Regions Center

The Regions Center is an International Style skyscraper designed by Welton Becket & Associates, in association with Charles H. McCauley Associates, and built between 1968 and 1972 in Birmingham, AL.

Regions Center is not the only name you might know this building by though. It is common for companies to want to attach their names to iconic buildings when they move in, or for the general public to come up with nicknames, and this one is no exception. The building has changed names several times over the years, and is also known as:

• First National Bank-Southern Natural Gas Building between 1972 and 1980.
• AmSouth-Sonat Tower between 1980 and 2001.
• AmSouth Center between 2002 and 2006.

Its precise street address is 1960 5th Avenue North, Birmingham, AL. You can also find it on the map here.

The building underwent a major restoration in 2016. The architect commissioned to undertake this restoration was LEC.

Welton Becket & Associates was the architecture firm in charge of the architectural design, in association with Charles H. McCauley Associates.

The Regions Center can be categorized as an International Style building.

The Regions Center uses a frame structure made of steel columns and concrete and steel slabs.

A frame structure uses a combination of beams and columns to sustain the building's weight. The walls in this case are non-load bearing, which allows for more flexibility when distributing the interior spaces.

The facade uses a non-load bearing curtain wall system. This means the curtain wall modules are anchored to the building's structural frame, typically by being attached to the edge of the floor slabs. The curtain wall system connects to the slabs using brackets, anchors, and mullions, which transfer the loads imposed by wind and temperature changes, to the building's primary structural elements.

This setup allows the curtain wall to accommodate differential movement between the facade and the structural frame, such as thermal expansion, floor deflection, or sway from wind forces. This system's integration with the slab edges also allows for continuous insulation and weatherproofing layers.

From an aesthetic point of view, the facade features black granite cladding the columns that form the high base on which a reflective glass curtain wall rises to a steel lattice penthouse that crowns the facade.

The building's four facades light up on special occasions through a perimeter lighting system installed between the blinds and the exterior glass of the windows .