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    Changing Houston

    New $80 million history center breaks ground downtown with eyes on the 2017 Super Bowl

    Barbara Kuntz
    Barbara Kuntz
    Nov 13, 2014 | 3:22 pm

    A groundbreaking ceremony for the $80 million Nau Center for Texas Cultural Heritage marks the beginning of construction for the museum, just in time for it to open its doors in fall 2016 and welcome Super Bowl fans in 2017.

    Mayor Annise Parker; Ric Campo, chairman of the Houston First Corp. board of directors; and John Nau III, chairman of the Nau Center board of directors, took shovels Wednesday to churn the first dirt at the site, located at 1801 Capitol St. between the George R. Brown Convention Center and Minute Maid Park.

    “The Nau Center will be a cultural hub for tourists, educators and students alike,” Nau said in a statement. “It is expected that more than 400,000 visitors will pass through its doors each year, which will generate significant tourism dollars for the entire region. It is our hope that the center’s vivid presentations and educational offerings will inspire the next generation of great leaders.”

    The 70,000-square-foot Nau Center, specifically placed along the Texas Independence Trail, will allow guests to take a chronological journey through southeast Texas history in the "Seize Opportunity" gallery. Exhibits here showcase historic sites and offerings that define this region, including the San Jacinto Monument, the George Ranch Historical Park, The Strand in Galveston, Spindletop, Washington-on-the-Brazos State Park and Space Center Houston.

    The visitor center's focus is to promote events and activities throughout the 29 counties that make up southeast Texas. An education center for students and teachers offers interactive learning and a Texas Theatre previews the Nau Center experience. The "Get Big Things Done" exhibit highlights three of the region’s greatest achievements by using immersive presentations. Those are “Johnson Space Center Mission Control,” “Where 17 Railroads Meet the Sea” and “A Port That Welcomes the World.”

    More features of the Nau Center include a grand rotunda, landscaped plaza for gathering, gift shop, enclosed walkways, rooftop garden, event spaces for private gatherings and additional exhibition and gallery space. The historic Cohn House also will be restored to its original turn-of-the-century beauty.

    In addition to the Nau Center and Houston First, project team members are Bailey Architects, museum planning and design firm Gallagher & Associates, Linbeck Group LLC construction management company, Musick Construction Co., and The Sarrazin Group LLC, a Houston-based firm focused on the development of nonprofit and boutique commercial real estate projects.

    To date, the Nau Center has $33 million towards the $80 million overall project budget. Future revenue streams for the Nau Center will include visitor admissions, field trips, venue rentals for private events, sponsorship of galleries and kiosks, the retail shop, hotel occupancy taxes and private funding.

    Rendering showing the interior of the Nau Center for Texas Cultural Heritage.

    Nau Center Visitor Center Rendering Courtesy of Gallagher & Associates
      
    Rendering courtesy of Gallagher & Associates
    Rendering showing the interior of the Nau Center for Texas Cultural Heritage.
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    the future of fashion

    Houston startup showcases sustainable, alternative leather at the rodeo

    Maurice Bobb, InnovationMap
    Apr 10, 2025 | 4:00 pm
    Rheom Materials rodeo outfit
    Courtesy of Rheom Materials
    The commercial showcaes the material's durability and performance.

    Last month’s Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo stirred up another rootin’ tootin’ time for Houstonians and beyond.

    But before the annual event galloped into the sunset, there were quite a few memorable innovations on display, with one notably coming from Rheom Materials.

    The Houston-based pioneer of next-generation materials presented its scalable, bio-based alternative known as Shorai, a 93 percent bio-based leather, through two custom, western-inspired outfits that showed off cowboy flair through a sustainable lens.

    “I'm a Houstonian, I love the rodeo,” Megan Beck, Rheom’s business development manager, recalls. “We're sitting there talking about it one day and we're like, ‘Okay, we've got to do something with this leather to show people how good it can look in apparel, how easy it is to wear.’”

    Buoyed by the idea that their materials are meant to “change your impact, not your life,” Rheom captured the real-life energy of their bio-leather outfits under the rodeo’s neon lights in a short commercial video and photo shoot with models donning the samples, while dancing and enjoying the festivities. Rheom created a skirt, a leather jacket, and then a leather top for the look.


    View this post on Instagram
    A post shared by Rheom Materials (@rheommaterials)


    “Houston is such a vibrant city,” Beck says. “There's so much innovation here. I think the rodeo is just a really, really great example of that. And so we wanted to take this opportunity to take some of these garments out there and go on the slide, go on some of the rides, go into the wine garden and go dancing, because if you've ever felt some of the materials in the market in this space, they're very stiff, you can't really move in them, they're a little fragile, they kind of fall apart.”

    Not only do the models in the video look fashionable, but they also look comfortable, and the leather looks natural and supple. And to the naked eye, Shorai appears to be like the leather most wearers are accustomed to.

    “What we really wanted to showcase in this is the energy and the movement of the leather, and to show people how good it can look in apparel, and how easy it is to wear, which I think we were able to accomplish,” Beck says.

    Next up, Beck says Rheom wants to scale production of Shorai, the Japanese word for “future,” at a competitive price point, while also reducing its carbon footprint by 80 percent when compared to synthetic leather. According to Beck, Rheom plans to see Shorai products come to market sometime this year.

    “We have companies globally right now that are testing materials, that are prototyping, that are making garments, making handbags and footwear, and making eyewear because we have a plastic, as well,” Beck says. “So, this year, I do believe we'll start seeing those products actually come to market, which is very, very exciting for us.”

    And with their large-scale production partner already set up for Shorai, Rheom plans to start its first production run of the product soon.

    “In April, we'll actually be starting our first production run,” Beck says. “We'll be doing it at full scale, full width, and a full run of materials. So over the next five years, we're only going to just try to increase that capacity.”

    ---

    This story originally was published on our sister site, InnovationMap.

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