USING PICTURES TO PICTURE USES FOR BUFFALO BAYOU’S BASEMENT 
There’s still no real plan for that 1927 underground reservoir along Buffalo Bayou near Sabine St. But, reports the Houston Chronicle’s Lisa Gray — one devoted parishioner of this “accidental cathedral” — there’s now a new technology in place that might help would-be entrepreneurs visualize the possibilities: “SmartGeometrics, a company whose main business is creating super-precise 3-D digital models of real places . . . will show video-game-like digital models to the public . . . and will explain how, soon, the data will be available to anyone who wants to plug it into his design software. . . . ‘This is a starting point for us,’ [Buffalo Bayou Partnership’s Guy Hagstette] says. ‘We’re trying to decide on the big picture. What should the concept be? Is it environmental art? A giant nightclub? A parking garage?” [Houston Chronicle ($); previously on Swamplot] Photo: SWA Group
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Whatever you do, don’t let the County Commissioners get control of what happens to it.
Amen, Mike.
@Mike: Warehouse for storage of souvenirs from the demolished Astrodome awaiting their eBay auction sales.
Convert it to prime convention space!
it would be neat if they turned it into some sort of abstract indoor/outdoor art gallery and cut open holes in the roof above some of the sculptures to allow natural light in.
JB3, I’m sorry, its too close to amenities that out-of-town visitors desire. That clearly disqualifies it for Harris County funding!
If the visitors aren’t here for the rodeo or OTC, they don’t matter.
Do paid tours.
Looks like the home of the Balrog to me. We might need Gandalf to do a little pest control.
Perhaps James Turrell would be interested in
a permanent installation. With an entrance from adjoining space to be designed for an unobtrusive ingress egress into main chamber.
From this article it sounds as though concerts will be difficult with the kinds of acoustics that were sited. It would be nice to leave it just as it is.
This is potentially one of the greatest assets the city has. Istanbul has something very similar (much older of course built in the Byzantine Era). They have it open to the public to walk around in and they often have concerts and art galleries inside.
Check it out…! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basilica_Cistern
needs sub floor retail
I second the James Turrell comment. I think this space would be an amazing installation art space.
duh. Perhaps it could be used to store water.
Its the perfect performance venue for experimental music and wouldn’t even require very much modification or upkeep.
Just make it public accessible in conjunction with the near by trail and skate park. Also good for festive type engagements or meets small concerts and art showings.