The Skyscraper

(photos by dianne curtis / all rights reserved)

The Skyscraper

...was America's contribution to architecture. Did you know that in order to invent the first skyscrapers, we had to invent the elevator first? That makes sense...right? The Romans could have invented skyscrapers but buildings that were taller than 5 stories were not logical for everyday business practices.
You're looking at one of Houston's most famous and distinguishable buildings now called Heritage Plaza. It was finished in 1987 when Houston was suffering from the oil crunch, unemployment and premature over-expansion so it stood as one of the last, tallest buildings to be built in Houston for over a decade. The main architect behind the design, (M. Nasr) was inspired by the Mayan step-pyramids he visited in the Yucatan.

Another building with a bit of a "Dutch-Gothic" revival located in Houston is the Bank of America Center designed by Philip Johnson and John Burgee.
Like many of the modern skyscrapers in Houston, these buildings are so distinctive, the skyline in this city has become famous and easily identifiable all over the world...
but Houston has been criticized for not paying attention to the ground level of these beautiful towering entities that dwarf anyone walking under them. We don't really have the elaborate gargoyles or Baroque arabesques that other cities do along the east coast but it can be argued that Houston is a more modern city simply because it developed at a much later time period in history.
When the first skyscrapers were designed the idea of using nothing but reinforced concrete, steel and glass seemed disastrous. It wasn't until the perfection of steel manufacturing. stronger glass and reinforced concreted that allowed architects to solve all the weight distribution problems that are included with a huge skyscraper. This is why older cities like New York and Chicago have masonry work on the first few stories, this was the only solution for handling the weight and gravitational problems with building so high. As we perfected these challenges, our buildings became prettier. One architect who taught everyone how to really "dress up" up a building was Mies van der Rohe...but we'll talk about him on another day.