Heritage Plaza

The Heritage Plaza is a Postmodernist skyscraper designed by M. Nasr & Partners, and built between 1984 and 1987 in Houston, TX.

Heritage Plaza 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 Heritage Plaza is also known, or has been known as, Texaco Heritage Plaza, or Chevron Texaco Heritage Plaza.

Its precise street address is 1111 Bagby Street, Houston, TX. You can also find it on the map here.

The Heritage Plaza has received multiple architecture awards for its architectural design since 1987. The following is a list of such prizes and awards:

• Landmark Awards in 2009
• APEX Award in 2022

The building underwent a major restoration between 2019 and 2021. The architect commissioned to undertake this restoration was Kirksey Architecture.

M. Nasr & Partners was the architecture firm in charge of the architectural design.

That being said, architecture is a complex discipline involving many professionals from different fields, without whom this building would have not been possible. We will surely be leaving out a lot of names here, but here is a list of the people we do know also played their part in making the Heritage Plaza a reality:

• The Beck Group and Peterson Beckner Industries as the Main Contractor
• Fujitec America as the company in charge of the elevators system
• Clarion Realty Services as the Main Developer

The Heritage Plaza can be categorized as a Postmodernist building.

The Heritage Plaza was completed in 1987. 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 Heritage Plaza was therefore every much in line with what the architecture community, and the people liked and wanted at the time.

The Heritage Plaza uses a trussed-frame structure made of steel columns and slabs.

A trussed-frame structure uses a combination of beams and columns to sustain the building's weight, and diagonal elements to provide stability against horizontal forces such as wind or seismic activity by triangulating the structure. 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 a blue-tinted glass curtain wall with a beige stepped pyramid on the upper floors, reminiscent of the Mayan culture.

At the base the building sits on an also stepped, 34-meter-high gray granite-clad podium. The cladding of the podium is highly ornamental, with strong horizontal divisions.