Profile

One Dallas Centre — Phase I

Dallas, Texas
Completed 1979

Investment office building with a linked garage
 

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This 396-foot tower was designed for a development client who requested a distinctive and energy-efficient building with minimum floor areas of 20,000 square feet at a maximum cost of $33 per square foot (1977 dollars). Inherent in the challenge was the opportunity to design a building with a unique skyline and street-level identity — one which, in this case, comes directly from the site. The tower's rhomboidal shape is a considered response to two downtown street grids that intersect at a 30º angle.

The building is positioned asymmetrically on the site so that no exterior wall parallels an adjacent street; space is thus created on all four sides and unobstructed views ensured. Two 16-foot-deep notches accentuate the geometric mass, multiplying corner offices and rationalizing orthogonal office plans in the non-orthogonal building. The column-free interiors are sheathed in a taut energy-efficient membrane of matte gray aluminum and mullionless tinted glass.

Unlike other buildings where interstitial spaces tend to be leftovers, Dallas Centre enriches the city with ground-level arcades and a public plaza which, like the tower, reflects the street grid in its diamond-shaped pavers. The building is linked to its 900-car garage across the street by a mezzanine skywalk — the first such bridge in Dallas's now extensive all-weather pedestrian network.

Major Components

Typical office floors (28): 538,000 s/f; 26,000 s/f retail on levels 1–2; 32,000 s/f plaza; commissioned art (Dimitri Hadzi sculpture, James Surle sculpture, Helena Hernmarck tapestries (2)); skywalk and 900-car garage

I. M. Pei & Partners services

Master Planning; Complete Architectural Services; Interior Design of public spaces; coordination with associate architect on construction documents and construction administration

Associate Architect

Fisher & Spillman Architects Inc., Dallas, TX

Structural

Weiskopf & Pickworth, New York, NY

Mechanical

Cosentini Associates LLP, New York, NY, and
Brady, Freeman & Johrman, Dallas, TX

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