Philip Johnson

Pennzoil Place - Houston – (EE.UU.)

The two twin towers total a built-up area of 130.000 m 2 , distributed as follows: 36 storeys above grade each tower; two covered public areas on grade and four underground levels, three of which provide parking space for up to 550 cars. The network of underground walks provided, linking the building to many other neighbouring blocks, makes this compound an important pedestrian traffic core in the city of Houston. There is little doubt that the architects have been able to break away from the archetypal american sky-scraper — cold, unhuman and static — through the selection of warm construction materials and a trapezoid design which helps to top up the towers in a very imaginative way, bending the side walls 45° to form a sort of a slanted roof.