contemporary arts museum, houston 

2017
In collaboration with Logan Whitley
Critic: Craig Babe 

The Contemporary Arts Museum Houston is currently located in a small building that does not suit the needs of a growing art movement. This project proposes a new museum building down the street from the current museum.

Without urban qualities surrounding the site, the project takes on an autonomous condition. The land rises up from the site to create a clear, compact, and unified solution. Therefore, the link between building and place comes not from the surrounding neighborhood, but from references to the geography of Houston, culture of the Montrose area, and art from the contemporary movement.

Parking and leasable space are housed under a raised topographical element on which the museum lightly sits. The entrances to the building occur at depressions in the topography, where a gentle slope leads visitors to the museum structure.

The building is a minimal contrast to the flowing topography, comprising of two overlapping horizontal masses, which create a negative space that becomes the public interior space. It is within the public curtain that the building punctures the topography, creating an entrance for those who choose to drive to the museum. The leasable space and topography on the exterior of the building aim to create an urban hub for Montrose and Houston area residents.

This design strives to not only invigorate the Montrose area, but also become a new center for art, community, and culture for all of Houston.