a trellis designed to filter light, as live oaks do along Rice walkways, and is encompassed by an elm grove, fountains, live oaks, new sidewalks and a freshly sodded Central Quad.
A new freestanding structure dedicated to the increasingly popular liberal-arts discipline of . . . Caffeine Studies?
Does Swamplot have any readers at Rice? Send us your reports! Uhh . . . how’s that coffee?
Drawing: Pavilion architects Thomas Phifer & Partners
Read more about: Institutional Buildings, New Construction, Openings and Closings, Restaurants, Rice-University
