Hello, art... meet food

London designer and Houston furniture maker help Mary Ellen Carroll unlock theart of dining

Mary Ellen Carroll with furniture design Helmut Ehrmann at master craftsman'sHouston studio.
Photo by Tyler Rudick
The table-chair units can be combined into a large semi-circle or a singlesinewy line
Photo by CYB Furniture
Open Outcry furniture study models by Simon Dance Design
Photos by Richard Davies
Open Outcry, architectural study models by Simon Dance Design of its intendedsite at the Chicago Board of Trade Building
Photos by Richard Davies
Carroll, center, at an Itinerant Gastronomy piece on the elevated railway thatwould become New York's Highline park.
Formica donated its unique ColorCore laminate as black surfacing material forthe project
Photo by Tyler Rudick
Working drawing from knot theory specialist Philip Ording,
Mary Ellen Carroll beneath 2010's prototype 180, in which the artist turned aSharpstown residence 180 degrees.
Dining on the Goethals Bridge between Staten Island and New Jersey

''Haven't you noticed that food all by itself is really boring to read about?'' famed restaurant critic Ruth Reichl wrote in 2001. ''It's everything around the food that makes it interesting."

Mary Ellen Carroll, the artist and Rice University architecture lecturer who famously turned a Sharpstown home 180 degrees in 2010, likes to use this quote to explain the basic idea behind "Itinerant Gastronomy," her series of culinary-based performance pieces that each resemble a sort of guerrilla dinner party.

Since the mid 1990s, Carroll has taken the "it's everything around the food" mantra to heart, launching events in some of the most awkward settings one could imagine — a busy New Jersey bridge, an abandoned elevated railway, a museum construction site, a technology start-up.

Carroll's guest lists are as unexpected as her locations, ranging from construction workers and school teachers to post-colonial theorist Homi K. Bhabha and actor John Malkovitch.

"It's about the notion of bringing people and food together at a particular location," she told CultureMap in a recent interview about her latest Itinerant Gastronomy piece, Open Outcry, which will be staged on Monday at the CME Group, formerly know as the Chicago Merchantile Exchange.

As with any dinner, each performance comes alive in the encounters between the food, the setting and, of course, the guests themselves.

"I'm never an invited guest myself," Carroll said. "I do the inviting." Typically, the guest lists are as unexpected as her locations, ranging from construction workers and school teachers to post-colonial theorist Homi K. Bhabha and actor John Malkovitch. For Open Outcry, invited guests include Michelle Obama and Ruth Reichl as well as former and current Chicago mayors Richard Daley and Rahm Emanuel.

In the past year, Carroll teamed up with London designer Simon Dance to create a unique sculptural dining set for the upcoming Chicago event. In a recent email, Dance listed a variety of inspirations — the boardrooms of the Paris Peace Talks, knot theory, an ancient Greek theater, Stanley Kubrick's Dr. Strangelove — that led to the design set of 12 arced table-chair units that can be combined into a large semi-circle or a single sinewy line.

Since December, Carroll and Dance have worked with Houston furniture fabricator Helmut Ehrmann, whose work can be found at Jenni's Noodle House near the Galleria, to realize the seating arrangement, the first specifically designed as a part of an Itinerant Gastronomy piece.

After Tuesday's meal, the dining arrangement will be sent to the Smart Museum of Art at the University of Chicago for an exhibit entitled Feast: Radical Hospitality in Contemporary Art, running Feb. 16 to June 10, 2012. The exhibtion will travel to the Blaffer Art Museum at the University of Houston in fall 2013, with tentative dates from Sept. 15 to Jan. 5, 2014.

So, for all those wondering... What's on the menu?

"The food itself will mirror what's traded at the commodity exchange," Carroll said. "We'll have five courses, starting with items made from butter and eggs before moving onto dishes featuring soy and pork. Dessert will probably be based on coffee, but we're still finalizing the menu." All food will be sourced from local purveyors.

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they're durable, too

3D-printed Houston housing project cements a more affordable future

Courtesy of Cole Klein Builders

Homes in Zuri Gardens are a hybrid of 3D concrete and traditional wood construction.

Houston is putting itself front-and-center to help make sustainable, affordable housing a reality for 80 lucky homeowners in a scalable housing community that will hopefully catch on nationwide. Recently, developer Cole Klein Builders partnered with HiveASMBLD to pioneer what’s touted as the world’s first large-scale, one-of-a-kind, affordable housing development using 3-D printing technology, merging robotics, design, and sustainability.

Located across from Sterling Aviation High School, near Hobby Airport, Zuri Gardens will offer 80 two-bedroom, two-bathroom homes of approximately 1,360 square feet situated in a park-like setting, including walking trails and a community green space.

Homes in Zuri Gardens will hit the market in early summer of 2026. Final pricing has yet to be determined, but Cole Klein Builders expects it to be in the mid-to-high 200s.

Interestingly, none of the homes will offer garages or driveways, which the developer tells CultureMap will provide a savings of roughly $25,000 - $40,000 per home.

Instead of parking for individual units, 140 parking spaces will be provided. Ideally, this small-town-inspired design will provide opportunities for neighbors to meet, connect, and build community.

Each two-story home is comprised of a ground floor printed by HiveASMBLD, using a proprietary low-carbon cement alternative by Eco Material Technologies that promises to enhance strength and reduce CO2 emissions. The hybrid homes will have a second floor built using engineered wood building products by LP Building Solutions. Overall, the homes are designed to be flood, fire, and possibly even tornado-proof.

The Zuri in Zuri Gardens is the Swahili word for “beautiful,” a choice that is fitting considering that the parks department will be introducing a five acre park to the project — with 3-D printed pavilions and benches — plus, a three acre farm is located right across the street. The Garver Heights area, where Zuri Gardens is located, is in what’s classified as a food desert, which means that access to fresh food is limited. Residents will have access to the farm’s fresh produce, plus opportunities to participate in gardening and nutrition workshops—that’s a win for everyone.

With the novelty of Zuri Gardens, it’s no surprise that the neighborhood already has an 800 person waitlist, but with stringent buyer requirements, it’s unclear how many of those 800 will qualify. Developer Cole Klein Builders created Zuri Gardens in partnership with the Houston Housing Community Development Department, who provided infrastructure reimbursements for the roads, sewer lines, and water lines. In return, CKB agreed to push the purchase prices for the homes as low as possible.

Zuri Gardens also received $1.8 million dollars from the Uptown Tourism Bond, 34 percent of which must be used with minority owned small businesses. Qualified buyers must fit a certain area of median income according to HUD guidelines, and must be owner occupied at all times — so no property investors or short term vacation rentals will be allowed.

“They’re trying to bridge that gap to make sure there is a community for the homebuyers who need it — educators, law enforcement, civil workers, etc.,” Cole Klein Builders’ co-principal Vanessa Cole tells CultureMap. “You have to go through a certification process with the housing department to make sure that your income is in alignment for this community. It has been great, and everyone has been really receptive.”

Cole has also brought insurance underwriters to visit the site and to help drive premiums below regular rates for Houston homeowners since homes in Zuri Gardens are not built to traditional standards — claim risks for one of the 3-D homes are extremely low. Tim Lankau, principal at HiveASMBLD, notes that the 3-D hybrid design allows for a more traditional appearance, while having the benefits of a concrete structure: “That’s where the floodwaters would go, that’s where you can hide when there’s a tornado, and that’s where termites would eat. So you get the advantages of it while having a traditionally-framed second floor.”

It’s important to note that Zuri Gardens is not located in a flood prone area, nor did it flood during Hurricane Harvey — being flood proof is merely a perk of a cement house. The concrete that Eco Material Technologies developed is impervious. The walls are printed into hollow forms, which house rebar, plumbing, and accessible conduits for things like electrical lines and smart house features. Those walls are then filled with a foamcrete product that expands to form a “monolithic concrete wall.”

David McNitt, of Eco Material Technologies, explains that his proprietary concrete is made of PCV, and contains zero Portland cement. Instead, McNitt’s cement is made from coal ash and is 99 percent green (there are a few chemicals added to the ash). Regardless, it’s made from 100 percent waste products.

“This is a product that has really been landfilled before,” says McNitt. “It’s coal ash, and it’ll set within 8-10 minutes. It’s all monolithic, and one continuous pour — it’s literally all one piece.”

Eco Material Technologies’ concrete product is impressively durable. A traditional cinderblock wall will crush at around 800 psi, while this material crushes at about 8,000 psi.

“It’s ten times stronger than a cinderblock wall that can withstand hurricanes,” claims McNitt. “I don’t think you’d even notice a hurricane. It’ll be really quiet inside, too — so you won’t get interrupted during your hurricane party. It’s way over-engineered, it really is.”

The second story is built using weatherproof and eco-friendly products by LP Building Solutions. Their treated, engineered wood products come with a 50 year warranty, and their radiant barrier roof decking product blocks 97% of UV rays, and keeps attic temperatures 30° cooler than traditional building materials. These materials, combined with the concrete first floor, will keep heating and cooling costs low — something the folks at HiveASMBLD refer to as “thermal mass performance.”