Cost

$375 million.

Timetable

Construction started in April, 1980; scheduled for completion in Spring, 1984.

Development Team

Developer: Convention Center Development Corporation; Architect: I. M. Pei & Partners, Lewis, Turner Partnership.

Info. Contact

Robert Hazen, New York State Urban Development Corporation, 1515 Broadway, New York, New York
10036. 212+430-0355.

New York Exposition and Convention Center
(architect's model)

Photos: Nathan Lieberman

## NEW YORK

Although its grand hall and concourse are structural tours de force, much of the actual business at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in New York, which opened in 1986, is conducted underground in airless meeting rooms along a four-block-long spine. The 1.6-million-sq-ft center, designed by I.M. Pei & Partners and associated architects Lewis, Turner Partnership, both of New York and completed for $300 million, is one of the nation's largest, with 720,000 sq ft of exhibition space, 418,000 sq ft of it in one hall alone. But it is faulted by exhibitors and visitors alike for nondesign factors such as transportation to its isolated site on the edge of Manhattan and difficult unions.

SECTION A-A

LOWER CONCOURSE PLAN

## HOUSTON

The 1.16-million-sq-ft first phase of the George R. Brown Convention Center, which opened in September 1987 at a cost of $104.9 million (P/A, Jan. 1989, p. 29), fills six blocks at the edge of downtown, surrounded by surface parking for 3000 cars. As designed by Bernard Johnson; Golemon & Rolfe Assoc.; John S. Chase; Molina & Assoc.; Haywood Jordan McCowan; Moseley Assoc.; 3D/International, all of Houston, circulation is concentrated behind the front façade and given a high-tech finish. Four exhibit halls—two stacked—total 470,500 sq ft. Second-floor meeting rooms total 45,000 sq ft. A 31,500-sq-ft ballroom—the largest in Texas—and a 36,000-seat tiered theater occupy the third floor.

Photos: Harsle Photography

GROUND FLOOR PLAN

TRUCK DOCKS

Progressive Architecture 2-80