City Changing Houston Developer’s Slide Rule Sells for $50,000 — Gerald D. Hines’ Legacy Honored in 75th Anniversary of UH College
Working With Young Architects Inspired This Visionary
BY Shelby Hodge // 10.13.21The party tent at the University of Houston Gerald D. Hines College of Architecture and Design 75th anniversary gala (Photo by Daniel Ortiz)
Although esteemed international real estate developer Gerald D. Hines passed away a year before he was to be honored on the 75th anniversary of the University of Houston Gerald D. Hines College of Architecture and Design, the spirit of the real estate legend was joyously celebrated during the gala evening held at the college.
Architecture graduates, design firm leaders, professors and architects from across the area joined together 300 strong in the dinner evening that saluted the man whom the New York Times called the “architects’ Medici.” Hines’ legacy led to an impressive bottom line for the gala, which raised close to $430,000 for the college‘s new Advanced Media Technology Lab and for student scholarships. Major sponsors contributing to the bottom line were Aramco, Hines and Page/.
And then there was the silent auction, highlight of which was Hines’ personal slide rule that he was said to have carried with him throughout his career. Kendall/Heaton made the winning $50,000 bid in a nod to the firm’s close relationship with Hines, his namesake company and the college.
The evening was led by gala chair Arturo Chavez, senior principal at Page/, and college Dean Patricia Oliver, who thanked guests for helping the dreams of UH architecture and design students a reality through their support of the gala.
“His whole life, Opah was inspired by meaningful architecture,” Hines’ grandson Matthew Hines told the gathering. “I know how much the College of Architecture here at UH meant to him. He was inspired and invigorated to be able to work with young architects and I know that this school held a special place in his heart.”
The relationship between Hines and the college was reiterated in a video that included remarks from the developer’s son Jeff Hines and granddaughter Laura Hines-Pierce.
Elizabeth Anthony
“It was always such a pleasure for him to have the opportunity to spend time with students in the college,” Hines-Pierce said. “He might have been three to four times older than them, but he carried a sort of rock star status among them and what seemed to make them click was his dedicated interest in their projects and designs.”
The buffet dinner evening began in a tented party space, washed in UH red, where The PANtagonists, the UH steel drum band, entertained. It continued with the program that included City Councilman and architect David Robinson declaring it Gerald D. Hines College of Architecture and Design Day in Houston, And concluded with a second line band leading guests into the Philip Johnson-designed college for dessert and a reveal.
The gala unveiled the much-anticipated “Airscape,” a one-of-a-kind, floating installation by architecture professors Peter Jay Zweig and Rafael Benytez-Duran.
The installation is described as “the dynamic pneumatic structure challenges the values of the past by using the ecology of air, the turbulence of our times, the rising temperature of those viewing and interacting with the ‘Airscape,’ which is tempered by the ever-changing surrounding atmosphere.”
PC Seen: George Lancaster, Arturo Chavez and Carly Standley, Marci and Stephen Drivere, Mark and Jodi Nolen, Jo and Jim Furr, Benito and Lili Guerrier, David Harvey, Shafik Rifaat, Marilyn Archer and Jack Eby, Carlos Jimenez, Jennifer and Gary Longbotham, Margo Grant Walsh, Barry Moore, Christy and Lou Cushman, Leigh Hollyer and Joe Webb, and John Cryer.
_md.jpg)
