The Woodlands and Bridgeland – two of the most successful master planned communities in the nation, and The Howard Hughes Corporation® is part of both. Hughes Landing at The Woodlands was conceptualized and completed in just three years and cemented the area as a desirable corporate HQ location. Recognized for their ongoing commitment to design excellence and the cultural life of their communities, The Howard Hughes Corporation® owns, manages and develops commercial, residential and mixed-use property throughout the US. Bridgeland in Cypress, Texas recently ranked as the #18 master planned community in the nation. PRISM has been supporting the major real estate developer and management company since 2013 with renderings used for leasing and media promotion.
Prolific Houston architect Alfred C. Finn designed some of the most important buildings in Texas during his long career between 1913 and 1961. His first commission was as a project manager for the Rice Hotel, now known as The Rice. It seems fitting that another of Finn’s notable projects, the original headquarters of Gulf Oil, built in 1914, was renovated as the AC Hotel by Marriott Houston Downtown, with a historically-appropriate design by MCS Architects, LLC. Dallas developer NewcrestImage purchased the building and met with the Texas Historical Commission (THC) while considering redevelopment of the property, which was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2017. In an interesting twist, the THC recommended the building be restored to the aesthetic of a previous renovation rather than the original construction. Architect Eugene Slater had renovated the building in 1996 and covered the original façade with a simple, modern skin, representative of the New Formalism style of the time. It was this version of the building that garnered it a place on the register of the historic place. PRISM worked with MCS Architects, LLC to develop exterior and interior renderings showcasing the refined modernist design. AC Hotel Houston opened in 2019. It features 195 guest rooms, a 3,650 s.f. ballroom, a cocktail lounge, and the AC Kitchen.
“Try to be a rainbow in someone’s cloud.” The Children’s Hospital of Orange County (CHOC) embodies this quote from Maya Angelou. From the outside, as seen in the evening, the building is illuminated with a rainbow of color on the vertical circulation tower, shining like a beacon of hope throughout the community. When CHOC opened in 2007, it was the only dedicated pediatric facility in the region, providing surgery, imaging, emergency and clinical lab services, acute care and intensive care inpatient beds, and amenity areas for patients, families and staff. CHOC named the new addition to the hospital The Bill Holmes Tower, after the self-made pool entrepreneur who started from very humble beginnings and donated $27 million to fund the construction. PRISM worked with FKP Architects (now part of CannonDesign) to emulate the hospital’s striking colorful design in several exterior and interior renderings.
As an all-female team, PRISM proudly sponsored an AIA Houston/Women in Architecture 2020 Equity Series session earlier this month. The session, Hidden Costs: An Examination of the Price We Pay for Workplace Inequity, dove into topics like what losses were incurred where inequity exists and effective strategies to improve workplace inequity. Several PRISM clients participated in the panel, including moderator Nicola Springer, VP at Kirksey Architecture, and panelists James Harrison, Principal of Harrison Kornberg Architects, and PJ Glasco, Principal at CannonDesign. Other panelists included Pascale Sablan, Founder & Executive Director of Beyond the Built Environment and Yiselle Santos Rivera, Director of EDI at HKS. Though the architecture industry has much work to do to achieve workplace equality, several firms are stepping up to lead the way. We very much appreciated the personal journeys the panelists shared and the intentional efforts female architects are taking and the support their male counterparts are providing.
The World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a pandemic on March 11. In the 20 days since then, Houston and many other cities around the country have gone under shelter in place orders. A large percentage of the workforce is now working from home. Time will tell how long it is before business as usual resumes. Until then, the PRISM team remains committed to serving clients safely, in any way needed. Our team is working remotely and making the best of the unexpected but enjoyable family time – like project manager Lily Luo doing yoga with her daughter, VP of Operations Sarah Amos doing a drone technology lesson with her kids, and others on the team spending time with their fur babies and working out with their kids. See all the ways our team is staying centered, plus tips on working from home, on our Facebook page. And please share your suggestions with us!
Congratulations to all selected as finalists in the 2020 Houston Business Journal’s Landmark Awards. These are the built projects shaping Houston, literally sculpting the look, feel and image of the city. Judges from various fields within real estate narrowed down entries to create a finalist list of 51 projects in 19 categories. Our team had the privilege of providing renderings for the following project finalists:
- AC Hotel Houston Downtown, MCS Architects – Historic Renovation
- Plastic Bagging and Packaging Inc. Building 2, Powers Brown Architecture – Industrial
- Buffalo Heights Phase I, Midway Companies/BKR Memorial II LLC – Mixed-Use
Project winners along with the Lifetime Achievement Award winner will be announced at the Landmark Awards ceremony on September 6, 2020.
Did you know the Houston Food Bank provides food assistance to 800,000 Houstonians a year? The PRISM team volunteered with our friends from SpaceWorks to assist with this amazing local charity. It’s not just food! The Houston Food Bank provides nutrition education, job training, school supplies for teachers, and more! Now more than ever people are facing hunger and need to know they are not alone. If you can't volunteer, please consider making a donation to The Houston Food Bank.
On this last day of Women’s History Month, we want to acknowledge the groundbreaking work of architect Zaha Hadid. She is often cited as the world’s top female architect. During her life and even posthumously her work achieved an extensive list of accolades, including the Pritzker Prize (the first woman to receive it), the Stirling Prize, the Thomas Jefferson Medal in Architecture, and the European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture. Personally, she was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire, ranked on Forbes’ list of “The World’s 100 Most Powerful Women”, and was named by Time as an influential thinker in a TIME 100 issue. She’s been cited as “The Queen of Curves” for the organic form so much of her work takes. Jing visited China in 2019 and had the opportunity to visit the Hadid-designed Morpheus hotel. It is located in the $2.4 billion City of Dreams mega-resort and casino complex in Macau. Hadid died on this day in 2016. Her work will forever be an inspiration for us.
PRISM Renderings is well-prepared to continue providing the robust service you depend on. As many of our clients transition to working from home or limiting office visitors to reduce their potential for exposure to COVID-19, PRISM’s project management, business development, client support, and other operational teams and systems are continuing to work together to meet our standard for excellence. Do you want to meet to discuss a project? PRISM is ramping up video conferencing to continue connecting with clients and prospects, in lieu of visiting at their offices during this time. Contact us today with any questions or project needs: https://new.prismrenderings.com/contact/
Once the venue for such jazz greats as Ella Fitzgerald, Count Basie, and Louis Armstrong, the Sunset Lounge has been sitting relatively quiet for years. The West Palm Beach Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) is changing that and reviving a larger part of the West Palm Beach Historic Northwest District where the notable building is located. The Sunset Lounge was a preeminent destination during the Jim Crow era, drawing huge crowds to see the prominent African American musicians of the time. After years of planning and community input, the CRA is renovating and expanding the Sunset Lounge to create an art and performance venue and making additional outdoor enhancements. PRISM created multiple renderings to help promote this significant community project. The lounge restoration includes a renovated bar and new full-service restaurant on the first floor, and conversion of the second floor back to a dance hall and stage. A new 7,200 s.f. addition will house the restaurant kitchen, bathrooms, performer dressing rooms, the box office and lobby. It is the centerpiece of a larger renewal project that includes a new park and pedestrian corridor. Heart & Soul Park is a musically-themed outdoor venue adjacent to the Sunset Lounge. It will provide overflow entertainment space as well as an active park for community events. The 7th Street project is a redesign of the pedestrian walkway directly in front of the park. It connects the park to the restored and soon to be newly constructed shotgun houses that were typical of the 1940s and 50s. These houses will be for small business and entrepreneurial opportunities. As reported by WPB Magazine, “ The redevelopment of this celebrated site will pay homage to the rich jazz and black history of the area and celebrate its significant legacy and impact, ultimately transforming the Sunset Lounge into the epicenter for a new African-American cultural tourism destination.” All three projects should be completed by spring 2021. Satchmo himself would be proud.
