The Honorable Barack Hussein Obama II
President of the United States of America
Dear Mr. President,
I hope you and your family will have a wonderful Christmas and New Year’s. You have a lot on your plate and I don’t expect you to personally tend to my suggestion below. I do hope you will direct it to the appropriate person(s) if you deem it has merit.
I moved to Houston in 1978 with my family from Iran. One of the fondest memories I have from the first year we settled in the U.S. was attending the Rodeo at the Astrodome. A retired American doctor friend of my cousin had taken us under his wing and was helping us assimilate to our new home. He treated us to a visit of the Dome.
WOW! I had never seen anything like it.
Since then I have taken a scenic route to becoming an architect and have gained a different level of respect for the Astrodome – for its architecture, its engineering and the can-do cooperative effort that brought it into being. The Dome was a marvel then and it has stood the test of time. No other dome stadium since comes close to its singularity – it is perhaps the “perfect” dome, not unlike the Roman Pantheon that is known as the “perfect” room.
As you probably know the Astrodome is no longer used by the Astros. It was never suited for football, which eventually led to the Oilers to move from Houston and now the Texans play in the adjacent Reliant Stadium. It costs millions of dollars for the bare upkeep of the Dome and no one has been able to think of a good use that can be properly funded. In November of this year we voted not to spend public money to renovate it. For now, it appears the Astrodome will be razed.
During our first visit to Houston in 1977, we went to NASA in Clear Lake, which is about a 45-minute drive from Houston proper. My parents bought me a scale model of the Lunar Lander and I could not wait to get back to Iran and assemble it (they did not let me use the proper plastic cement to put the model together, thinking it was too toxic, so it quickly fell apart. I digress. I eventually got over it). Some years later, I was fortunate to do a summer internship at a NASA technology transfer center.
A few months before the recent vote, I wrote Harris County, the entity that will make the final decision on the Dome’s fate. I suggested the Astrodome be transformed into a National Space Museum and its repurposing be the subject of an international architectural competition.
A National Space Museum near the heart of the city, already accessible by light rail from downtown, will definitely be visited by more Houstonians and tourists. Houston has been, and is, doing major work in making downtown more attractive for conventions and visitors. We are home to an incredible collection of museums – also accessible by the same train – and one dedicated to space, given Houston’s unparalleled contribution to NASA (we should have been given one of the four real Space Shuttles), would be comfortably at home. Clearly, the NSM would have a significant economic and cultural impact.
While there are online petitions and other efforts to avoid what seems to be its inevitable demolition, the Astrodome is a true American treasure and requires a broad national vision to safeguard it for future generations.
Please help.
Regards,
Saman Ahmadi, PE, AIA
the City 