The
only thing more difficult than looking at this building
is photographing it. Deliberately designed as an optical
illusion, Pennzoil Place presents a different face
from whatever vantage point you chose. In some skyline
shots it appears as a long, low barn. In others it
reveals itself as two towering spires. It can also
appear as a single sloping tower, a pair of complimentary
blocks, and probably a hundred other shapes. In this
photo, we're looking down on the building to illustrate
how even its roof line doesn't make a lot of sense
from a structural or visual sense. The confusion is
intentional. In the 1970's, when Houston was just
becoming the energy capital of the world, Shell Oil
moved its headquarters to the city. When Pennzoil
followed suit, it did not want to imitate Shell's
boring gray tower. Instead, Pennzoil went with two
towers, which is ironic because Shell eventually built
a second tower of its own. The distance between the
two Pennzoil buildings is just ten feet. And evocative
of its roof line, the entire street-level plaza is
enclosed in a glass pyramid. This is illustrated in
the second photograph from the Pennzoil-Quaker
State web page. Some question the wisdom of wasting
materials and space on aesthetics in office buildings.
Pennzoil Place, however proves that attractive buildings
attract tenants. Before it was even completed, two
additional stories were added to meet demand; this
while the rest of the country suffered through a recession
and an energy crisis.
