HOT, HOT, HOT

Downtown Houston is hot, and I don't mean the temperature. For the past year, probably due to the fact that Purse Building Studios is so close to the action, we've been constantly asked, "Aren't you excited about downtown?", "Isn't this great!", "What do you think about the redevelopment of downtown?" All of this enthusiasm from people who, until recently, didn't seem to care. Previously, the first question to be asked was, "Is it safe here?", or "Aren't you scared?". A constant barrage of promotional pieces, in the paper and on TV, has convinced people that we are "redeveloping" our inner city. It sounds like a good idea; but I'm not convinced a few high dollar "loft" projects, a baseball stadium, and an entertainment mall in the theater district constitutes "redevelopment".

N
O
S
T
A
L
G
I
A

Purse Building
Home

Critique
Cleft Palette

Cleft Palette
Metropolis-June'98
Heroes/Disclaimer
Context/Disclaimer
Architecture/Art
Questions/Future

Email
If you would like to be
notified when Cleft
Palette is updated, click
HERE and type-subscribe
Cleft Palette-in the
subject area.

Credits
This issue of Cleft Palette is made possible by a Creative Artist Grant funded by the City of Houston through the Cultural Arts Council of Houston/Harris County.

NOSTALGIA

All of these projects share a common approach to attract the potential client - an appeal to the consumer's predilection for nostalgia. Hellmuth Obatta and Kassebaum, riding a wave of public acclaim for previous stadiums in Dallas, Denver and elsewhere, have produced a stadium for Houston that outdoes Disney in its ability to evoke that cozy, warm feeling you get when you see Main Street in Mayberry RFD. Thank God the original plans for Bayou Place weren't realized; we might have had to endure the "ranch look". At least with the Cordish development of Bayou Place we get a facility based on the time honored model of the shopping mall. Probably the most superficial of the attempts to remodel downtown are illustrated by the multiple "loft" projects constructed in the Theater and Market Square Districts. Unlike many cities, where residential adaptation of small vacant warehouses and commercial structures initiated ancillary development of restaurant, grocery and entertainment venues, Houston has gone the corporate route. Big money developers have purchased high-rise structures and capitalized on the public's gullibility for the lifestyle evoked by films such as "Ghost" and "Flashdance". The amazing thing is that all of these projects seem to aim for the same market, upper income yuppies or wealthy empty nesters. You won't find any artists in these "lofts". We can only hope that, once the new wears off and it's no longer trendy, there will be enough tenants to support the number of units constructed.

I wish the sign was more
legible. Metropolis isn't even
complete and they're already
announcing "Gotham". Is that
Batman over the wall?

HEROES?