In December 2013, Houston Television (HTV) moved from its previous and temporary accommodations it had shared with the Houston Community College Television (HCCTV) into a multi-faceted production facility on the first floor of Houston’s City Hall. When HTV was offered the space in City Hall, they knew that the move into the 1939 building would be fraught with challenges, including limitations within the historic structure and the height of the spaces. The Page team worked closely with design-build partner Balfour Beatty to convert the area into a 21st century, high tech production studio.
HTV’s vision was to combine the studios and the work environment in one place in order to accomplish everything within one setting. The new location houses the entire HTV facility and administrative offices, including two studios, edit and graphic suites, two production and control rooms and audio and green rooms. The new space, located on one floor, was designed to promote efficiency, creativity and a more productive workspace.
One of the biggest challenges was fitting this 12,000-square-foot production studio within the existing 16x9 column grid in the building and making sure that the acoustics would support and enhance this type of production work. Another was coordinating the pipe grid, ceiling grid and ductwork, much like a “3D puzzle.” There are more than 20 miles of cable winding throughout the space.
At the time construction began, the Mayor’s Office of Special Events was located on the mezzanine level just above the space where the studio would be located. The contractor scheduled excessively noisy work at night and weekends in an effort to avoid disturbing the staff.
HTV had spent 11 years on the HCC main campus, following devastating flooding by Tropical Storm Allison of its studio in the subbasement at 611 Walker. Today, with all of its facilities consolidated on the ground floor of City Hall, HTV is now seconds away from City Council meetings, Houston Mayor press conferences and the busy events downtown.
Page Project Manager Wendy Heger sat down with HTV Division Manager Dwight Williams for an interview in the new studio. To learn more about the design process and the thought process that went into it, watch the below video.
