A Houston architect is touting a new idea for the Astrodome's overhaul, urging the county to avoid an indoor park concept and instead strip the structure down to its bones.

The concept, dubbed "A-Dome Park," is being advanced by James Richards and Ben Olschner, architects who previously worked at Herzog & de Meuron, the firm behind London's Tate Modern and the Olympics stadium in Beijing.

As Richards sees it, Harris County's current plans for the stadium -- essentially, an indoor park and events space -- aren't particularly unique, especially given the proliferation of world-class parks in Houston and abundant event space that already exists at the NRG Center complex.

Earlier this year, Harris County Judge Ed Emmett said the county's preliminary plan for the Astrodome is to raise its floor, put a 9-acre park atop it and leave room for storage or parking underneath. Eventually, Emmett said at the time, a conservatory could be developed that might be able to fund a system of trails within that park.

The Urban Land Institute touted an indoor park and activity center in 2014.

That vision is similar to the plan an Urban Land Institute panel recommended in December 2014, after voters rejected a 2013 bond measure that would have funded the county's previous idea for the Astrodome, an exhibition space dubbed the "New Dome Experience."

The "New Dome Experience" failed to generate voters' support. Image via TheNewDomePAC.

“We’re making a lot of progress,” Emmett said in February, adding that more details would be forthcoming this summer. “Everybody realizes we can’t tear it down.”

Richards, who moved to Houston in 2014, isn't a fan of the current concept, with its emphasis on indoor activity, and he thinks the 2013 vote is a testament to the fact that Harris County residents aren't either.

He believes that despite the region's brutal summer heat, few Houstonians will want to spend their free time within an indoor park -- especially given the relatively mild weather Houston enjoys the rest of the year -- and he's skeptical that the plans for vast amounts of plant life inside the facility are realistic. He also doesn't think restaurants and others vendors on the first floor of the Dome (part of the ULI proposal) will actually be financially viable, based on the number of people who will visit the indoor park on a regular basis.