34 W i n t E i 19 9 /

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Buildings by Skidmore, Owirtgs t Merrill dominole Houslon's 1980s wesl-laiing skyline. From It'll to tighl ore One Shell Ptoio, Allied Bonk Ploio, Tenncro Building (behind Allied ond First International!, and Firs! International Plaio.

S 0 M I N HOUSTON

K e Alter

fter 40 years of practice in Houston, the firm is most notably identified. Many desire than by geography, Houston, as the early \l)M)s. I oine Welch, elected the architectural firm of Skidmore, of the most beautiful and provocative a quintessential 20th-century American mayor in I % 4 (and reelected lor tour AOwings & Merrill has left an indeli- modern office towers in the United States city, was bom of the ambitions ol consecutive terms), directed city govern- ble mark on the corporate identity of the were designed in one of SOM's major entrepreneurs. Historically, Houston ment m a iv.it that facilitated real estate city. SOM's high standards o) efficiency offices, including the Inland Steel build- has placed enormous value on highly development. During the 1970s the and design frame the lineage ol mid ing in Chicago and lever I louse in New capitalized infrastructure. The successive southwestern United States saw a spec- 2llih cenmn American modernism. Aftet York City.' SOM is responsible for many development of water, rail, highway, tacular spurt in urban growth and con- the critical frenzy of the postmodern gen- of Houston's must significant buildings, and air transportation networks is a struction, and, by I "MO, Houston's sky- eration, it now appears tenable to consid- which, in sequence, trace the develop- measure of both individual vision and line was overshadowed only by those ol er modernist accomplishments with a ment ol modernism's faith in the rational n immunity commitment. Chicago and New York. view toward refreshing imr own contem- .is the v elude ol design, The post-World War II period de- In this context of confident economic porary agenda. Since its founding in Houston's urban development, unreg- fined I lousron's reputation for untein- expansion, SOM arrived as the purvetoi Chicago m IV.16, SUM has produced a ulated by zoning, might be understood as pered fervent growth. Houston's image ot high modern design. Although Hous- variety ol building types, interior pro- an act of collective will, and the relation- of itself as the'Vity of the future" began ton's SOM buildings were the products of jects, and urban designs. Among these, it ship of the city to its natural resources when it was chosen as the site for v.i r u n is d e s i g n e r s a s s o c i a t e d w i t h d liter is the highrisc office rower with which has always been oblique. Shaped more by NASA's Manned Spacecraft Center in cut offices, and variety definitely perme- CITE Viiiii 19 9/ 1999 35

Tenrwco Building, 1010 Milom, Slidmore, Owings I Mtnill, arihitnls. 1963. !n

it Fir % I Gty Halionol Bank Building, 1001 Main Street, Skidmorc, Owingi & M-c-r rill, orthi- O m Shell Plain, 910 Louisiana, Skidmore, Owingi I Merrill, crrhiicdi with Wil- tecls with Wilton, Minis, Croin t, Anderson, (insulting nrdiitKti, 1960. son, Morris, (rain l Anderson, associate cnhiirriv 1971.

.1U-. the work. Certain salient charaetens- ty ol architecture. SOM's buildings are consultants to the I louston architects the office tower. tics .ire generally present. The buildings clear, forthright, and bold. They extend Golemon it Rolfe, SOM designed this While not comparable to SOM's prin- consistent!) display an extreme degree Texas Medical Center estab base, covering the site, creates a street ded surfaces, exact profiles, crisp detail- us practical appeal and modern magic. lislicd a significant challenge to Houston's wall next to generous sidewalks umsis ing, a high degree ol apparent order, and Rather than reacting to the vicissitudes downtown in the ll>siK. t ontriburing to tent with those of the neighboring blocks slight inflections in plan create an image of circumstance, SOM's Houston work this vision of multistory buildings amid on I'annm and Main streets. I lie fust of superior rationale, and a place that is is dedicated to carefulh reasoned spatial green space was SOM's first I louston Moor ol the Medical lowers contains dramatical!) modern. By the mid l<"S

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clad in white Vermont marble, carries the design expression is relegated to elements ing rectangular tube. The increased depth gray-glass aluminum-Irame window wall, that involve the steel structural frame, of the columns at eight points around the which is set back five feet tor sun-shading which is clad in anodi/ed aluminum. building provides supplementary wind and window cleaning. The elegant mar- Touching the ground with monumental stiffening, while giving the impression ot ble-clad tower is rclcntlesslv express-ed, piers extending from the frame, the undulated walls and an unconventional rising directly from the ground unlettered Tenneco building is eminently rational, system of statics. This outer tube is fur- f'„ M..I....J V •.. by the banking hall, which is connected abstract, and pure, overtly designed as a ther stiffened by the sheer walls of the via two glass enclosed passages, The top logical diagram of its engineering ami interior elevator core. As a consequence, three floors of mechanical space are construction. An insulated glass curtain I lines was able to build the 50-story One Meditol Tower) Building, 1709 Diyden Street, Skidmoit, Owings incorporated in the continuous frame, wall is sei back from the projected frame Shell Plaza — at the time the tallest rein- I Merrill, toniulling qnhllscll to Golcmon & Rolf*, orchilecli, yielding a tower of remarkably bold to articulate its distinction and aid in sun- forced concrete building in the world — us;. composition and an image of rational shading. Unlike Tirst City, the Tenneco for the cost of a conventional steel structure wrought with some degree of building asserts its position as a monu- framed 35-story tower. United States. The Medical Towers Build- regional sensitivity to orientation. The ment at both its base and top, and pre- Tike Tirst (. itv and Tenneco. One ing represented an enthusiastic foray into clear-spanned, open banking hall is fitted sents an image of awesome scale, Shell Plaza is situated in the middle ol a this exciting elite world. Like the other with an aluminum curtain wall of huge Tirst City and Tenneco represent block, surrounded by an open plaza. SUM buildings that followed, this mod- glass panels and a continuous, luminous SOM at its peak: Buushaft's and Bassett's I lowever, the careful reassessment ol the em building was imminently compatible ceiling containing lixtures ingeniously crystallization and moiHimcnt.ili/arioii of interrelationship between the cost and with Houston, Imagine how liberating it arranged to cast light both downward modernist technique. The casual rational- speed ot construction, the value ot must have seemed In middle-class I Ions and up towards the ceiling. The vastness ity of the Medical Towers Building is here rentable space (beyond concerns ot home tomans in I 957 to stroll from the side- ol ilu- room, its openness and continuity transformed into the high solemnity of and corporate identity), and the construc- walk into an air conditioned lobby, or to with the out-of-doors, and the precise modern engineering — timeless, transcen- tion system employed here led to a build- step off the elevator to arrive in an office detailing of hundreds ol building compo- dent, ceremonial. ing of a markedly different character. The nents, including furnishings, make it ot expansive views made possible by the In the 1970s SOM's work in Houston rationale which in Buushaft and Basset an exceptional space. Even today, in large panels of glass and the building's displayed a different emphasis. The 50- gave rise to an elegant, monumental cor- its unoccupied state, this room has position in the middle of the block. story One Shell Plaza ot I 9ft 5-71, de- porate ILK-IKIIv is extended through dra- become the generous host to extra- In contrast to this suburban trend, signed by Bruce Graham and Fazlur R. ham and Kahn to the inexorable expres- vagant private occasions. the First City National bank building of Khan of the Chicago office, reflected the sion ot a building's structure. 14ft I reversed the downtown construc- l.ike a breath of fresh air, the clarity, St l M tradition of modernist rationalism Philip Johnson and John Burgee's tion stagnation thai had dogged 1 louston openness, and essential abstracliKss of in a new light, built by developer Gerald mid-1970s Pennz.oil Place reacted to the throughout the 1950s, Designed by Cor- l-'irst City invigorated downtown Hous- D. Hines and leased to the Shell Oil look of engineering rationalism that One don buushaft of the New York office of ton and marked a sweeping move into Company, One Shell Plaza was .\n effort Shell Plaza embodied, radically changing SOM, the first l ny National bank epito- the modern world, Hollowing the exam to achieve luxury with economy and the expectations and aesthetic predilec- mizes the intense development ol design pie set by Tirst City National Bank, still appear corporate. tions of developers in I louston. Because derived from extreme discipline and I'.dward Charles Bassett and the San The grand scale and elegant forms of a phenomenal market response to order, and it eloquently presents itself as Francisco office of SOM were hired to of the high-modem towers by Buushaft Pennz.oil Place, developers pressed their a sophisticated modern image. Signifi- design the 33-story Tcnnceo building, and bassett were made possible by the architects to devise more eccentric shapes cantly, hiring SOM was stipulated as a completed in 19ft3, for the Tennessee welded steel frame. With the elevator and appealing curtain walls. Highnse condition of the construction financing Cas and Transmission Company and the core providing stiffness, the steel frame design was primarily commissioned by because of the firm's reputation for Tennessee bank and Trust Company. was defined by the widest possible bays developers concerned with profit margins expertise with tall buildings, Tirst City's Bassett's Tcnnceo Building design was and the most slender steel sections feasi- on rentable space. Instead ot corporate essential stylishness MK{ purity of form refined into a more vigorous version of ble, i lowever, as the frame got thinner, clients seeking an emblematic home office were as much a reflection of SOM's the Tirst City type, l.ike First City, Tcn- the steel had to become more resistant, building, SOM became more likely to efficient track record as of its precision nceo is isolated in the middle of a block. which carried a price. Similarly, the large work with developers interested in get- ist aesthetic. The comparatively low ground llooi sunshading overhangs ol the external ting a full return on capital by reducing unrentable space and maximizing con- The First City National bank consists core is set back 42 feet on all sides from steel frame, while expressing the grace structional anil operational economy, of three buildings collected on a continu- the outside face of the building, so that a and power of Tirst City and Tenneco I lowever, in a competitive marketplace, ous terrazzo terrace — a )2-5tory office spacious plaza is created. Solely a rower, were, from a developer's perspective, an tinanci.il wisdom suggested that develop- tower, an adjacent 34-foot-high banking Tenneco i> emphatically rational and extravagance that sacrificed potential ers i.mild engage m competition for ten- hall, and six drive-through stations (now abstract in both appearance and concep- leaseable floor space. ants through architectural imagery. demolished) — and, on the adjacent halt- tion. 1 [ere the image of Tennessee Cas In contrast, Bruce Craham and 1 a/lur block, .ut 800-car parking garage. The took precedence over that of Tennessee Khan (SOM's Chicago engineering part- In ihis world of investment office complex deftly accommodated the pro- Bank, and the banking hall, unlike that ner) conceived of One Shell Plaza in a towers SOM's reliance on rational, uni- gram throughout: 75 banking tellers and at lirst City, was pulled into the building radical!) different manner to significantly versal svsh ins ui organization metamoi 36 staff members on the banking floor; and left spatially squeezed. Down ramps reduce the cost of construction. Craham phosed again, lessons learned in efficien- administrative and executive offices on to underground parking and a line of and Khan reconceived the frame and cur- cy and cost effectiveness through the the first and second floors; speculative drive-in bank kiosks (now demolished) tain wall as an integral solid, employing interrelationship of engineering and rental space in the rest of the tower; were discreetly integrated into the Khan's invention of the "tube within a architecture were maintained, but the drive-in tellers located discreetly behind pla/a design. tube" building. The exterior, a reinforced high-minded aesthetics ol SOM's ratio- the banking hall; and parking convenient- Above the pla/.a level, the building concrete structural system clad in traver- nalism gave way to the effort to make ly connected by an air-conditioned, treats orientation neutrally, as each side tine marble, is framed by a series ot close- more shapely buildings. In deference to underground tunnel. faces direct sun at some point during the Iv spaced columns and high spandrel this economic determinism, Richard The welded steel frame ol tlu- lower. day. With sunshades on all four sides. beams, which together form a load bear- Keating of SOM's Houston ollice stated CITE 40 Winn 1 9 9 J 1 9 9 S 37 J

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fir!I Inter mil ionnl Ploio (now 1100 Louisiana Building), 1100 Louiiranu, Skidmore, Allied Bank Plain (now Weill Forgo Plata), 1000 Louisiono. Skidmore, Owing, £ Merrill, Teniwco Building, corner ol ground level with gorngt enlronte ol Owings t> Merrill, arihilMls, 3D/lnternoliorral, nssofiole ardiilects, 1980. archilecli, Lloyd Jones Brewer I Aiuxiolei, associate architects 1983. lell.

Iii 19KI, "['in presently exploring,as ophy ol design. then underlying values respond to the SOM IN SUBURBIA main ol the other partners are too, the Similarly, the 55-story First Interna- ethical heart of modem architecture, tube system, like the one in Allied Hank tional Pla/a was designed less from Unsurprisingly, the collective impact of While a number ol the high-profile office buildings in Hous I'la/a, which gives LIS the opportunity to SOM's history ot modernist rationalism this work on the character of the city is Ion's downtown skyline were designed by Skidmore, Owing; relax the form,*' This marked a radical than from developer's budget-driven agen- left unconsidered. Beyond n collection of & Merrill, il is little known that on oddilionol IB structures change in the firm's trajectory — and the da. Informed by the manner in which willful, monumental edifices, the most were also designed by the firm outside of the central busi nature of architecture's collaboration developers determine income — that provocative urban gesture of SOM's ness district. In chronological order they are as follows: with engineering. Two buildings of this rentable floorspace is calculated to the Houston towers was the introduction ol period — Allied Bank Plaza ol 1983 inside edge of the glass — First Interna- the modern pla/a. Unfettered by prece- • United Carbon Co. Research Laboratory, designed by Kdward Basset! and l.au- tional was willfully shaped to give a vari- dent and facilitated by a network of 13401 Koly Fteeway, 1962, demolished 1997. rance Donne ol SOM's S.ui Francisco ed ol configurations: each elevation is underground tunnels that siphoned off • Great Southern Life Insurance Co, Building, office with Richard Keating of Si 1\1 rendered visually different. Mere the uses typicnth associated with downtown 3121 Buffalo Speedway, 1965, demolished 1997.

Houston and First International I'la/a of trained tube system was adapted to a streets — coffee shops, shoe repair shops, • Ranger Insurance Co, 5333Weslheimer, 1971, IVN I, designed by Donne and liassett — shaped building, t onfigured with respect dry cleaners, intcrbnilding access, and sea- designed lor Gerald D. Hines Interests. reflect that change. to the edges of irs full-block site rather vice areas — the modern pla/a ciinc into • Control Data Corporation, 7000 West Loop South, than from the middle, it departs from The 71-story Allied Hank Plaza (now being as an abstract space unconcerned 1971, for Hines. SOM's other Houston towers m address- Wells largo I'la/.a). designed for Century with the exigencies of use, serving only to • Post Oak Row, 1801 Post Oak, 1972, o linear strip ing differing sire circumstances with dis- Development Corporation, is sei back offset the buildings that rise from it. innll lluit includes I he famous Fony s Restaurant tinct formal responses and in conceptual- from the street in the middle of a block The recent demolition of the Circat • Stewart Title, 2200 Wesl Loop South, 1974, lor Hines. izing the pla/a in a traditional manner. adjacent to three other SO.VI buildings — Southern Life and United Carbon build • Kaneb Building, S2S1 Weslheimer, 1976, a strip mall. Signaling this dramatic change in ap- Tcmicco to the east. One Shell I'ln/a 10 ings in the late 1990s, the tentative status • Bechtel Building, 5400 Weslheimer Court, 1981 proach, l.arry Doane stated: "In the de- the north, and First International Plaza to of First City ami the Medical lowers • 9 4 9 4 Southwest Freeway, co. 1982, on 8 story sign of First International Pla/.a, it was the south, Its structural system of steel buildings, and the departure of Fenneco triangular building near Beltway 8. important lor us to respond to the city yet columns, set at 15-foot centers in a ra- from irs building suggest that the value •9801 Westheimer, co. 1982 contribute to its development in a special dius thai describes its plan-shape ol two of these buildings' refined aesthetic and • Galleria Wesl, 2610 2670 Sage Road. co. 1982. way, and I think we achieved this as the quarter-circles, is so structurally effective their importance as cultural artifacts does • Guest Quarters Hotel, 5353 Westheimer, 19B2, two strengths ol the building are irs \.ir that no additional interior columns or not hold against their value as real estate now the Doubletree Guest Suites. ied exterior form ami large pedestrian bracing walls in the core section were assets. But as postmodernism and its cri- • Westlake Park Two, 500 Wesiloke Park Blvd., 1982, plaza."3 The pla/a, though, is the required. Allied is an immense building: tique of the modern fades from fashion, for Hines, part ol SOM planned West Lake Park. M i .iki st part of the design. lis 1,S million square leei of rentable a reconsideration of the modern experi- • Amoco Center, 501 Westlake Park, 1983, for Hines. space are made possible economic.alb In Six SOM towers illustrate the firm's ment and of its tangled set of relation- • Westlake Park Three, 550 Westlake Park Blvd., ibis creative structural system, but its trajectory from a rational systemization ships between motive, form, structure, 1983, lor Hines. expression is derived from a different of an entire building, to rational struc- and circumstance, seems timely. • • Centre One, 9800 Centre Parkway, 1983, desire. Unlike its predecessors, Fenneco ture, to a rationally engineered building For The Farb Companies. and First C ity, a sheathing of green glass in the service ol economic considerations. I, Skidmore, Ounu> i\ Merrill maintained • Retail Centre, Centre Parkway ot Bissonnet, 1984, filhcrs in l hicago, New York, s. Francisco, Port neutralizes the distinction between struc- In all of SOM's I louston buildings, the m land, and, for .• brid time, I loustaB. for Forb. tural sin lac< s and window openings. effort of the arclutecturnl project to lay J "Skidmore, Owing! is' Merrill's New Directions • San Felipe Plaza, 5847 Son Felipe, 1984, for Farb. Sheetrock coffers in the lobby ceiling and claim to .1 sophisticated future distin- in High-Risc Design," Ardriuciural Retard, March Louis H. Skidmoie, k other Inch theatrical details stand in guishes the buildings from their milieu 1981, p, 114. (, Ibid., p, l IK, contrast to the firm's struct lira list philos- with unbridled optimism, Moreover,