coredesignstudio
Houston Zoo – Birds of The World Exhibit
Birds from around the would pass through Houston during their migration. The new aviary exhibit at the Houston Zoo not only celebrates the completion of their Centennial Capital Campaign, but also encourages visitors to discover how they can support bird conservation efforts locally and internationally.
The exhibit’s design mirrors the elegance and fluidity of bird forms, incorporating iridescent feather textures and a shifting color palette that reflects diverse ecosystems and habitats. Our approach creates an immersive encounter that celebrates the beauty and diversity of global bird species, while highlighting the Houston Zoo’s ongoing mission of conservation and education.
CORE was responsible for creating a unique interpretive experience for visitors by branding the exhibit to designing, fabricating, and installing all signage and interpretive elements.
Your visit to the Houston Zoo Birds of the World exhibit helps save birds locally and internationally. Make a visit soon!
Louisiana Art & Science Museum – Periodic Table Exhibit
The Periodic Table of Elements can be a very abstract and complex system to understand. It is truly awe-inspiring to think that within the 118 elements are the building blocks of all matter and things in the universe. CORE’s goal was to create a periodic table exhibit that is accessible and engaging to visitors. Illuminating, quite literally, how it is classified, its history and how it relates to things in our everyday lives.
Brenham Heritage Museum
Brenham is one of the best preserved small cities in Texas with a layered history that spans Native American tribes to the first European settlers before the Texas Independence.
Housed in the historic former Brenham Post Office, the Brenham Heritage Museum provides a unique glimpse into the history, culture and people of Brenham and Washington County. The first phase of exhibits covers early photographers, agriculture, transportation, military and it’s former use as the town post office.
Each exhibit provides a different user experience with tactile elements and artifacts along with touchscreens, whimsical experiences and physical interactives.
Interactive P.O. Boxes at Brenham Heritage Museum
The Brenham Heritage Museum is housed in the former Federal Post Office.
In an effort to retain its former glory as a post office and community gathering space, CORE purchased and repurposed a set of interactive post office boxes and reinstalled them into their original space in the entry lobby.
Each of the 128 doors and drawers contains unique exhibits and will provide visitors with a glimpse into the history of Washington County, the city of Brenham, and many of the county and city’s residents. Opening one of the many brass doors will reveal historic images, miniature dioramas of local architecture and landmarks, small artifacts from the museum’s collection, whimsical artful assemblages and portholes to another universe. Several of the doors within the exhibit activate a voiceover recording of the historical oral narratives from residents, all of which deeply convey the community’s vibrant history.
Visitors young and old discover new experiences and wonders behind each of its fanciful brass doors with the ultimate goal that understanding and interpreting history can be a fun and rewarding journey.
Trebly Park
Surrounded by glistening skyscrapers and high rise apartment buildings, Trebly Park is a lively urban park located in Southern Downtown Houston and is owned and operated by Downtown District.
It’s name, “Trebly,” meaning “Three Times As Much”, was inspired by the shape of the park, an L-shape occupying three city block corners. It’s address Block 333, and it’s ultimate purpose to be three times as much joy, play, interaction, communal activities and flavor. The brand reflects the spirit of the park and the young professional residents and workers.
CORE was responsible naming, branding, signage and visual identity. 3 times as much! It was a joy, much like the park, to work on this project and see it come to fruition.
Gerald D. Hines Dedication Wall
Houston Endowment Legacy Room
Houston Endowment—a philanthropic foundation established in 1937 by Jesse H. and Mary Gibbs Jones—advances access to opportunity for the people of Greater Houston. Its new headquarters, designed by Kevin Daly Architects, sits like a graceful white egret along the banks of Buffalo Bayou.
In collaboration with writer and curator Steven Fenberg, CORE designed, programmed and fabricated next to the building’s soaring main lobby a Legacy Room that tells the story of Jesse H. and Mary Gibbs Jones and the foundation’s history. Jesse Jones was Houston’s preeminent developer during the first half of the 20th century and was one of the nation’s most influential government officials during the Great Depression and World War II. As an active community volunteer, Mary Gibbs Jones was Jesse Jones’s devoted partner in philanthropy, public service and in life.
The room celebrates the Joneses through a comprehensive timeline with corresponding artifacts, six screens with rotating images on walls covered in iconic photographic murals and a touchscreen that displays historic images and information. The room shows how the Joneses’ contributions and accomplishments inform the culture of Houston Endowment today.
Glenwood Cemetery
Glenwood Cemetery Visitor’s Center, designed by Dillon Kyle Architects, is a stunning modern building that pays homage to materials and historic elements of this storied 150 year old cemetery. Located near the entrance of Glenwood Cemetery, perched along its rolling topography, CORE was invited to design the signage and donor recognition program for the new building and entrance.
IAH Airport Connector Tunnel – Public Art
Our artistic concept for the connector tunnel between Terminals D and E pays homage to and welcomes the countless individuals from other countries, some of who come to Houston in search of fulfilling dreams of a better life. These new arrivals are immersed in a visually stunning multisensory experience, providing them with a glimpse of Houston’s diverse multicultural community.
Portraits of 60 individuals, 30 on each side are combined with brief personal stories that express their experience upon arrival in Houston.
CORE was responsible to create a modern and timeless ambient atmospheric immersive artwork highlighting our city’s greatest assets, it’s people.
Houston Zoo – South America’s Pantanal
The Pantanal in South America is the world’s largest wetland. This new immersive exhibit at the Houston Zoo gives visitors a glimpse into this amazing and unique water-rich ecosystem that supports a dense diversity of wild flora and fauna. It also underscores the mission of the Houston Zoo to connect the visitors experience with saving the animal wildlife they are encountering.
Core’s role was to design and develop interpretive experiences to give visitors an understanding of the animals, their unique habitats and how we can all aid in saving each of these unique species.
Museo Interactivo Del Agua
Set in Barranca del Cupatitzio National Park in Uruapan, Mexico, this interactive water museum features exhibits we created that cover topics ranging from regional Flora and Fauna, Water Use and Conservation in the Home, Global Water Supply Shortages, Environmental Stewardship and Water’s importance in our body.
The dark atmospheric setting inside contrasts the tropical oasis with spring fed pools and waterfalls just outside its doors.
Asia Society Texas Center – Yōkai
Asia Society of Texas partnered with us to bring to life 80 woodblock prints and printed books that span over 250 years, each telling tales of mystical creatures called Yōkai that have been part of Japanese myth and folklore for centuries.
We curated and designed the exhibit space with teal accent walls, lightweight scroll-like forms and subtle animations projected on large mesh drapery in each room that evoked and immersed visitors into the ghostly apparitions of the Yōkai. The ambient low lighting and spotlights give each print its own moment in time. Some scenes also came to life using wood paneling as an invitation for visitors to interact and be a part of the Yōkai’s tales.
Houston Vision Zero Action Plan
“Every other day someone loses their life in a traffic crash on Houston streets. Three people each day suffer from severe, life-altering injuries. Lives lost and serious injuries are unnecessary traumas for those involved and their family and friends. We can prevent people from dying and being seriously injured on our roadways.”
In an effort to eliminate traffic fatalities in Houston, the City of Houston developed and is implementing the Vision Zero Action Plan.
https://www.houstontx.gov/visionzero/
Oeiras Museu da Água, Portugal
The City of Oeiras, Portugal, on the outskirts of Lisbon, reached out to CORE to develop a Master Plan and Concepts for Exhibits for a 6-story Water Museum. Three separate concepts for the narrative of the museum were explored ranging on topics such as Hydrologic Cycle, Water in Living Things, States of Water, Growth of Civilizations on Water, Origins of Life in Water, Urban Water Cycle relating to Lisbon, Agriculture, Environmental Stewardship, Water Culture, Water in the Body, and Human’s Impact on Water and the Environment.
The architects on this exciting project feature a conceptual cloud atop the building that rains through the central portion of the structure to the bottom floor. [link to architect]
Houston Flood Museum
The Houston Flood Museum Mobile Exhibit is a pop-up mobile environmental and multilingual exhibit that allows visitors to record stories (like StoryCorps) about what the environment means to them, what are the most pressing environmental issues and how elected officials can help. It debuted on 2023 Earth Day Celebration in Houston and is used at events to engage communities.
Your Body / Your Air
YOUR BODY / YOUR AIR is a recently completed miniature mobile museum for the Environmental Defense Fund and the Health Museum Houston. It focuses on air quality and the disproportionate amount of pollution in underserved neighborhoods in Houston. The exhibit includes several movies and animations about Environmental Injustices occurring in Houston and the effects of air pollutants on our bodies/lungs.
This mobile museum will travel to libraries, schools and neighborhoods reaching populations that otherwise wouldn’t visit the museum district. Core was responsible for naming, branding, exhibit design, animations and technology.
visit the website: yourbodyyourair.org/
The Enchantress of Florence – Salman Rushdie
Miniature chapbooks designed and handsewn in collaboration with book artist Cathy Hunt for the patrons of Inprint’s 2015 Poets & Writers Ball. These highly collectible saddle-bag inspired books feature an excerpt from Salman Rushdie’s The Enchantress of Florence and are signed by the author.
Children’s Museum Houston
The Children’s Museum of Houston approached us to upgrade the Matter Factory exhibit with an introduction to the Periodic Table of Elements. Going beyond charting the elements, and the materials and matter that are derived from the elements, our dynamic interactive wall uses computer controlled colored LED lighting, along with integrated touchscreen monitors to create a unique interactive and educational experience for children. Visitors can discover the associations found in the periodic table, and can query which elements make up various organic and inorganic components and objects in our environment.
Laredo Water Museum
Masterplanning, design, branding, content development, programming, fabrication and installation for an immersive water museum exhibit at Jefferson Water Treatment Plant in Laredo, Texas. Positioned on the Rio Grande, one of America’s most threatened water sources, the museum’s narrative examines the complex nature of water use and water rights, while informing and engaging a generation to respect and protect water resources and encourage future water stewardship.
Liberty Utilities
In an effort to increase it’s educational outreach about it’s role as sustainable utility company, Liberty Utilities approached us to conceive, design and build an exhibit in their new customer lobby with engaging interactives that explain the urban water cycle, the role of Liberty Utilities, and the different ways we can save energy and water.
The exhibits feature several video animations triggered by rotating valves and hand manipulation. Ultimately, this educational component will provide an understanding of where we receive our water, how we can conserve water in the home and how wasterwater is treated and ecologically re-entered into our waterways and recharge aquifers.
STAGES – The Gordy
A unique interior and garage wayfinding system, donor recognition program, and exterior environmental signage for STAGES Theater. Use of vibrant, contrasting colors, and dramatic shifts in tactile surfaces reflect the qualities of STAGES’ dynamic and diverse performance program.
Holiday Banners
These holiday banners punctuate the streets of Downtown Houston during the winter season with vibrant pops of color and a call for seasonal cheer! Use of basic shapes, non-traditional color palettes, and succinct wording delivers a timeless and inclusive holiday greeting to all who pass by.
Annunciation Orthodox School
An extensive donor recognition program that includes a detailed galactic coordinate star chart which serves as the base for a large-scale donor recognition wall that overlooks the central dining hall at Annunciation Orthodox School. Constellation wall graphics dispersed throughout the campus provide for numerous didactic opportunities in addition to individual donor recognition.
Sunset Coffee Building
Anchoring Allen’s Landing, the birthplace of Houston on Buffalo Bayou, is the Sunset Coffee Building. Built in 1910 and one of Houston’s first and remaining industrial structures, the building underwent a recent restoration and revitalization to make it a prime recreational and cultural center along Buffalo Bayou in Downtown Houston. CORE was responsible for identity and branding, design, fabrication, production and installation of the signage program, donor recognition, exhibit and interpretive panels, collateral design, and custom designed furniture, all of which celebrate its role as a historically active industrial port and a future hub and destination in Downtown.
Deep South
Handmade chapbooks, in collaboration with book artist Cathy Hunt of FioCat Press, made for the patrons of Inprint’s 2018 Poets & Writers Ball. They feature an excerpt from Paul Theroux’s Deep South: An Excerpt.
NEST 360°
Standing for Newborn Essential Solutions and Technologies, NEST 360° is a multi-institutional and international partnership between engineers, doctors, and global health experts, committed to reducing neonatal mortality in sub-Saharan hospitals.
CORE’s role was to design and develop a comprehensive visual brand guideline and communication strategies, providing consistency and reflecting the mission and goals of NEST 360°.
Inprint Margarett Root Brown Reading Series 2017-18
The Inprint Margarett Root Brown Reading Series is one of the best author series in the nation featuring award-winning writers of fiction, poetry, and creative nonfiction.
Houston Land Bank
Houston Land Bank works in historically underserved neighborhoods across Houston. They are always looking for new opportunities to help, whether it’s through buying and selling property for community improvement, or by partnering with communities to identify the best ways to support their transformation and revitalization. CORE designed and developed a branding system, print collateral, and website that visually strengthen Houston Land Bank’s commitment to our neighbors in Houston.
Moody Foundation Biennial Report
For over 70 years, The Moody Foundation has funded projects and programs that better communities in Texas. The design of the commemorative biennial report celebrates Robert L. Moody’s philanthropic efforts and achievements during his time as chairman of the Foundation, while marking the next generation’s commitment to carry on his legacy of philanthropy and look toward the future.
Sleepy’s
Sleepy’s is a collection of mattresses sold at the thousands of Mattress Firms nationwide. They are perfect mattresses for someone looking for a great bed at a great price. Their mattresses can be found at the intersection of comfort and value and our branding and collateral design works to empower this central message.
Cite 99
Design and art direction for issue 99 of Cite: The Architecture + Design Review of Houston. The issue focuses on landscape architecture and urban planning, and addresses the discernible interrelationship between the “synthetic” built environment and its relationship to the “natural” landscape. The concept, design and typography uses structural opposition and consonance to reflect the insight required to produce a forward-thinking city engaged in reconstructing landscapes, flood management, and equity.
Eligible
An edition of handcrafted chapbooks produced in collaboration with book artist Cathy Hunt for Inprint’s 2017 Poets & Writers Ball. Featuring an excerpt from Curtis Sittenfeld’s Eligible, the book design uses a modish color palette and experimental typography to highlight the character quirks and witty point of view in this modern-day retelling of Pride and Prejudice.
Downtown Friendswood
We developed a brand expression for Downtown Friendswood that reflects the mission and goals established by the district while addressing feedback and analysis from the community. This brand expression defines Downtown Friendswood as a unique, cohesive, and lively area that will attract new businesses and enhance the downtown experience for the residents of Friendswood.
Buffalo Bayou Park
Buffalo Bayou Park is Houston’s premiere green space, covering 124 acres along Houston’s main waterway and including event spaces, a dog park, and hike and bike trails. CORE was responsible for the design of mapping, interpretive panels, signage, website, mobile application and various print materials for the Park.
California Cultural Districts
The California Cultural Districts program, managed by the California Arts Council, was developed to assist Californians in leveraging the state’s considerable assets in culture, creativity, and diversity. The program sets out to define geographic areas in the state with a high concentration of cultural resources and activities.
In partnership with Cusick Consulting, CORE was selected to design the identity, branding, signage and collateral for the new district program. The brand concept and logo plays with a system of patterns, color, shapes and orientations that allows for flexibility and modularity across the various state districts and contexts.
Astrodome Conservancy
Inspired by the ancient Colosseum in Rome and dubbed the “Eighth Wonder of the World,” the Astrodome continues to inspire generations of Houstonians with its Texas-sized scale and attitude and its colorful history of characters.
The Astrodome Conservancy was founded in 2016 to assist Harris County and any affiliates by rehabilitating, managing, developing, promoting, and supporting the Houston Astrodome in a manner that offers education, recreation, and inspiration in a dynamic setting for the County’s citizens and visitors.
To support the Astrodome Conservancy’s efforts, CORE created an identity that highlights the goals of the conservancy. The branding evolved around a detail sensitive, iconic mark which we designed to appeal to both policy makers and the general public. The branding collateral, firmly rooted in its “space-city” past and pioneer future, uses a flexible system of typographic expressions, slogans, icons and palettes which, when recombined, reinforce the goals of the Conservancy for different contexts and audiences.
Downtown Magazine 2016 Issues
Downtown is a quarterly publication that is part city magazine, part guide. Inside you’ll find topical editorials and profiles, and comprehensive dining and event guides. The 2016 issues featured articles about Houston’s new mayor, downtown residents, the Super Bowl, and a new Downtown initiative, Art Blocks.
Central Houston Brochure
Central Houston is the steward of Houston’s vision for the redevelopment and revitalization of downtown. It facilitates many of the public and private projects that transform downtown. This membership brochure explains the importance and benefits of becoming a member of Central Houston and the important role the organization plays in the development of downtown Houston.
Learn Central
The Learn Central interactive website was created to promote the outstanding schools, diverse mix of neighborhoods, and top-notch cultural and entertainment offerings within Houston’s 610 Loop. We believe Houston’s inner loop is a great place to run a business, raise a family and enjoy a fulfilling lifestyle.
Promenade at the Federal Reserve
The Michael Graves-designed Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, Houston Branch, is strategically positioned on Buffalo Bayou, Houston’s most significant waterway. The promenade design emphasizes the bayou as the historic apex and economic lifeblood of this relatively young and thriving metropolis.
As you make your way to the main entrance of the building, a dry creek representing Buffalo Bayou takes you on a journey from Galveston Bay up the ship channel to Downtown Houston. Punctuated along the promenade are markers that tell the stories of significant historic locations along Buffalo Bayou.
Keylab
Keylab is a new modern music, arts, and technology education studio in Brooklyn, New York that offers private lessons, group classes, and workshops for people of all ages. The brand and graphics created reflect the idea that music education is both a science and an art, rooted in history, and uses the newest technology to create.
Figurative Poetics
Figurative Poetics is an engaging alternative that goes beyond simplistic site-specific, place-making and way-finding approaches. The 530 banners capture the diverse voices of Houston’s robust literary scene from Houston’s poet laureates to school children with a collection of poetry, quotes and lyrics juxtaposed with images of life in Downtown Houston. Figurative Poetics beautifully reveals the complex and unlikely character that is Houston. Special thanks to contributing local and national poets and writers, both young and old, and to Miah Arnold of Grackle and Grackle.
The Mercer Society
The Mercer Society is the non-profit organization that works to enhance and beautify the Mercer Botanic Garden, a 300-acre horticultural treasure that showcases the Gulf Coast region’s largest collection of native and cultivated plants, and serves over 250,000 yearly visitors. Ravaged by floods, we initiated rebranding and collateral design as a fundraising effort to restore and revitalize the gardens.
Downtown District Operations Branding
The Downtown District’s primary focus is to leverage public funds with private resources to improve facilities and services, as well as accelerate area improvements beyond the level presently provided by local government and voluntary efforts. Their brightly branded vehicle fleet brings all of the behind-the-scenes work to the foreground as a reminder of who is working tirelessly to make downtown Houston the vibrant, livable, and accessible center of the most thriving urban region in America.
Jones Hall: Remarkable Experiences
This book commemorates Jones Hall’s 50th anniversary with the stories of the people that made the Jesse H. Jones Hall for the Performing Arts a reality, and the performing arts organizations that have called the hall home over the last half century.
Spot Magazine Fall 2016
The Fall 2017 issue of Spot Magazine focuses on the photobook and how it is and has been central to photography. The contributors mention how in a photobook, a photograph is not meant to operate singularly and how they have a profound impact on a broad, diverse readership. Spot Magazine is published twice a year by Houston Center for Photography.
Projective Infrastructures Lecture Series
The Spring 2016 RDA/RSA Lecture Series brought three internationally recognized landscape architects to help us continue to consider how the spaces between our buildings—our infrastructures—might be where the future of our cities will be found. They look at how overlooked urban infrastructures can be reinvigorated into public spaces that also reintroduce nature into our built environments.
To create the poster, we projected and photographed the design at night underneath Pierce Elevated, the proposed segment of I-45 that will be re-imagined when the freeway is rerouted around the other side of Downtown Houston in the next few years.
Inprint Margarett Root Brown Reading Series 2016-17
The Inprint Margarett Root Brown Reading Series is one of the best author series in the nation featuring award-winning writers of fiction, poetry, and creative nonfiction. The 2016–17 season brought 10 of the world’s greatest writers to Houston.
Flash Drive
Houston Center for Photography enlisted us to create and brand an old ambulance into a mobile educational outreach unit and art car whose mission is “to inspire and heal through the merger of arts and health.” It includes two camera obscuras built into the side of the vehicle, a digital editing suite, projector, high-def screens, and networking devices that enable students to make photographic and digital art using “old and new school technologies.”
To raise this ride a bit more, we added a strobe flash atop the vehicle, amplifier with speakers, mirrored selfie-inducing lenses, and plenty of chrome accents. The Flash Drive debuted in the 2014 ArtCar Parade.
Art Blocks
Art Blocks is a public art initiative by Houston Downtown Management District to enliven downtown Houston’s Main Street Square. Temporary public art installations complement the Square’s permanent art, and events and performances add to the spirit of the initiative. We worked with HDMD to refine the brand and develop signage and a website for the installations.
House of Tiny Treasures
For SEARCH’s second House of Tiny Treasures location we drew inspiration from the Flower Man (Cleveland Turner) house, formerly at this location, that was a fixture of the Third Ward in Houston before it was demolished in 2015. Brightly colored hand-painted flowers cover the walls and recognize the donors that made this location possible. HTT serves toddlers and preschool-aged children of homeless families, teaching them self-regulation, cognitive, and problem-solving skills while their parents are attending school or working.
Midtown Arts + Theater Center, Houston
The striker pattern on the side of a matchbox serves as the inspiration for the visual identity we developed for the Midtown Arts and Theater Center, Houston, a contemporary venue with multiple spaces available for shows of all kinds. The system was expanded through analog + digital signage, wayfinding, supergraphics, artistic programmable projections, and donor recognition systems.
Academy Sports + Outdoors
Academy Sports + Outdoors is a leading national retailer in sports and outdoors equipment with a presence in 16 states. CORE was responsible for rebranding the retailer to include an identity that is simple, iconic, and appeals to a broad audience. We put the “+” in Sports + Outdoors.
Homebody/Kabul
Handmade chapbooks, in collaboration with book artist Cathy Hunt, made for the patrons of Inprint’s 2016 Poets & Writers Ball. They feature an excerpt from Tony Kushners’s Homebody/Kabul.
San Jacinto Library – North Campus
As libraries are a collection of humankind’s output and understanding of our universe, the individual’s mind is a collection of memories, dreams, and ideas. This concept inspired us to create unique student portraits that reflect their dreams, aspirations, personal history, and interests. After interviewing them and photographing their silhouettes, we created dream-like collages to represent each of them.
Bramble
Randy Rucker’s latest restaurant Bramble features a daily-changing menu inspired by the ingredients the chef gathers each day. This idea is expressed in the brand by evoking the aesthetic of woodblock type, a typographer’s equivalent to foraging.
Our work includes the restaurant’s brand, print collateral (menus, coasters, business cards, etc.), website, interior design, environmental graphics, and signage.
Inprint Margarett Root Brown Reading Series 2015–16
Promotional materials for the 2015–16 season of Inprint’s annual Reading Series which brings the world’s best writers to Houston every year.
Inprint Houston Website
As Houston’s organization that fosters the art of creative writing for both readers and writers, Inprint needed an online presence that expressed the multitude of programs and events they offer for these two audiences. From reading series to writing workshops, we used their mission “to inspire readers and writers in Houston” as the basis for organizing their programming and resources for Houston’s literary community.
SEARCH Homeless Services
SEARCH Homeless Services helps thousands of men, women, and children each year move from the streets, into jobs and safe, stable housing. CORE worked on signage, wayfinding, and donor recognition for SEARCH’s new headquarters near downtown Houston.
Houston Endowment 2014 Annual Report
Houston Endowment is a private philanthropic institution that works with leaders across the community to create change for the people of greater Houston. They grant over $75 million yearly in five areas: Arts & Culture, Education, Environment, Health, and Human Services. The annual report serves as a reference tool for grantees to see where Houston Endowment is focusing its giving.
Feldman & Feldman
Feldman & Feldman is a law firm that is defined by their passion for their client’s pursuit of justice, the zeal of the advocacy, and their willingness to challenge even the most powerful opponents. The double-barred “F” represents the two Feldmans and evokes the classical columns that have come to represent the American judicial system. The website represents their personable and creative approach to practicing law.
Cite 95
Design and art direction for issue 95 of Cite: The Architecture + Design Review of Houston. The issue features a photo essay of aerial photographs of Houston shot by Alex MacLean.
Weights + Measures
Weights + Measures is a neighborhood restaurant, bakery, and bar under one roof with the goal of creating a comfortable, sincere, and welcoming place for Houstonians. The 1970s—the golden age of dinner parties and analog computers with punchcard input—served as the point of inspiration for the space, brand and system elements we created.
Inprint Margarett Root Brown Reading Series 2014–15
Promotional materials for the 2014–15 season of Inprint’s annual Reading Series which brings the world’s best writers to Houston every year.
San Jacinto Library – Central Campus
Supergraphics and wayfinding that refer to the Fibonacci Sequence and the Golden Section were inspired by the large spiral staircase that serves as the centerpiece of the library. The Library of Congress Classification system spirals out in golden ratios on windows throughout the library, and the Fibonacci sequence serves as a grounding element on the wayfinding signage throughout the library.
Houston Symphony Musicians Wall
The wall honors the members and conductors of the Houston Symphony at Jones Hall. The design melds with the hall’s modernist sensibility with teak rails and photos by Eric Arbiter (Associate Principal Bassoonist) floating on aluminum panels. The portraits provide audience members with an overview of the symphony performers, allowing them to connect names to faces and instruments.
Houston Endowment 2013 Annual Report
Houston Endowment is a private philanthropic institution that works with leaders across the community to create change for the people of greater Houston. The annual report serves as a reference tool for grantees to see where Houston Endowment is focusing its giving.
Patterns of Consumption
As part of a Houston Arts Alliance public art project for the City of Houston Solid Waste Department, we designed one of six city recycling trucks that have been put into daily use around the city. CORE also managed the production of the other 5 trucks by various Houston artists. The truck was featured in the 2014 Houston Art Car parade.
Using the sun as our light source, we created cyanotype prints (blueprints) of transparent recyclables. Like a haunting x-ray, the ghostly prints of these banal objects become a visual metaphor of the lasting environmental effects of the waste we produce. The mandala pattern, a “revelatory symbol of cosmic truths,” became a natural means to organize and create harmonic beauty out of trash.
On Immediacy Lecture Series
The Spring 2014 RDA Lecture Series brought to Houston four architectural firms whose genre-busting, convention-spurning designs invite the viewer to engage with an increased sense of immediacy. These firms play with form, color, material, and process to produce work that defies easy description and collapses distinctions between art and architecture, representation and construction, and drawing and building.
Music Doing Good
Music Doing Good inspires and transforms lives through innovative, music-based programming, and performance experiences. They enhance the lives of Houston’s children by delivering music education, scholarships, and instruments to those who would otherwise not have access.
San Jacinto Library – South Campus
Writer and novelist David Foster Wallace’s list of words that he circled in his dictionary serve as a metaphor for the creative exploration that can occur “within the stacks” of a library. We developed an environmental graphics package for Gensler’s San Jacinto College Library renovation with the goal of creating an inviting, memorable, and bright space. Wallace’s word list became the centerpiece within the stacks and is supported throughout the library by an abstract book pattern.
Waterworks Education Center
A turn-key regional water museum for the City of Houston focusing on water treatment, conservation, and environmental stewardship at the City of Houston’s Northeast Water Purification Plant located near Lake Houston. CORE’s responsibilities included master planning, concept, research, design, branding, construction and installation.
Visitor Center at the Federal Reserve Bank of Houston
The Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, Houston Branch is the second largest currency vault in the country, with a bold building designed by architect Michael Graves. Its interior exhibit space covers the history of U.S. currency, economics and the Federal Reserve banks, and the history and economic growth of Houston. Working closely with the staff at the Federal Reserve, we redesigned large-scale exhibit panels that provide insight into the history and role of the Federal Reserve.
Brooklyn Athletic Club
Brooklyn Athletic Club combines American comfort food with outdoor games like bocce and croquet. The branding recreates the attitude of an old-school Brooklyn sports club for Houston through signage, large-scale environmental graphics, landscape design, menus, interior artwork, and a food truck.
Creative Economy of Houston
Houston is the fourth largest city in the country, the second fastest growing major metro area, and the most culturally diverse city in the country. The Creative Economy report, commissioned by Houston Arts Alliance and the University of Houston, analyzes Houston’s creative economy and compares it with those in other American cities. The results show that Houston’s creative economy is on the rise at a time when the other creative economies across the country have seen a constriction.
New Commons Lecture Series
This RDA/RSA Lecture Series investigated new practices within architecture that showcased the architect as not merely a respondent, but as an active agent capable of building new ideas and languages as they relate to the city, the environment, and geography. By focusing on these architects and thinkers, the series established a new commons—a ground for forging new and more productive relationships between aesthetics and engagement.
Interlude
Interlude reveals itself in an ephemeral way from 20,000 hexagons—a recurring shape in Jones Hall—cut out of white-on-white layered aluminum panels. It becomes a place where theater and symphony goers can interact at intermission. Conversly, for those late arrivals to a performance, they can sit and hear the performance through the speakers behind Interlude. This public artwork was commissioned by the City of Houston for the lobby of Jones Hall.
Houston Arts Alliance
Houston Arts Alliance’s (HAA) mission is to enhance the quality of life and tourism in the Houston region by supporting and promoting the arts through programs, initiatives, and alliances. CORE has worked with HAA and its predecessor the Cultural Arts Council of Houston Harris County (CACHH) for over 20 years. Projects have included identity and branding, masterplan design, web design, and various print and digital promotion projects.
The visual identity developed for HAA reflects the casual ease and quick-witted personality that is Houston. The icon, typography, and palette is designed to be inclusive, clear, and responsive while reinforcing the goals of the organization. The rich, cropped imagery and bold typography used to expand the visual brand communicates the diversity and richness of the city and does so with confidence.
Buffalo Bayou Partnership 2011 Annual Report
Founded in 1986, Buffalo Bayou Partnership focuses on the 10-mile stretch of Buffalo Bayou from Shepherd Drive to the Port of Houston Turning Basin. The 2012 annual report reflects on the organization’s accomplishments during its first 25 years.
A Timeline of Jones Hall
This exhibit within Jones Hall highlights the history of the hall, its resident performing arts organizations, and the story of its visionary, Jesse H. Jones. We were responsible for narrative development, design, fabrication, and installation. The design and materials reflect and honor the mood and architecture of this spectacular performance hall which opened in 1966.
Travis Elementary Spark Park Structure
Travis Elementary in Houston’s historic Woodland Heights is home to one of the city’s many public SPARK Parks. The park features the famed Travisaurus dinosaur bone playground structure. The paneled structure of a multi-purpose stage and shelter plays with shadows and transparency and blends math and science. Diagrams of butterflies and dinosaurs demonstrate how the Fibonacci numerical systems exist in nature.
Buffalo Bayou Invasive Plant Field Guide + Eradication Unit
Branding and identity for Mark Dion’s Buffalo Bayou Invasive Plant Eradication Unit, a public art project sponsored by Houston Arts Alliance and Buffalo Bayou Partnership. The project included the design of a field guide that identifies the invasive plants that are a serious problem along Buffalo Bayou and inspires residents to help with the removal of these plants. The Eradication Unit serves to educate the community and is an interactive tool for kids.
Jung Center of Houston
The Jung Center is a unique nonprofit resource that supports the development of self-awareness and creative expression, while providing pathways to find meaning in everyday life. CORE was responsible for the design of exterior signage and a large scale environmental typographic installation in exterior windows. Excerpts from Jung’s Principle of Opposites, layered imagery and alternating LED lights, sparks curiosity and engages the passerby.
Mongoose vs Cobra
Mongoose versus Cobra is a vine-encased sanctuary from life’s madness in Midtown, Houston. CORE was responsible for brand development, interior and environmental graphics, website, menus, and print collateral.
Bellaire High School Science Building
Covering the a length of 125′ we recreated the “Tree of Life” or Darwin’s Phylogenetic Tree tracing the origins of life to present day organisms and homo sapiens. Walking down the hallway, students can chart millions of years back in evolutionary time. Additional imagery and text enhance that connecting levels to other buildings.
Kinder Foundation Education Center
The Kinder Foundation Education Center serves as the public’s main source of information about the MFAH art collections, and is the support center for schools and universities. The logo speaks to this open line of communication and welcomes museum visitors into a social space to strike up a conversation with staff members about what to see in the galleries.
METRORail Station – Smithlands
Placed within a research intensive area of the Texas Medical Center, this station uses the concept of measuring time as scientific methodology. Moving the length of the station, passengers see time-lapse sequences of natural processes of different scales: seeds growing into trees; cells multiplying, continents shifting and colliding; stars coalescing, burning bright and exploding.
METRORail Station – TMC Transit Center
The elements of this station pay tribute to the history of medical science and the individuals whose relentless curiosity has for thousands of years improved our quality of life. Placed within the Texas Medical Center, it implicitly connects the work of today’s pioneering clinicians, caregivers, and scientists to the discoveries of those who came before them. Running the length of the station is a timeline of medical history from 100 b.c. to the present, and 20 granite columns depict important individuals from the field of medicine from Hippocrates to Watson/Crick.
METRORail Station – NRG/Astrodome
Monumental spaces, such as the ones at NRG Park, are not only grand in their capacity for people and events, but also function as vast and immeasurable repositories for our indelible memories. In a sense, NRG Park becomes a staging area for significant moments in peoples’ lives.
Using the rail station as a symbolic portal, the artwork opens the door to these memories for the visitors through tightly-cropped and blurred images of past events at the Astrodome. Light filters through the glass canopy which contains quotes and fan expressions.