The Energy Centre Building is a Postmodernist skyscraper designed by HKS Inc., and built between 1982 and 1984 in New Orleans, LA.
Its precise street address is 1100 Poydras Street, New Orleans, LA. You can also find it on the map here.
The building underwent a major restoration between 2005 and 2010. The architect commissioned to undertake this restoration was VergesRome Architects.
HKS Inc. was the architecture firm in charge of the architectural design.
The Energy Centre Building can be categorized as a Postmodernist building.
Postmodernism in architecture emerged in the United States during the late 1960s as a reaction against the starkness of the International Style, which part of the new generation of architects argued was too impersonal, sterile, and disconnected from historical and cultural contexts.
Postmodernism challenged the International Style's austerity by reintroducing historical elements and ornamentation, although this time not as literally as in the Neo-Classic buildings. Instead, they reinterpreted them within the context of modern materials and construction techniques.
Postmodern buildings often feature bold, contrasting colors, unconventional forms, and a playful blend of various architectural elements from different eras and cultures.
In the United States, Postmodernism was not just an aesthetic choice but also a philosophical stance. It represented a democratization of design, where architects sought to create buildings that were accessible and meaningful to a broader range of people, not just designers and intellectuals.
The Energy Centre Building was completed in 1984. At that time Postmodernism was the prevailing style. Fresh, bold and daring, architects were exploring the freedom of designing without having to follow the strict, sometimes arbitrary rules of a specific architectural movement (which ironically became a movement itself). The Energy Centre Building was therefore every much in line with what the architecture community, and the people liked and wanted at the time.
The Energy Centre Building reaches an architectural height of 531ft (162m). It has a total of 39 floors, served by 24 elevators.
In regards to parking space, the building has a total of 982 spots available, which roughly equals 25 spots per floor (above ground).
Ever since opening its doors to the public in 1984, the Energy Centre Building has mainly been used as Commercial space.
The parking space occupies seven levels of the tower and a 4-story-high annex building.
The Energy Centre Building uses a frame structure made of columns and beams.
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 stepped bay windows with dark architectural glass form a ‘honeycomb’ design framed by metal mullions.
At the base, granite and large-format glass are used, also integrated within the same curtain wall system but with a more solid and corporate finish.
