Heritage Plaza vs Pennzoil Place

Comparing the Heritage Plaza and the Pennzoil Place is interesting because they both rise in Houston, TX, yet they were conceived by two different design teams, M. Nasr & Partners and Johnson/Burgee Architects, and were completed at different points in time. They were finished more than a decade apart.

This contrast within the same city allows us to see how different creative minds interpreted the evolving needs of Houston across time.

Let's take a closer look!

The Heritage Plaza is clearly the larger tower of the two, both in terms of height and number of floors. It rises to 761ft (232m) with 53 floors above ground, while the Pennzoil Place reaches 522ft (159m) with 36 floors above ground.

Of course, each project may have faced different briefs or regulatory constraints, which we don't really know about and could also explain the outcome.

Both the Heritage Plaza and the Pennzoil Place were designed in line with the aesthetic conventions of the Postmodernism style.

At the time, this style was at the height of its popularity. So both M. Nasr & Partners and Johnson/Burgee Architects followed what was in many ways expected of them, producing designs that fit comfortably within contemporary architectural norms, rather than breaking with convention.

Both the Heritage Plaza and the Pennzoil Place were designed to serve as commercial towers, and that has remained their main use since their completion, serving similar roles in the urban fabric.

Both towers provide significant parking capacity, with Heritage Plaza offering 808 spaces and the Pennzoil Place offering 525.

The two towers rely on different structural systems, reflecting distinct engineering strategies.

The Heritage Plaza uses a Trussed Frame structural system, which uses diagonal bracing in addition to beams and columns for stability, while the Pennzoil Place uses a Frame system, that relies on a regular grid of columns and beams to sustain its weight.

Yet, when it comes to their facade, they both employed the same solution, a Curtain Wall facade.

A curtain wall is a non-load-bearing facade hung from the structural frame. It is anchored to floor slabs and transfers only its own weight and wind loads, allowing for sleek, glassy exteriors.