"Houston did super job, but stadium needs to be upgraded for game to return."
The Harris County Commissioner's court will vote on a $105 million plan to turn the Astrodome into a parking garage. Thursday, Sept. 22, 2016, in Houston. ( Steve Gonzales / Houston Chronicle )
Steve Gonzales/Houston Chronicle
The Harris County Commissioner's court will vote on a $105 million plan to turn the Astrodome into a parking garage. Thursday, Sept. 22, 2016, in Houston. ( Steve Gonzales / Houston Chronicle )
Steve Gonzales/Houston Chronicle
The Harris County Commissioner's court will vote on a $105 million plan to turn the Astrodome into a parking garage. Thursday, Sept. 22, 2016, in Houston. ( Steve Gonzales / Houston Chronicle )
Steve Gonzales/Houston Chronicle
The Harris County Commissioner's court will vote on a $105 million plan to turn the Astrodome into a parking garage. Thursday, Sept. 22, 2016, in Houston. ( Steve Gonzales / Houston Chronicle )
Steve Gonzales/Houston Chronicle
The Harris County Commissioner's court will vote on a $105 million plan to turn the Astrodome into a parking garage. Thursday, Sept. 22, 2016, in Houston. ( Steve Gonzales / Houston Chronicle )
Steve Gonzales/Houston Chronicle
The Harris County Commissioner's court will vote on a $105 million plan to turn the Astrodome into a parking garage. Thursday, Sept. 22, 2016, in Houston. ( Steve Gonzales / Houston Chronicle )
Steve Gonzales/Houston Chronicle
The Harris County Commissioner's court will vote on a $105 million plan to turn the Astrodome into a parking garage. Thursday, Sept. 22, 2016, in Houston. ( Steve Gonzales / Houston Chronicle )
Steve Gonzales/Houston Chronicle
The Harris County Commissioner's court will vote on a $105 million plan to turn the Astrodome into a parking garage. Thursday, Sept. 22, 2016, in Houston. ( Steve Gonzales / Houston Chronicle )
Steve Gonzales/Houston Chronicle
The Harris County Commissioner's court will vote on a $105 million plan to turn the Astrodome into a parking garage. Thursday, Sept. 22, 2016, in Houston. ( Steve Gonzales / Houston Chronicle )
Steve Gonzales/Houston Chronicle
The Harris County Commissioner's court will vote on a $105 million plan to turn the Astrodome into a parking garage. Thursday, Sept. 22, 2016, in Houston. ( Steve Gonzales / Houston Chronicle )
Steve Gonzales/Houston Chronicle
The Harris County Commissioner's court will vote on a $105 million plan to turn the Astrodome into a parking garage. Friday, Sept. 23, 2016, in Houston. ( Steve Gonzales / Houston Chronicle )
Steve Gonzales/Houston Chronicle
The Harris County Commissioner's court will vote on a $105 million plan to turn the Astrodome into a parking garage. Friday, Sept. 23, 2016, in Houston. ( Steve Gonzales / Houston Chronicle )
Steve Gonzales/Houston Chronicle
The Harris County Commissioner's court will vote on a $105 million plan to turn the Astrodome into a parking garage. Friday, Sept. 23, 2016, in Houston. ( Steve Gonzales / Houston Chronicle )
Steve Gonzales/Houston Chronicle
The Harris County Commissioner's court will vote on a $105 million plan to turn the Astrodome into a parking garage. Thursday, Sept. 22, 2016, in Houston. ( Steve Gonzales / Houston Chronicle )
Steve Gonzales/Houston Chronicle
The Harris County Commissioner's court will vote on a $105 million plan to turn the Astrodome into a parking garage. Friday, Sept. 23, 2016, in Houston. ( Steve Gonzales / Houston Chronicle )
Steve Gonzales/Houston Chronicle
The Harris County Commissioner's court will vote on a $105 million plan to turn the Astrodome into a parking garage. Friday, Sept. 23, 2016, in Houston. ( Steve Gonzales / Houston Chronicle )
Steve Gonzales/Houston Chronicle
The Harris County Commissioner's court will vote on a $105 million plan to turn the Astrodome into a parking garage. Friday, Sept. 23, 2016, in Houston. ( Steve Gonzales / Houston Chronicle )
Steve Gonzales/Houston Chronicle
The Harris County Commissioner's court will vote on a $105 million plan to turn the Astrodome into a parking garage. Friday, Sept. 23, 2016, in Houston. ( Steve Gonzales / Houston Chronicle )
Steve Gonzales/Houston Chronicle
The Harris County Commissioner's court will vote on a $105 million plan to turn the Astrodome into a parking garage. Friday, Sept. 23, 2016, in Houston. ( Steve Gonzales / Houston Chronicle )
Steve Gonzales/Houston Chronicle
The Harris County Commissioner's court will vote on a $105 million plan to turn the Astrodome into a parking garage. Friday, Sept. 23, 2016, in Houston. ( Steve Gonzales / Houston Chronicle )
Steve Gonzales/Houston Chronicle
The Harris County Commissioner's court will vote on a $105 million plan to turn the Astrodome into a parking garage. Friday, Sept. 23, 2016, in Houston. ( Steve Gonzales / Houston Chronicle )
Steve Gonzales/Houston Chronicle
The Harris County Commissioner's court will vote on a $105 million plan to turn the Astrodome into a parking garage. Friday, Sept. 23, 2016, in Houston. ( Steve Gonzales / Houston Chronicle )
Steve Gonzales/Houston Chronicle
The Harris County Commissioner's court will vote on a $105 million plan to turn the Astrodome into a parking garage. Friday, Sept. 23, 2016, in Houston. ( Steve Gonzales / Houston Chronicle )
Steve Gonzales/Houston Chronicle
The Harris County Commissioner's court will vote on a $105 million plan to turn the Astrodome into a parking garage. Friday, Sept. 23, 2016, in Houston. ( Steve Gonzales / Houston Chronicle )
Steve Gonzales/Houston Chronicle
The Harris County Commissioner's court will vote on a $105 million plan to turn the Astrodome into a parking garage. Friday, Sept. 23, 2016, in Houston. ( Steve Gonzales / Houston Chronicle )
Steve Gonzales/Houston Chronicle
The Harris County Commissioner's court will vote on a $105 million plan to turn the Astrodome into a parking garage. Friday, Sept. 23, 2016, in Houston. ( Steve Gonzales / Houston Chronicle )
Steve Gonzales/Houston Chronicle
The Harris County Commissioner's court will vote on a $105 million plan to turn the Astrodome into a parking garage. Friday, Sept. 23, 2016, in Houston. ( Steve Gonzales / Houston Chronicle )
Steve Gonzales/Houston Chronicle
The Harris County Commissioner's court will vote on a $105 million plan to turn the Astrodome into a parking garage. Friday, Sept. 23, 2016, in Houston. ( Steve Gonzales / Houston Chronicle )
Steve Gonzales/Houston Chronicle
The Harris County Commissioner's court will vote on a $105 million plan to turn the Astrodome into a parking garage. Friday, Sept. 23, 2016, in Houston. ( Steve Gonzales / Houston Chronicle )
Steve Gonzales/Houston Chronicle
The Harris County Commissioner's court will vote on a $105 million plan to turn the Astrodome into a parking garage. Friday, Sept. 23, 2016, in Houston. ( Steve Gonzales / Houston Chronicle )
Steve Gonzales/Houston Chronicle
Astrodome the parking garage
Harris County officials have proposed a $105 million project to raise the ground level of the Astrodome up two levels and turn them into parking, the first step before the stadium can be repurposed for events, and other uses in the future. The plan was presented to commissioners on June 28, 2016.
UPDATE: It's a go.
Courtesy: Harris County Engineering Dept.
"Reliant Park and Harris County officials on Thursday announced the launch of a campaign to garner voter support for a plan to redevelop the Astrodome, with Harris County Judge Ed Emmett and Precinct 1 Commissioner El Franco Lee each pledging $5,000 to the effort. A referendum to fund the project will appear on the ballot this November. If approved, the county would issue up to $217 million in bonds to turn the now-vacant stadium into "The New Dome Experience," an energy-efficient event center flanked by an "inviting" outdoor green space." - September 13, 2013
Astrodome the skeleton (2016)
Two architects, James Richards and Ben Olschner, are proposing the Astrodome be stripped to its skeleton and used as an outdoor park.
AstroDome Park
A proposed $293 million project would have included space-themed rides and attractions in
a multi-level space city with a theater, restaurants and a hotel. This is what OTC looked like inside in 1982.
Houston Chronicle
Included in the hotel plan would have an indoor River Walk close to the one in San Antonio. We can only imagine the humidity...
For a brief while there was an obsession with turning the inside into some sort of snowy, ski-friendly wonderland. The idea never gained much traction.
Kevin Bennett/AP
Turning the floor of the Dome into one big pool of water was bandied about, with mentions of wake boarding and water skiing. We can only imagine the chlorine bill would have been through the roof. This was another idea that was seemingly incongruous with the rest of NRG Park.
The concept of a large-scale casino inside the Dome went hand in hand with most every hotel idea. First, Texas would have to legalize casino gambling. Second, can you imagine how awful traffic would have been around that area with a casino in the middle of it all?
Kin Man Hui/Staff
Yeah, not in this lifetime and certainly not in Texas.
Fort Bend County Sheriff's Office
The concept of an Astrodome movie studio was an enticing one. There would be room enough for sound stages for all manner of productions, it could bring tons of cash into the local economy, and hey, you might have been able to see Tom Cruise at the Target down the street. Alas, this idea never gained footing either.
JUNJI KUROKAWA/AP
For April Fool's Day 2010, the Houston Press' Richard Connelly wrote a hilarious feature reporting on a proposed big game hunting reserve inside the Dome. It was one of the funnier ideas to be honest.
Piet05/Getty Images/RooM RF
Astrodome the office park (2013)
This no-fun idea would have turned the Dome into some sort of hellish place with worker drones and sad sack lunches.
Beyonce’s dad wanted to turn Astrodome into a waterpark (2013)
"Mathew Knowles, father of singer and Houston native Beyoncé Knowles-Carter, had an eye on turning the Dome into a waterpark. “We are still very much interested in the Dome,” Knowles said in an e-mail to sports corporation Executive Director Willie Loston, referencing an earlier in-person meeting in 2013. “There are still some milestones we must overcome, which I will mail to you and others tomorrow.” Loston said Knowles was working with a group that builds and runs water amusement parks that wanted to turn the Astrodome into something like Splash Town Water Park on Interstate 45. “We met with them and, no, they did not submit a formal proposal, but certainly indicated in e-mail correspondence that they were still interested in the idea and they thought they could come up with the money,” Loston said. The financial backing never came through, however, for Beyonce’s daddy or any of the rest of those who submitted ideas." - June 24, 2013
Melissa Phillip/Staff
Astrodome the Eiffel Tower of the South (2013)
A proposal by Ryan Slattery, of Slattery Design Studio, would strip the Astrodome to its steel bones and install a park.
Ryan Slattery/Slattery Design Studio
A piece on architectural blog 'Archinect' by Alfonso E. Hernandez brought up the skeletal idea.
"Let’s strip it bare back to its frame and have out-of-towners wonder why it is so. It will minimize maintenance costs while keeping the footprint of the building. Thus, by only making it useless it may be the only way to save it. That way, we’ll buy some time to see how it can truly, purposely be reused AND don’t lose it to circumstantial interests along the way. The ethereal nature of its bare structure will capture everyone’s attention. I imagined that for the people involved in its construction process, the shell in itself wouldn’t mean much, just another day at work, putting together bolts and plates. But to us looking at it 50 years later, facing the prospect of demolition for lack of good options, this shell becomes both haunting and evocative, that memory of a brighter future and at the same time, the challenge of not forgetting." - October 20, 2011
Yeah, good luck getting any sleep on Sundays in the fall and winter and most of February and March.
Voters may be asked to OK $500M dome, arena plan (2012)
"The Harris County Sports & Convention Corp. on Wednesday recommended that Commissioners Court ask voters to renovate the Reliant Astrodome into a multipurpose venue for $270 million and replace aging Reliant Arena for $385.4 million. A consulting team led by Conventions Sports & Leisure estimated the net cost to taxpayers at $523 million, after the use of tax credits. If Commissioners Court wants a smaller price tag, the Dome could be demolished and replaced with a park plaza for $64 million, the consultants estimated." - May 23, 2012
Larry Reese/MBI
Astrodome the hangout park (2016)
A photo from 29-year-old Ryan Slattery’s proposal to strip the Astrodome down to its frame and install a park underneath.
Remember the Houston Hotshots? That team before the Dynamo? At one point we wanted to refashion the Dome into a soccer stadium, just after the Astros and Oilers had left. With more of an effort and the right chips falling into place this just might have happened.
Steve Campbell/Staff
Astrodome the Texas dance hall (2013)
In June 2013 the Houston Chronicle was able to see the nearly two dozen ideas that had been submitted, half-baked and otherwise, for the Dome's future. This idea would essentially make it a giant Gilley's.
J. Griffis Smith
"Reliant Park officials have unveiled a $1.35 billion plan that would convert the Astrodome to a multipurpose convention and science center as part of a redevelopment that also would replace Reliant Arena and construct a hotel with as many as 1,500 rooms.The so-called Astrodome Renaissance would include convention space, a planetarium, a series of interactive exhibits that would allow users to simulate space and deep sea exploration, an alternative energy center and a movie studio." - June 14, 2010
GMTO Corporation
Astrodome rest in peace (1999-Present)
Of course there are have always been many people who wished that the Dome would go the way of Seattle's Kingdome...
(Note: Implosion wouldn't have been a practical way to demolish the building. It would need to have been done piece by piece.)
ELAINE THOMPSON/AP
Astrodome space history museum
"Why not just drag things like the Saturn V, which resides in its exhibit at the Johnson Space Center, into the Dome?" a few people proposed. The rationale only seemed to be that the place was big enough and already had "astro" in its name.
Steve Ueckert/Houston Chronicle file
Doesn't everyone love golf? No? OK, next idea...
Marie D. De Jesus/Staff
A Swamplot commenter had a fantastic idea to turn the whole thing into a giant solar panel.
Houston Post
"Just like the
National Air & Space Museum, it could collect the actual artifacts
of the industry that calls Houston home and that plays such an important
part in all of our daily lives. You could put a whole supertanker, a few notorious drilling rigs, some significant parts of an oil refinery, working solar panels and several generations of windmill turbines inside." - Swamplot commenter, 2010.
Karen Warren/Houston Chronicle
Astrodome indoor beach park (2015)
Philipp Amstutz, left, Tropical Islands director of operations, talks with Judge Ed Emmett, Harris County’s highest elected official, right, and Harris County director of communications Joe Stinebaker, center, in Brand, near Berlin, Germany, Monday, May 4, 2015, at the Tropical Islands, where ambitious entrepreneurs planned to revive Germany's zeppelin industry. A delegation from Texas toured the facility to see if lessons learned by the Germans can be applied to converting the Houston Astrodome.
David Rising/Associated Press
Astrodome park and zip line (2014)
"The latest proposal for the aging Astrodome calls for converting the structure into an indoor park and civic space, including an indoor grassy lawn and an outdoor promenade lined with oak trees. An Urban Land Institute panel, comprised of urban planners, economists and designers from around the country, released its preliminary recommendations Friday at the NRG Center." - December 19, 2014.
teitler/Urban Land Institute
"Why not just rebuild Astroworld inside the Astrodome and make everyone over 30 years old happy?" After all, an 18-story
office building would fit inside the Astrodome.
MELISSA LYTTLE/STR
Astrodome the "adventure park" (2014)
The indoor park could incorporate an "Adventure Park" with zip lines and a rock climbing wall. The event space could help generate revenue to pay for the park and hold community festivals, farmer's markets, movie nights and charity events. It also recommended a parking structure with 1,500 net spaces.
Urban Land Institute
$66M plan would replace dome with green space (2014)
"The Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo and the NFL’s Houston Texans have devised a $66 million plan to demolish the vacant Astrodome and turn the site into an outdoor green space that is reminiscent of downtown’s Discovery Green and also pays tribute to the historic stadium." - July 10, 2014
20628/Gensler Architects
"Astrodome Hall of Fame"
"The project, titled the "Astrodome Hall of Fame," calls for tearing down the dome, bringing the floor to ground level and installing an open-air structure where the walls once stood, according to a 37-page proposal obtained by the Houston Chronicle. The plan, drawn up by two architecture and construction firms, is designed to pay tribute to "the Astrodome's history" and realize its potential as an "outdoor fulcrum" of NRG Park." - July 10, 2014
20628/Gensler Architects
"We're sick of our stray zombies roaming the streets biting dogs, the elderly, and the NATO forces hired to patrol our disputed zones. It's time to round up as many of the zombies as we can and leave them in the Dome. Even President J.J. Watt is for it." - July 6, 2032
Gene Page/Handout
In November 2013 the Architects Newspaper released a handful of fun proposals delivered by some imaginative architects for the Dome
This proposal pulls the surrounding environment into the Astrodome, turning the structure into a 13,000-space garage, dramatically reducing the walk from car to stadium and creating a new shared experience for Houstonians.
Courtesy of the Architect's Newspaper
In 2046, when storm waters from the relatively weak Tropical Storm Rick surged up the Ship Channel, Houston knew it had only a few years left to prepare.
Although no one remembered who first proposed the idea, it was a simple enough solution. A steel hull would be fabricated underneath the Astrodome so that when the waters eventually came, the structure would simply float up and away. Stored securely inside the dome were the libraries of Rice and the University of Houston along with the collections of the MFAH and The Menil Collection as well as the specimens of the Museum of Natural Science and the Houston Zoo.
150 years after the sea came for Galveston, it came for Houston. It was not a dramatic surge of a storm that moved the Houston Ark off its moorings. Instead it was the slow and incremental rise of the Gulf. The area around the Astrodome had been inundated for some time, returning the landscape to its native swamp environment. It was on a hot Tuesday morning in November of 2050 when the sensors indicated that the Ark had risen free of its original footings. The stabilizing thrusters were activated and the vessel set off on its journey.
Courtesy of the Architect's Newspaper
The New Astrodome seeks to establish a simulated reality—one of variable scale, speed, and matter—while at the same time reinvigorating the old Astrodomain as a destination in Houston. The proposal embraces Houston's identity as Space City and is based on themes of outer space, earth, and how they relate to each other in physical space and space-time.
Courtesy of the Architect's Newspaper
RELATED: Let's also tear down the NRG Arena....
"Though the Dome has a higher profile, Sports Corp. chairman Edgardo Colon said the consultants believe replacing Reliant Arena is a higher priority, and would allow the county to better compete for events, shows and conventions it cannot host now. The proposed $385 million fix would demolish the arena and replace it with a performance space with up to 10,000 seats, along with 250,000 square feet of exhibit space, more ballrooms and meeting space and a 3,000-space parking garage. The consultants' master plan also includes room for a hotel to be financed by private investors and connected to the renovated Dome by a skybridge." - May 23, 2012
Melissa Phillip/StaffThat was the headline of John McClain's column last week about the Super Bowl. And by most reasonable accounts, Houston did a remarkable job for what turned out to be a remarkable game.
But wait. To get more events, he writes, we need to spend more? What could make NRG Stadium competitive with the NFL trend of overbuilding stadiums?
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Can NRG be expanded to hold 105,000 fans like the Cowboys' big television that happens to have a football field under it?
Read the rest on HoustonChronicle.com.
