LOV1801

POST

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Overview

Houston, Texas
550,000 ft² renovation

Brief

Reimagine the historic Barbara Jordan Post Office in downtown Houston as a mixed-use complex featuring an arts and music venue, workspaces, and one of the world’s largest rooftop parks and farms. In cooperation with OMA, MTWTF, Powers Brown, Hoerr Schaudt, and Dot Dash. The POST visual identity system was developed by MTWTF.

Services

Design and documentation, testing, vehicular and pedestrian wayfinding

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Site Analysis

  • Site offers a cultural terminus to the Bagby Street corridor in north downtown
  • Opportunity to reuse and feature architectural artifacts from the existing site (flag pole, column identification), preserving the historic significance of the original post office
  • Wayfinding program must be distinguishable but also align with the character of the existing structure and new architecture

Updates

09/07/23

Roof Portal

PM roof
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Suspended POST MARKET neon for the Skylawn

09/13/22

POST in Cite

POST Cite documentation1 POST Cite documentation2 POST Cite documentation3 POST Cite documentation4 POST Cite documentation5 POST Cite documentation6 POST Cite documentation7
1/7 Write-up by Drake Flood with a premium design by MG&Co.; edited by Jack Murphy

It's a good idea to join Rice Design Alliance and subscribe to Cite: The Architecture and Design Review of Houston

02/11/22

The Spirit of the Place

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1/6 Thanks to Kirby, Salome, and Jason

Photographs by Leonid Furmansky

01/28/22

Project Documentation

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Photographs by Mickey Aloisio

01/11/22

Site Identification Installation

Size: Maximum Allowed
01/07/22

Project Features

🔗 OMA
🔗 The Architect's Newspaper
🔗 designboom
🔗 Houston Chronicle
🔗 Arch20
🔗 ArchDaily

12/23/21

Sign structure models

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09/22/21

Skylawn Signage Install

Skylawn identification
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1/7 Rooftop signage
09/09/21

Fabrication

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1/5 Shop visit to GraphTec, Inc.
07/15/21

Interior Install

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Phase one installation
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02/01/21

Skylawn Surveys

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1/5 Rooftop signage planning
01/20/21

Site Walks / Construction

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1/5 Sign location planning, construction process documentation
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01/04/21

Bayou Sight Line Study

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Pedestrian path view
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12/23/20

Design Team Site Walk

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1/7 Mockup reviews and sign location planning
Interior construction
11/02/20

Scale Model: Site Identification

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1/3 Philip built a wood model of the site identification sign structure
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1/2 Internal illumination simulated with electroluminescent wire and printed vellum
09/25/20

Site Identification

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1/6 Material and Illumination studies
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1/10 Development of form and structure
07/25/20

Unused: path lamps

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1/2 Landscape lighting studies
07/19/20

Under Construction

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1/3 Scenes from a site visit
04/20/20

Studying: material transparency, flexibility, shadow color

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1/3 Clamp lamp and flexible PVC
08/13/19

Barbara Jordan Statement, 1974

0.1mb Barbara_Jordan_on_Impeachment.pdf
08/12/19

Installation

Custom sewn 8'×12' graphic appliqué flag flying over 401 Franklin (flag by Kronberg's)
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Pre-flight visibility tests (pictured from a distance of ~300ft.)

Kronberg's Flags
kronbergsflagsandflagpoles.com/

08/12/19

Field Test

1:1 mockup of sign type 406
08/12/19

Field Test

1:1 mockup of sign type 405
IMG 5878 IMG 5864 2 IMG 5889 IMG 5886 IMG 5887
1/5 Fabricating scale mockup of sign type 405 in Philip's wood shop
06/27/19

Houston Chronicle Article

Coverage of the POST public announcement and ground breaking ceremony
06/26/19

Field Test

Using an augmented reality iPhone application to answer questions of scale for planned scaffolding installation.

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1/3 Scale visualization test
Scale visualization test
06/21/19

Featured on OMA

Announcement of OMA's involvement in the design of POST Houston
06/14/18

Workshop × MTWTF

POST site halftone
Initial planning and charrette at the office of MTWTF, New York
04/30/18

Site Visit, Workshop

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1/9 Site tour and project workshop with OMA, Powers Brown, Hoerr Schaudt, MTWTF
03/01/18

Announcement of Work

FORMATION is pleased to be part of the design team reimagining the former US Postal Service distribution center at 401 Franklin in Downtown Houston.

This important structure was originally designed by Wilson Morris Crain & Anderson and named in honor of Barbara Jordan, civil rights activist and the first Southern African-American woman elected to the US House of Representatives.

Post Antique edited Jordan
1/2 The historic Barbara Jordan Post Office building in 1962, Barbara Jordan
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  • POST Cite documentation1
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     Write-up by Drake Flood with a premium design by MG&Co.; edited by Jack Murphy
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     Write-up by Drake Flood with a premium design by MG&Co.; edited by Jack Murphy
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     Write-up by Drake Flood with a premium design by MG&Co.; edited by Jack Murphy
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     Write-up by Drake Flood with a premium design by MG&Co.; edited by Jack Murphy
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     Write-up by Drake Flood with a premium design by MG&Co.; edited by Jack Murphy
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     Write-up by Drake Flood with a premium design by MG&Co.; edited by Jack Murphy
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     Write-up by Drake Flood with a premium design by MG&Co.; edited by Jack Murphy
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     Thanks to Kirby, Salome, and Jason
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     Thanks to Kirby, Salome, and Jason
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  • Size: Maximum Allowed
  • Skylawn identification
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     Rooftop signage
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     Rooftop signage
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     Rooftop signage
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     Rooftop signage
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     Rooftop signage
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     Shop visit to GraphTec, Inc.
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     Shop visit to GraphTec, Inc.
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     Shop visit to GraphTec, Inc.
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     Shop visit to GraphTec, Inc.
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     Shop visit to GraphTec, Inc.
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    Phase one installation
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     Rooftop signage planning
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     Rooftop signage planning
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     Rooftop signage planning
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     Rooftop signage planning
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     Rooftop signage planning
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     Sign location planning, construction process documentation
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     Sign location planning, construction process documentation
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     Sign location planning, construction process documentation
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    Pedestrian path view
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     🚣
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  • POST sitewalk 1223
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     Mockup reviews and sign location planning
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     Mockup reviews and sign location planning
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     Mockup reviews and sign location planning
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     Mockup reviews and sign location planning
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     Mockup reviews and sign location planning
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     Mockup reviews and sign location planning
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     Mockup reviews and sign location planning
  • Interior construction
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     Philip built a wood model of the site identification sign structure
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     Philip built a wood model of the site identification sign structure
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     Philip built a wood model of the site identification sign structure
  • POST model update4
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     Internal illumination simulated with electroluminescent wire and printed vellum
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     Internal illumination simulated with electroluminescent wire and printed vellum
  • POST site ID lighting1
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     Material and Illumination studies
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     Material and Illumination studies
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     Material and Illumination studies
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     Material and Illumination studies
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     Material and Illumination studies
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     Development of form and structure
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     Development of form and structure
  • POST lamp studies render
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     Landscape lighting studies
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     Landscape lighting studies
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     Scenes from a site visit
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     Scenes from a site visit
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     Scenes from a site visit
  • POST materials
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     Clamp lamp and flexible PVC
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     Clamp lamp and flexible PVC
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     Clamp lamp and flexible PVC
  • Custom sewn 8'×12' graphic appliqué flag flying over 401 Franklin (flag by Kronberg's)
  • IMG 5882 2
    Pre-flight visibility tests (pictured from a distance of ~300ft.)
  • 1:1 mockup of sign type 406
  • 1:1 mockup of sign type 405
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     Fabricating scale mockup of sign type 405 in Philip's wood shop
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     Fabricating scale mockup of sign type 405 in Philip's wood shop
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     Fabricating scale mockup of sign type 405 in Philip's wood shop
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     Fabricating scale mockup of sign type 405 in Philip's wood shop
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     Fabricating scale mockup of sign type 405 in Philip's wood shop
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     Scale visualization test
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     Scale visualization test
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     Scale visualization test
  • Scale visualization test
  • POST site halftone
    Initial planning and charrette at the office of MTWTF, New York
  • Site visit 0007 IMG 3447
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     Site tour and project workshop with OMA, Powers Brown, Hoerr Schaudt, MTWTF
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     Site tour and project workshop with OMA, Powers Brown, Hoerr Schaudt, MTWTF
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     Site tour and project workshop with OMA, Powers Brown, Hoerr Schaudt, MTWTF
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     Site tour and project workshop with OMA, Powers Brown, Hoerr Schaudt, MTWTF
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     Site tour and project workshop with OMA, Powers Brown, Hoerr Schaudt, MTWTF
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     Site tour and project workshop with OMA, Powers Brown, Hoerr Schaudt, MTWTF
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     Site tour and project workshop with OMA, Powers Brown, Hoerr Schaudt, MTWTF
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     Site tour and project workshop with OMA, Powers Brown, Hoerr Schaudt, MTWTF
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     Site tour and project workshop with OMA, Powers Brown, Hoerr Schaudt, MTWTF
  • Post Antique edited
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     The historic Barbara Jordan Post Office building in 1962, Barbara Jordan
  • Jordan
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     The historic Barbara Jordan Post Office building in 1962, Barbara Jordan

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