One day before an exhibition of design-competition entries at the Architecture Center Houston Downtown closed last month, the Rice Design Alliance and the Houston chapter of the AIA held a groundbreaking ceremony at 4015 Jewel St. in the Fifth Ward. The winning entry of the $99K House Competition, designed by Seattle architecture firm Hybrid/ORA, will be built on that site by contractor D.H. Harvey and sold or auctioned through the Tejano Community Center.
The competition, held early this year, was meant to produce a prototype for “sustainable, affordable” homes of 1,400 sq. ft. or less that could be built on lots made available through the city’s Land Assemblage Redevelopment Authority. The Jewel St. site was donated by LARA.
The exhibition featured 66 selected entries to the competition, out of a total of 184 submitted. Images of those entries are included in the exhibition catalog.
Swamplot featured one kudzu-wrapped competition entry back in February. Beginning tomorrow, we’ll feature a few other entries received in response to a general request for Swamplot-ready versions recently sent to the participant email list that was conveniently added to the competition website.
(Note to competition participants who somehow didn’t receive a request from us: If you’d like to send in your entry, please email Swamplot and we’ll send you a list of requirements.)
Update: Entries in this series are now on this page.
- New kid on the block [Rice News]
- Program/Budget [the 99K House Competition]
- Land Assemblage Redevelopment Authority [City of Houston]
- Building Cheaper with Kudzu: $99K House Competition Finalist [Swamplot]
Photo of 4015 Jewel St.: Jonathan LaRocca [license]
Top Comments of the Week: Pronounced Dead
You write ’em, we quote ’em! More Swamplot fun from the past week:
From Pat: “I’m printing these photos and showing them to my husband. He thinks WE have too much crap. This is simply delightful.”
From Miz Brooke Smith: “We need to fix up this place with that pink-closet house from a couple of weeks back.”
From RWB: “If they wanted to stay in a Southern European kind of mode, they should have named it Pente. It would be a good name for a development in Cinco Ranch, no?”
From EMME: “I think the beds have been pronounced dead.”
From SanchO: “i’ll guess somewhere in the heights… maybe around 9th and harvard… fingers crossed!! i still havent won one of these..”
From Sheila: “The problem in turning it into any retail establishment is, as always, parking. The neighbors would scream. It is kitty-corner to Harverd Elem. and across the street from a Bapist Church in a dry part of the Heights. It needs an artist who can afford a great workspace.”
From marmer: “About time they put this poor ex-Chevron out of its misery. Maybe we can invent a new style: ‘Ike Googie!’”