This exhibit presents architectural analysis of downtown Houston that examines tower lobbies as interiorized public spaces. Connecting surface streets, underground tunnels, and interior commercial spaces, the lobbies are complex spatial forms that shape social activity downtown. After categorizing different types of lobbies, Bryony hones in on four specific case studies -- One Allen Center, Reliant Energy Plaza, Wells Fargo Plaza, and the Hyatt Regency Hotel -- that have the potential to activate both interior and exterior public space. The project proposes design modifications to these four case studies to catalyze better street-level public spaces. These evolutions to the lobby type aim to be deployed across multiple sites to improve the future development of downtown. The exhibit features architectural drawings and models of the overall network of tunnels and lobbies, as well as drawings of proposed design interventions.
Bryony Roberts is a designer and scholar based in Los Angeles who develops alternative strategies for engaging existing architecture. For the last two years, she was teaching as a Wortham Fellow at the Rice School of Architecture, and this fall she began teaching at SCI-Arc in Los Angeles.
