 Photograph © Wayne Lorentz  Photograph © Wayne Lorentz  Scroll down for more pictures  Photograph © Wayne Lorentz  Photograph © Wayne Lorentz
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ExxonMobil BuildingFormerly: | Humble Oil Building | This is one of those buildings that trained architects love, and ordinary people scratch their heads at. To lay people it looks like a bunch of concrete slabs stacked on top of each other like a parking garage. To professionals, its brutality speaks of an internal strength matched only by its openness of form and oneness with the surrounding hostility of an urban environment. Whatever. The fact remains that this building is showing its age. It was constructed at a time when the future looked like brushed concrete cities in the sky. Not only was it considered the height of fashion, it was also the tallest building in the western United States. But love it, or hate it, those horizontal slabs serve a purpose – they keep the blazing Houston sun at bay. Similar, more elegant, versions of architectural shades have been installed at Enron Center South. They are hardly noticeable unless you stand almost underneath the building. In this structure, architectural shades are an integral part of the building. At the upper floors where there are no higher stories to provide shade, aluminum louvers keep the sun out of the two-story Petroleum Club. Quick Facts
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