910 Louisiana
- Interspace & Power
- Sep 1, 2024
- 2 min read
Updated: Nov 11, 2024
Location: Houston, Texas, USA
Designed by: Bruce Graham and Fazlur Khan (Skidmore, Owings & Merrill)
Style: Postmodern
Completed in: 1971
Height: 218 m
Situated in the centre of Houston's downtown business district, a 50-storey reinforced concrete office tower, 910 Louisiana, formerly known as One Shell Plaza until 2019, was constructed in 1971.
The building was constructed to serve as the corporate headquarters for the Shell Oil Company and was the first major downtown project by the Houston real estate developer, Gerald D. Hines, who then became the world-renowned real estate developer after the success of this project.
"The First Houston's Office Tower"
It was built right in front of the Houston City Hall, on the opposite side of the Hermann Square from the city hall, as if to imply the power dynamics against the city administration.
"Right in front of the city hall"
"The Houston City Hall"
At the time of the construction, it was the tallest building in the city and remained the tallest until 1980 when the same real estate developer built the Enterprise Plaza just some blocks away in 1980 to serve as the headquarters of Enterprise Products, another oil and gas giant.
The building was designed by the architectural firm, Bruce Graham and Fazlur Khan from Skidmore, Owings & Merrill in the postmodern style. The building is cladded with the polished Italian travertine marble which was quarried from the same region as the marble used in the Colosseum, which has been suggested to "linking two empires across the centuries".
"Cladded with the Italian travertine marble"
The building was the first tube-in-tube structure ever built and also the first all-lightweight concrete ever built and it is still the world’s tallest lightweight concrete structure.
In order to accommodate the loading of the skyscraper by lightweight concrete, the thickness of the exterior columns were adjusted, which can be seen by its famous undulating exterior wall.
"Undulating exterior wall"
On its 49th floor, the building houses the Houston Club, the prestige private members' club for "movers and shakers".
The Republic Plaza in Denver, also designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, has a design very similar to that of One Shell Plaza.
"Republic Plaza in Denver, also designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill"
References:
Bellows Construction. "One Shell Plaza." W.S. Bellows Construction Corporation, 2024, https://www.wsbellows.com/project/one-shell-plaza/. Accessed 2024-07-14.
Feser, Katherine. "50 Years Ago This Week: One Shell Plaza Began Its Journey to the Houston Skyline." Houston Chronicle, 29 March 2017, https://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/50-years-ago-this-week-One-Shell-Plaza-began-it-s-11033414.php. Accessed 2024-07-14.
Hines. "910 Louisiana, Houston." Hines, https://www.hines.com/properties/910-louisiana-houston. Accessed 2024-07-14.
Khan, Fazlur R. "One Shell Plaza." Khan Archive at Princeton University, http://khan.princeton.edu/khan/khanOneShell.html. Accessed 2024-07-14.
Wikipedia Contributors. "One Shell Plaza." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_Shell_Plaza. Accessed 2024-07-14.
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