Eller Wagon Works–Pittsburgh Plate Glass Building - 101 Crawford Street. This three story warehouse was built in the Warehouse District of Houston in 1909 by Frank Eller in order to manufacture horse-drawn wagons. Train tracks lay underneath the street on Crawford. Aquired by Pittsburgh Plate Glass in 1920, an addition was added by Alfred C. Finn. In 2004 it was renovated and turned into lofts and art studios.
Architectural Photography
Gerald D Hines College of Architecture and Design : Alumni Spotlight
Sean was interviewed by the Hines College of Architecture and Design. To read the full interview click here.
Harris County Family Law Center
Harris County Family Law Center designed by Wilson, Crain, & Anderson completed in 1969.
Houston Lighting & Power Company Polk Substation (1948)
2501 Polk Street, Houston, Texas, East End 77003
Belizian Architecture
Seine Bight, Placencia, and Monkey River, Belize (2022)
HOUSTON-VARIATIONS by HOME-OFFICE
I had the pleasure of working with Brittany Utting and Daniel Jacobs of HOME-OFFICE on HOUSTON-VARIATIONS. In 2022, Brittany and Daniel were winners of the RDA Houston Design Research Grant for this project. The project explores typological adaptations to Houston’s climatic and economic forms.
Below are some of the photographs I took for them. To learn more about the project, visit Home-Office’s website here.
Texas Tower
Texas Tower - 845 Texas Ave, Houston, Texas
In 2018 Hines has announced plans to start development on downtown Houston’s next skyscraper, forever changing the skyline of the city. This project was designed by Pelli Clarke and Partners, a firm familiar with Houston, designing 1500 Louisiana Street (2002), 6624 Fannin Tower (1990), and the Four Leaf Towers (1982). Starting not long after groundbreaking in January 2019, I frequently visited the site to document the build. With the project finally wrapping up at the end of 2021, I can finally start sharing some of the images.
Other companies involved with the project: Ivanhoé Cambridge, Hines, Kendall/Heaton Associates, Pelli Clarke & Partners, Magnusson Klemencic Associates, ME Engineers, Clark Condon Associates, JLL, B&D Landscape Contractors, CEMEX
Titan Design Center
Titan Design Center designed by Arc Three Studio
Midtown Terrace Suites - Houston, Texas
Midtown Terrace Suites photographed for Rice Design Alliance. See the article on Rice Design Alliance’s website.
The Lyndon Baines Johnson Library and Museum
Also known as the LBJ Presidential Library, it was designed by Gordon Bunshaft and R. Max Brooks of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill and opened in 1971.
Museum of Fine Arts Houston - Nancy and Rich Kinder Building
I had the opportunity to photograph the new Museum of Fine Arts Nancy and Rich Kinder Building for Josef Gardner/Permasteelisa : once during its construction in September of 2019 and again after completion in April of 2021.
Energy Center 3, 4, & 5
Energy Center 3, 4, & 5 designed by Kirksey Architecture (2016).
Houston Skyline as seen from Sawyer Yards 11/2020
The Houston Skyline seen from Sawyer Yards
Clarke & Courts Printing & Lithography Co. (1936)
Clarke & Courts Printing & Lithography Co. designed by Joseph Finger, completed in 1936.
Located at 1210 W Clay St, Houston, TX 77019, Clarke & Courts is now TriBeca Lofts, an office building.
Fragments: A Study of Houston's Light
My masters project while at the UH College of Architecture and Design was a quasi-scientific study on light and its effects on the way we see architecture. At the beginning of the fall semester all of the architecture graduate students were gathered into one studio and separated into groups with separate instructors advising each. My instructor had a background in the fine arts and simultaneously received a BA in Fine Arts, Art History, and Architecture from Rice University. As a result, I had a well of knowledge I could continue to return to throughout the year. Initially influenced by Bernd and Hilla Becher and their photographic series on typologies (framework houses, water towers, industrial buildings) I wanted to photograph a series of commonplace structures while also attempting to document changing light conditions.
I first chose a long list of post offices as subjects and started the task of photographing each one 3 times a day: Morning, Noon, and late Afternoon. I ran into several problems as I was doing this. The first problem was that post offices, for the most part, are boring and flat. They are often low one-story rectangular structures spread out in large parking lots. Many of them are suffering because of email and online payments now being the norm and as a result, have started running into maintenance issues. Dirty cracked broken parking lots and stained facades were a common occurrence. Another problem I had with post offices was that they were usually in or near residential areas and only closed one day a week on Sunday. This meant I could really only photograph them fully on Sundays, unless I wanted a constantly shifting foreground of cars in the parking lot. In order to take photos from the exact same spot each time I had to outline my tripod legs in chalk on the ground. Returning 3 different times throughout the day was difficult if there were cars in the parking lot parked on top of my chalk marks. During our mid semester review, most of the instructors shared similar opinions on post offices and urged me to find a new subject.
For the changing light aspect of my project, I was inspired by Monet’s Rouen Cathedral series, particularly in the way it expressed how light changes throughout the day/year and its effects. I was also influenced by Andy Warhol’s film Empire, even though I found it somewhat tedious, the sentiment rang true to my project. Towards the end of the fall semester I discovered Ed Ruscha’s Every Building on the Sunset Strip and was inspired yet again. I decided then that the final presentation for my series would be a book with accordion-style pull-out pages for each building/subject. This would allow the reader to view the images one by one while flipping through the pages and also, each series as a whole, if the accordion-pages are pulled out. My new subjects would be ubiquitous Houston buildings located downtown, buildings that promote regional identity but are often overlooked. This time, I started out by photographing each building 4 times a day (the 4th being an image displaying the lack of natural light and presence of artificial light). While taking wide angle photos with my 24mm t/s lens I would also take a “zoomed-in” detail shot of the façade with my 70mm lens. When piecing together the series with my advisor, we came to the conclusion that the close up “detail” shots were much more graphically interesting and better displayed the intention of my project.
As I began to hone in and photograph the rest of the series of the project, I made a set of rules to follow in order to maintain consistency throughout the project.
1. Full clear sunny days only
If shadows fall on subjects, it should be because of the suns position or their surroundings – not inconsistent weather.
2. Time-frame between images should be consistent and orderly
Morning ~10am, Noon ~12:30, Afternoon ~4:30, Night ~8
3. Direct front facing one-point perspective compositions
To maintain compositional consistency
4. Compose for square format
Only square crops used for compositions to maintain consistency and reference building blocks, modules, tiles, fragments, etc.
Originally, the series consisted of a list of twelve buildings. After the school shut down because of Covid-19 and Houston issued stay at home orders, I had to condense my list and finish the project with seven. Even though the series was cut short, I am happy with the results and would like to continue it (possibly in a different city/subjects) one day. I learned a lot from this project. I found the process of going out and experimenting before fully fleshing out the specific details of the project at the start to be was extremely helpful. In the beginning of a project when there are still a lot of unknown factors, simply going out and testing your ideas is important. Rarely does a project stay the same from beginning to end. Looking back, I can say that, learning how to identify problems and adjusting your project accordingly will lead to a more fully developed and rewarding final result.
Commercial National Bank Building
Commercial National Bank Building - 917 Franklin St
Designed by Lewis S. Green and Gerhard C. Svarz and completed in 1904. Once a bank now an office building.
Bank of America Tower (Capitol Tower) - Houston
Bank of America Tower
Bank of America Tower, initially named Capitol Tower, is downtown Houston’s newest office building. The 754,00 square foot and 35 story class A office building was developed and owned by Skanska. Designed by Gensler , the tower features a large open air garden on the 12th floor, a gym, and a large open atrium on the first floor. On the bottom floor is also a large open food hall called “Understory” designed by Michael Hsu Office of Architecture. Understory is open to the public 7 days a week. Bank of America Tower is the first new downtown tower since the completion of 609 Main in 2017.
Other companies involved with the project: OJB Landscape Architecture, Walter P Moore (engineering), MLN Company (HVAC, Plumbing, and Fire Protection), Hilti (Material Supplier - Cladding), & Melton Electric.
Houston City Hall Local Lunch Market
Houston City Hall Local Lunch Market
Open every Wednesday through June 26th
The Royalton at River Oaks
The Royalton at River Oaks
33-story high-rise condo in Houston's Inner Loop
One Shell Plaza
One Shell Plaza
The moon rising next to One Shell Plaza. Two shots stitched together, taken from the steps of City Hall.
By Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, 1971