2019-2020 Senior Honors Theses
Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://hdl.handle.net/10657/6786
This collection contains theses produced by Class of 2020 Honors students
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Browsing 2019-2020 Senior Honors Theses by Subject "Architecture Impermanence"
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Item Ghosting I. M. Pei(2020-05) Rabitoy, ColetteIn 1980 I. M. Pei completed his design of the Chase Tower, a building that has still holds the title as the tallest in Houston. The project was built with funds from the late 70's Oil boom along with a surplus of other banking and office infrastructure. In 1984 Pei designed a drive-through bank as an addition to the Chase Tower, built four blocks away at Milam and Congress Street. The pinwheel one-story structure ignores its potential connection to Buffalo Bayou. Today, online banking as well as real estate pressure on a one-story full block site makes the drive-through obsolete, and the location on the bayou leaves the building vulnerable to flooding. The building is abandoned, and its lot is used for parking and loitering. This project explores obsolescence in architecture and aims to build on I. M. Pei's legacy by reimagining the future use of the drive-through bank and its connection to the sub-grade surrounding landscape.