15=- the Tower and the Tunnels : Reliant Energy Plaza V
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5 u m m e / I > u u -t I C i i e n t 15=- Reliunt Energy Plain. Gensloi, archjlecl. 7003 Enclosed plazo at tunnel level. The Tower and the Tunnels : Reliant Energy Plaza INAUGURATING A NEW ERA l o r H o u s t o n ' s t a l l indoor plaza that opens the city's maze ot shops, and convenience stores lines the building design, Reliant Energy Plaza at tunnels to the sidewalks and streets above, byways and intersections of this under- 1000 Main Street presents an urbane, Virtually invisible and largely unfa- ground street system. No need to venture public-spirited example of how archi- miliar to people who work outside ol out in the summer heat or winter rain. tecture can help to huild good cities, downtown. I louston\ tunnel system has From that moment in the morning when Much like Cesar IVlh's I sOO I cinisana become a primary pedestrian link among the office worker drives into the park- Street, Reliant Energy Plaza, designed by do/ens of office buildings, parking garages ing garage until late in the day, he or she Norman l i m n e r of dcnsler, noes heyond (both above and below grade), theaters, is shielded from rhe vagaries of weather the conventional isolation ol modern and municipal buildings, lake the unseen and life on the streets. Lunch hour is busy downtown office towers by showing an habitat of a colony of ants, the tun with a potpourri of restaurants to choose uncommon interest in its relationship to nels are alive during the day with office from, including some Houston favorites a larger urban whole. At 1500 Louisiana workers coming and going, jury pools like La Madeleine, Scholt/sky's, Ninla's, Street, two office rowers and a garage parading single file to court assignments. and Ireelv.irds, along with the same fast V are linked as a mega-building with an messengers, shoppers, and, it one believes food stops that populate suburban strip enclosed circular bridge that dramati- some of the tourist bureau's hype, a few malls. Horists, barbers, shoe repair places, cally frames the street intersection below. (probably bewildered) visitors exploring gift shops, and eyewear stores abound. Reliant Energy Plaza demonstrates even "Houston's best-kept secret." At night the Walking the subterranean passage- more direct concern lor pedestrian con- network shrinks to become the haunt ol ways can cause disorientation, even i lam nections. By accommodating the conver- well-dressed audiences headed for venues trophobia. Built over time bv individual -sk-,-.-.iilk connecting! ihree-stiucluracomplex ol 1500 Loui- gence of three downtown tunnels to form m the I heater District. property owners, the tunnels form a maze Mono Street, Cesoi Pelli & Associates with Kendall/Heolon a grand, two-story-high underground But the air-conditioned tunnels are beneath the orderly street pattern above. Associates, architects, 2002 rotunda, Reliant Energy Plaza provides a more than a means to get from lure to Vault rights—permission to burrow under first for downtown Houston; a spacious there. A whole emporium of restaurants. the streets—are obtained from the munici- [lie ( t i l 2 I) it 4 I i u ra m » ( 21 lllll MA1NIORHY • Mrm TAIL i I • f c I'r.iiliMt Hunf " PufkirtH Level* HI ,,l l..im.ir [j>hhv t A «i I M. Kiiiiuv [ n u n . I I r u ' Building sertion. Top: street-level plan; bottom: tunnel-level plan. B Y W I L L I A M F. S T E R N 1 pal government, w h i c h charges an annual Boddy calls an "analogous city." Boddy lacking the pulse and pace of Chicago or The Main Street block has had a tax. N a v i g a t i ng the complex substrata of argues that the traditional system ot New York. starring role in the history of downtown utilities, sewers, .nul warer Inns, the tun streets, intended as the primary carrier tor And yel cities und to grow in unpre- Houston. It was at one time the site of neil /.ig and zag, move up and d o w n , and both vehicular and pedestrian traffic, is dictable ways, establishing patterns that the stoned l.amar I lotel and two fabulous widen and n a r r o w w i t h o u t any predict- duplicated and diminished by an analo- are particular to each place. Although 1920s movie theaters, the Metropolitan L able consistency. Ceilings are more often gous network of circulation above or Houston's tunnel system may detract from and l.oew's State. In l'S(l, The Hines than not unnervingly low, though occa below. From the skywalks of Minneapolis the commercial activity of the streets, it organization bought the block and subse- sionally space opens ro tnaior street-level and Calgary to die tunnels "t Montreal has established itself as a fundamental quently demolished those buildings along building lobbies. Escalators and elevators and I louston, several North American and convenient way of traversing the with a group of smaller commercial build move people Irom the tunnels to build- cities have been transformed as the activi- city's commercial core. Using the <>. i miles ings to make way for a high-rise office ings and garages above. Each section of ties ot the street arc eroded and displaced. of tunnel is a habit Houstonians are not lower. But the building boom of the '70s the tunnel is built and maintained by the Pedestrian crowds are effectively segregat- likely to give up lor a more vibrant street and early '80s had run its course. and owners ot the property above, resulting in ed into different circuits: The middle class life. So Reliant Energy Plaza's developer, the block remained empty until Century a hodgepodge ol interior finishes and spa- office population gravitates to the sani- Richard Everett ot Century Development, Development acquired it in 1997. By then tial qualities. Cramtc flooring gives way tized environment of skyways or tunnels, and architect Norman Hoover ot (lensler this section of Main Street, once the heart to vinyl tile, and just as quickly ceramic and the underclass populations are lelt decided to make something more out of ot downtown Houston, had become run- tile takes over. Even the overhead lighting to the less orderly streets, hi I louston this subterranean half of the city. Their down, overtaken in prominence hi more changes from Section In Section. many of those small shops, convenience solution: bring several tunnels together in fashionable streets to the west, even though Transferring large segments of pedes- stores, and restaurants ili.it can contribute a quasi-public space that would open the Foley's, the last remaining downtown trian circulation from the streets to over- to the vitality of street life arc to be found underground to the si reel level lobby, thus department store, was inst a bloik south. head bridges, skywalks, and underground in the analogous city underground. Ir is uniting the two bifurcated levels ol down- Before Century acquired the site, oth- tunnels effectively dilutes the social milieu no wonder that the sidewalks of down- town pedestrian traffic and allowing each ers, concerned about the deterioration ol of the city, creating what urbanise Trevor town I louston are rarely crowded. to vitalize the other. this section of downtown, had begun to with the proposed hub ot the building's basement lobby. The cooperation between private interests and those seeking to nourish the public realm worked to the advantage of developer and citizen alike, providing a practical, I louston- sryle alternative to what zoning and its attendant ordinances provide in other American cities. Suppoi ting the ambil s program ol public amenities is a 3fi-story, 785,000- square-loot otlice tower. Although It was initiall\ designed as a speculative ven- ture, during construction Reliant Knergy became the building's prime tenant and now occupies 60 percent of the office space. The office tower, set on the north- ern half of the site, rises above nine levels of enclosed parking, each level occupy- explore the future of this block. In 1993 ing the (nil buildable area ot the block. Central Houston, Inc., a privately funded Perhaps the greatest challenge confront agency supported by downtown busi- ing the building's architect was how to ness interests, applied for and received cogently organize the complicated mix of a $270,000 federally funded grant from street-level and below-grade activities. CMAQ (Congestion Mitigation Air Norman Hoover and Richard Everett Quality I to study concepts for the site's made an early decision to address Main development. Capitalizing on the presence Street with the building's entrance lobby, nt I'oley's to the south, Central Houston thus reinforcing t entral I lousiou's goal investigated ways that future development ot remvigoratmg the streetscape and might incorporate and stimulate new anticipating MKTRO's later plan for the retail activity. And with several MKTRO Main Street light rail line (see "(.rear bus routes converging on the streets sur- Expectations," opposite page). The rounding the block, Central Houston exciting, light-tilled space of the lobby saw the need for better integration of the entrance, with a 70-foot-wide circular METRO system with future development. opening overlooking the underground linally rhey realized that for Main Street rotunda, successfully serves as a threshold to thrive, a major connection to the tun- to both the office tower above and the nel system would he desirable to draw intricate passageways of the tunnel sys- pedestrian and retail activity together, tem below.