Contract Magazine - January/February 2017 - 126

INTERIORS AWARDS

Sustainable
Page

The
Cistern

By Zach Mortice
Photography by
Albert Vecerka/Esto

126

Client
Buffalo Bayou
Partnership

Location
Houston

$58 million development of Buffalo Bayou Park. Initially, they
considered turning it into a parking garage or perhaps a restaurant.
But, "All that screws it up," says Larry Speck, senior principal at Page,
the architecture firm that had been working on the park project
and was tapped to lead the adaptation of the Cistern. "We had to keep
it intact-it needed to be this spectacular experience that's [set]
apart from the rest of the world."
His firm's earliest design concepts were somewhat obtrusive
with more interior elements. "The more we thought about it and
experienced the space, it was like, 'No. That's too much,'" he says.
"Everything is too much. Let's just do as little as we possibly can."
To preserve the sense of undisturbed mystery, Page took an
ultraminimalist less-is-more approach to ensure that the Cistern
remains as magical as it was when it was initially discovered.
Page's subtle interventions focused on making the space
accessible to the public. Upgrades include a lighted walkway and
handrail installed around the perimeter, the accommodation of fire
egress, dehumidifying HVAC systems, and a new entrance that sets
the tone for the experience with a subtly altered geometric language
to clearly delineate the original sections. To allow visitors' eyes to
adjust from the bright Texas sun, the procession is circuitous. A thin
strip of LED lighting at handrail height emphasizes the horizontal
bands of board-formed concrete in the entry hall.
The Cistern's dim confines and 17-second reverberation
and echo time make it a lush and expressive place to exhibit sound
and video art. This eerily timeless environment reminds Speck of ancient
cisterns that he has seen in Istanbul. Architects have always been
fascinated with both historical and industrial structures. "Le Corbusier
was all over grain elevators," Speck points out. "There's a frankness,
simplicity, and clarity to these industrial structures that were just
meant to do what they're supposed to do, and there's no pretension
to them. But there's such strength and elegance."
And that's an element of historic preservation that Houstonians,
accustomed to Herculean shipping channels and petrochemical plants,
can understand. As Speck says, "Oil people in Houston totally get big,
strong, frank infrastructure." c

A disused drinking water reservoir seems an unlikely location for
viewing art exhibitions. But for the nonprofit Buffalo Bayou Partnership,
which is committed to the redevelopment and stewardship of
the Houston waterfront, a 90-year-old underground landscape with
a gridded forest of columns spanning roughly one and a half football
fields provides an uncanny world of stillness and shadow for
contemplating art installations as well as the city's past.
Dubbed the Cistern, the 87,500-square-foot interior has become
a quirky preservation cause in a city not known for hanging on to its
history. Maintaining and reusing the infrastructure is perhaps the most
sustainable solution. Visually, the seemingly endless repetition of
columns reflected in a depth of a few inches of water is captivating.
"When people see it, they're just really blown away by it," says Buffalo
Bayou Partnership President Anne Olson. "It wasn't a hard sell at all."
The reservoir was decommissioned in 2007 due to an irreparable
leak, and the city had planned demolition when Buffalo Bayou
Partnership consultants stumbled upon it while working on the
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