Houston, Texas, USA
POST Houston will transform a former United States Postal Service (USPS) facility on the northwest edge of Downtown Houston into a new commercial and cultural anchor.
The $31million mixed-use building—large enough to fit four Boeing 747 aircrafts—will balance elements of preservation with strategic, almost surgical, interventions to create a vibrant new hub for the city.
The over 550,000-square-foot building will become a mixed-use development featuring international cuisine, retail, art, music and innovation.
To weave the 16-acre site into the fabric of the Downtown, the warehouse is punctured vertically with skylights and atriums and raked horizontally with new passages to establish three distinct thoroughfares running from south to north through the building.
Each band has a distinct character with a range of experiences, from culture to food to creative workspaces. The bands intersect three levels: a vibrant commercial ground plane featuring a diversity of retail and food; a second level of expansive, interactive and collaborative office space; and a 6-acre rooftop park.
Openings across the three program layers not only draw visitors into the building but also create a connected network of activities.
Three atriums—X, O and Z—are excavated from the existing structural grid and defined by three distinct monumental staircases linking the layers of the building. Each atrium responds to its corresponding program and culminates in an expansive 210,000 sf rooftop park and farm.
The X atrium located closest to Bagby Street is an extension of the adjacent Theater District. Two paths converge at a single landing point, interconnecting the building’s two levels and roofscape and intersecting the paths of visitors.
The O atrium contains a more compact double helix stair optimized to fit within the grid of food stalls and kiosks that surround it. The Z atrium houses co-working spaces and lies directly north of the existing office building (to be transformed into a hotel). Here, a grand stair cuts back and forth with oversized landings that provide additional informal workspaces for the office tenants.
The “blankness” of the existing façade is treated as a powerful identity. On the north façade, a series of vertical cuts provide light to the offices, while on the south, two new entries to the lower level are carved out into shapes that correspond to the identities of the atrium stairs. These niches reinforce the character of the building’s horizontal expanse.
As it once was, the post office will remain a public building, but further enhanced to create a new openness and a gathering place for Houston. Having in recent years held large scale events such as Day for Night, the building will continue to accommodate spaces for creative experimentation house with a new event venue and an expansive, flexible cultural space.
POST Houston engages the city at multiple levels—from the Bayou and streetscape to the warehouse and its roof. Looking out to the city with a new view to Houston’s iconic downtown skyline, it highlights the site’s history while simultaneously orienting the building towards an innovative future.
Architects: OMA Office for Metropolitan Architecture
Architects of Record: Powers Brown Architecture
Landscape Architects: Hoerr Schaudt Landscape Architects
Client: Lovett Commercial
