Jump to content

Aga Khan Foundation: Islamic Community Center


torvald

Recommended Posts

Yes, you’re right about the HAIFr drama.  By my last count we’ve had two casualties of war on the forum!  Apparently over thread names/organization and not enough love for illustrations provided.  I personally blame @monarch for the latter as that’s his department to pass out blue ribbons for the best illustrations!  JK Monarch! 🤣  I know you’ve been busy with the SEC hoopla!

  • Thanks 1
  • Haha 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 hours ago, hbg.50 said:

Yes, you’re right about the HAIFr drama.  By my last count we’ve had two casualties of war on the forum!  Apparently over thread names/organization and not enough love for illustrations provided.  I personally blame @monarch for the latter as that’s his department to pass out blue ribbons for the best illustrations!  JK Monarch! 🤣  I know you’ve been busy with the SEC hoopla!

spacer.png

^^^ @hbg.50 BEST POST of today.

  • Like 1
  • Haha 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Some nice images here, but also very good commentary from Starchitect Moussavi, principal of the AK2 Kara, and Principal of landscaper company Woltz.  Video from oversight committee visit 3 weeks ago.

  • Like 6
  • Thanks 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks for the pics!  What I love about this project is it is designed for weather events, and there was no mention of Hurricane Beryl damage in the video.

4 hours ago, Amlaham said:

Really hoping the Montrose Blvd rebuild gets approved, because its looking rough adjacent to this site.

“Rough” is a big stretch, but I do support any beautification of Montrose Boulevard.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

32 minutes ago, hbg.50 said:

Thanks for the pics!  What I love about this project is it is designed for weather events, and there was no mention of Hurricane Beryl damage in the video.

“Rough” is a big stretch, but I do support any beautification of Montrose Boulevard.

For a major street in America's 4th largest city, this stretch of Montrose its most definitely rough. Theres no side walk on the western portion, and the one and only sidewalk is extremely narrow and not protected from multiple curb cuts (5 total). Also, Houston's busiest trail/ Buffalo Bayou trial has an entrance directly in front of this site. In this 0.3 mile section of Montrose... theres only 5 overhead street lights. This will be an International landmark (1/7 world wide), people from all over the world will visit this ....come on dude, we deserve better aesthetics. 

ScreenShot2024-08-02at2_18_48PM.png.85c40adc3d437d338da4fb80f658c43e.png

ScreenShot2024-08-02at2_21_52PM.png.96803a592a4a10c934ad397e8ba0d633.png

  • Like 6
  • Sad 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

13 minutes ago, Amlaham said:

For a major street in America's 4th largest city, this stretch of Montrose its most definitely rough. Theres no side walk on the western portion, and the one and only sidewalk is extremely narrow and not protected from multiple curb cuts (5 total). Also, Houston's busiest trail/ Buffalo Bayou trial has an entrance directly in front of this site. In this 0.3 mile section of Montrose... theres only 5 overhead street lights. This will be an International landmark (1/7 world wide), people from all over the world will visit this ....come on dude, we deserve better aesthetics. 

ScreenShot2024-08-02at2_18_48PM.png.85c40adc3d437d338da4fb80f658c43e.png

ScreenShot2024-08-02at2_21_52PM.png.96803a592a4a10c934ad397e8ba0d633.png

It’s under construction.  Give me a break.  There are other real issues to complain about.  Let them finish construction.

  • Like 1
  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

20 hours ago, hbg.50 said:

It’s under construction.  Give me a break.  There are other real issues to complain about.  Let them finish construction.

This would be a fairer objection if the context weren't a recent cancellation of a pedestrian-bike-drainage-canopy upgrade project.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, 004n063 said:

This would be a fairer objection if the context weren't a recent cancellation of a pedestrian-bike-drainage-canopy upgrade project.

It’s only been paused, correct?  It could still happen with modifications.

If you want to see “rough” I would submit Hardy from 610 to Downtown.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

they can both be rough haha...you can't really compare things like that. rough is rough and BOTH should be taken care of :) 

and i agree...montrose definitely needs an update and cannot wait to see what they do with it.

 

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...
  • 2 weeks later...
20 hours ago, monarch said:

^^^ there really are no words to adequately express just how AMAZINGLY GORGEOUS this development is going to be upon final completion.  my goodness!

I'm actually "in agreement" with a Longhorn 😀

  • Like 4
  • Haha 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

what an upgrade of a view for that apartment complex who for the longest time had arguably one of the worst views in the buffalo bayou/montrose area, to now one of the nicest/coolest! 

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...
1 hour ago, Renaissance1999 said:

I wish they had some sort of water fountain feature that would really complete the look. I could imagine it being in the circle on the left end. A huge water fountain would it give it extra character.

There will be a number of water features.

Clad in a silvery beige Turkish marble, the building will be a cultural landmark where local and visiting Ismailis can worship, and where others can attend cultural and educational events. Gardens on all four sides will include terraced plantings and water features in a configuration that pays homage to ancient Islamic architecture but with vegetation found in Texas ecosystems.

One form of paradise

Woltz, who leads the landscape architecture team that will craft 10 acres of lush garden where there is now dirt and scruffy weeds, also did the landscaping for the Ismaili Center in London. Houston’s center will be the seventh throughout the world; the others — built between 1985 and 2014 — are in London, Toronto, Lisbon, Dubai, and in Burnaby, British Columbia, and Dushanbe, Tajikistan.
 
Visiting other Islamic gardens and Ismaili Centers as he prepared both for the London project and now Houston proved to be a learning experience for Woltz and his team.
 
On projects such as this one, buildings often sprawl across much of the available land with greenspace is treated almost as an afterthought. Not so for the Ismaili Center.
 
“The description of paradise in the Quran is a garden, and those descriptions have inspired more than 1,000 years of garden history,” Woltz said. “They’re known for their geometry, axial layout and the use of water as a central organizational element. Water is used architecturally and formally in a remarkable array of forms, from tanks and basins, pools and rills (a narrow stream of water). Then you have the use of fragrant horticulture, color and texture, often laid out in very formal arrangements.”
 
There will be a great lawn that can be used as an event space with 1,200 people seated or 1,600 standing, as well as plazas, courtyards and immersive garden rooms, each drawing plants from a different ecoregion: high plains, trans pecos, cross timbers, blackland prairie and Gulf Coast prairie.
 
A bayou garden — at the lowest level and closest to Buffalo Bayou — will have native plants that are most resilient in case they flood.
 
“This will be a different kind of formal garden than anything I know of in Houston because it is based on this tradition that is so broad. What other traditions of landscaping draws from Africa, Europe, the Middle East, Far East and South Asia?” Woltz said. “There are Houstonians from all of those places, so it stands as a symbol of that pluralism that also reflects the city of Houston.”
  • Like 7
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...