During the recent Texas Society of Architects Convention in Houston I attended a seminar named “The Power of Philanthropy: A Houston Grant Program”. During the event, a panel formed by Rives Taylor, Bruce Webb, Linda Sylvan and Jori Alexander discussed the Initiatives for Houston, a program of the Rice Design Alliance. The Initiatives for Houston grant program supports projects that focus on Houston’s built environment, its history, present condition, and future development. Past grant recipients have created an astonishing range of publications, plans, and built projects.

After the panel discussion, three recipients of the program’s grants spoke about their research projects. Nonya Grenader shared the phenomenal work she and Danny Samuels perform with their students as professors of the Rice Building Workshop. Much of their design/build work is located within the Project Row Houses campus. Her presentation concluded with a description of the recently built Zerow House which received much praise in Washington as one of the favorite entries for the Solar Decathlon. Celeste Williams showed the unprecedented research she performed on Houston’s Art Deco built heritage. Her work resulted in a detailed inventory of significant buildings of the period and a Tour Guide, updated for this year’s TSA Convention. The final presenter, Lysle Oliveros, talked and projected the product of his research which delivered a stunning video presentation of the possibilities of waste handling in Houston. I thought the video was astutely executed and asked Lysle for permission to post it here for our audience to view. Enjoy!

Houston Needs a Mountain from Lysle Oliveros on Vimeo.

Want to learn more? Check out OffCite for additional information about Lysle and his Masters Thesis.