One Shell Plaza
Houston, USA

HEIGHT: 218m/715 feet
FLOORS: 50 floors
COMPLETION: 1971
ARCHITECT: Skidmore, Owings, and Merrill (SOM)

Deceptively simple in appearance, One Shell Plaza has a number of surprises upon closer examination. Outwardly, it looks like any other boring concrete block. But it is the only one in downtown Houston to sport a mast like so many skyscrapers in other cities. Its base has just a slight flare to it, spreading out like a Japanese fuji. The neighboring Two Shell Plaza appears to pay homage to this flare with the windows on its lower levels. They appear in roughly triangle patterns. But in reality, this is a structural element. Back at One Shell Plaza, looking down the sides you will notice that not all of the vertical lines are of the same width. Towards the corners some are wider for added structural strength.

http://mywebpage.netscape.com/rotpics02/oneshellhouston01.jpeg

http://mywebpage.netscape.com/rotpics02/oneshellhouston02.jpeg

http://www.houstonarchitecture.info/Images/Buildings/Downtown/OneShellPlaza-001.jpg

http://www.houstonarchitecture.info/Images/Buildings/Downtown/OneShellPlaza-002.jpg

4/10 :ohno:

a box with a big spire...5/10

4.5/10

How creative:ohno:

5/10 typical 70's box

Hehe how nice....a box :)
4.5/10

cmon guys, it isnt that bad. 5.5/10

:puke: 4

I am not kind when dealing with boxes...and I am particularly harsh on plain ones. 4/10.

5/10 - **YAWN** - Not just a box, but a dull box - a bland facade, with windows like holes in a cheese grater, and one silly antenna on a flat roof...nothing of interest here at all.

Did SOM hand this job over to some of their newly hired draftsmen for practice, I wonder???

Goes to show that it's not just the shape, it's what the architect does with it...in this case, very little...

Demo squad :down:

I like this building ( I don't like the antenna)

BTW, this building contours and tapers at the bottom, but it's hard to notice unless you right there...

6/10

very creative! 6

5/10... Boring

10...i felt bad...

Uhh...

0/10 :down:

I'm the guy who usually loves boxes but I have to say that this is the biggest piece of crap I've ever seen, and I don't care for it's little "surprises".
Nothing can save this one...it's combination of a box (though that itself isn't what kills it), square windows, ugly color, and that hideous spire on top just makes me want to vommit. :(

2/10

And it further shocks me that this comes from SOM...the designers of skyscraper masterpieces such as the John Hancock Center and Sears Tower.

To be fare though, I think it looks nice at night.

it looks like a 1prudential plaza wannabe ...not creative nor impressing 4.5/10

Blah...what did they think on when they made this one? 4/10:puke:

box box box :bleep: -1

whooo~ a box~
5/10

ugly! 3

3.5/10 NOW THAT'S WHAT I CALL A BOX ! :rotf:

7/10

A white box !!

I don't like it nor do I like it's little twin

4/10

I really don't like it.

A solid conceptual approach to a box that worked out well.

8/10

5/10

Tower Large and imposing. It has uniformity with huge number of windows forming a interlacing matrix pattern both vertically and horizontally.
Strong contrast of Glass on the white cladding which end at abrupt corners giving the tower definition and an sharp form of a rectangle.
Ok I am trying to be nice here
But you know the truth of it
4/10

Every city has to have it's big box and this is Downtown Houston's. Individually it's really bland, but it blends very well with the skyline (especially with the antenna). The antenna for some reason adds a bit of a "space" theme to me considering it's in Houston. I gave it a 6.

4/10
that's a hell of a box

4/10 It's fairly tall, and I kind of like that antenna on top, but it's boring.

Very ugly, boring, simple, pure cement 3/10

Very, very bland! < 3.5.

7/10

Clean but ugly

that big antenna makes the building really ugly...................4

the most boring thing u can possibly do with a box... the td center buildings, rockefeller extension buildings, michigan plaza buildings, and the int'l style tokyo skyscrapers all look more interesting than this...thing... if it haven't been for its top two floors then the building would've been totally non-descript.

the mast just makes it worse...

5

double

i don't mind boxes. this one is acctually pretty interesting. i like how the windows go all the way to the top and the subtle curves towards the bottom are cool. too bad the antenna ruins its shape. 5.5, i would have given it a 7 if not for the antenna.

Boring box. 6/10

It's bland if not butt ugly....AND BOXY!

4/10

Mwah 6.0

Boxy tower 5.0

I hate buildings with rediculous antennae on the top, especially big white thoughtless un natural cold squares.

4.5/10. What the hell was wrong with SOM when they put that dickwad antenna up there? I wouldn't be born, but I'm glad this ain't Houston's tallest anymore. Whoever added that antenna up there should have been shot at.

At least One Shell Plaza's sister in New Orleans, One Shell Square, looks like this one WITHOUT that got-damn antenna.

6/10 - I dont like it...

Very unimaginative. The shape is mundane, and the facade is monotonous.

5/10

hmmmm let me see, there's really not much to say about this one because it's so plain and boring and that ugly antena makes it even worse as if this building wasn't ugly enough and it could really use being a different colour like grey instead of boring white but seriously the only thing I think about when I see this building as it is is to demolish it!!! 3/10

definatly one of the most ugly boxes, whith its stupid, too long spire

5/10

This tower is the world headquarters for Shell...

At the 50th Floor, there is an exclusive aristocratic club called "The Houston Club." (Members only) My friend got marries there a year ago, at twlight, the views were to kill..

5/10 another one designed by SOM...

Somewhat ugly, especially the antenna. I give it a 5/10. :(

8/10

5/10

very ordinary.

7.5/10

2.

5.5/10...:ohno:

I'm very fond of this tower, 9/10

5/10

Comun boring and boxing SOM tower
6.5/10

<3/10.

5/10

Quite ordinary box but looks OK. 7/10

6/10

ugly box and facade 4/10

Bleeh, 4.5/10

5/10

4,5/10

Simple but great! 7/10

:ohno:

VERY box 4.5/10

5.5/10 Doesn't look too bad.

4/10

3.5/10.

1 Prudential plaza anyone? Boring. 4/10

Very common ... 3,5

Very common ... 3,5

5/10

7.5/10

Weird bunker
6.5/10

6.5/10.

7/10.

7/10

3/10

7/10

I don't mind boxes--even love some of them--but this one is completely dull and uninspiring. The spire is off-center and looks horrible. What was SOM thinking?

4/10

I think there are some 10.000 towers that look like this one 4/10

4/10

4/10.. it´s not interesant

box, boring: 7/10

I like the...uhh....uh...curtains? :dunno:

2/10

7.5/10 nb.

P

A box, but at least not a glass box~~

6

7.5/10

UGLLLLLLLLLLLYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYyyyyyy

3/10

5/10

5/10

6/10

6/10 too boxy

4/10

6/10

1/10. Box.

6.5 :ohno:

Uggg box. 4/10

I think noone has ponted out that it looks like a box... this people can't see things... dang

3/10

5 / 10

4/10

blehhh :( 4,5/10

5/10

OMG! to much boxes in the US 3.

I don't realy like this...

5.5/10 :no:

6/10

American Boxy
4/10

This building really stands out at night though!

4/10

5/10

4,5/10

1/10

5/10:)

6/10

5/10

The toothpick on top of this ugly box gives the final blow.
2/10.

Boring

4. discusting

3/10

Big box!!!

1/10

4/10

4/10

White box:) Very "creative".

5/10

6/10

7/10

4/10...ok i like the effect of all the windows...but apart from that...euuuww

4/10

4.5/10

4.5

06/10

6/10

3/10

Ugly, not creative at all, and just.... an architectural turn-off. The only positive is how it looks in the night shots.

5/10
Antenna is too big --'

4,5/10

5.5/10

Typical box, max 5/10

8. Good building. Regards.

3/10

voted 5/10 too boxy.

7/10

6.5

7/10

One TALL BOX.:)

7/10

3/10

With the antenna included the height is 985 ft. The 170 ft antenna on top of the building has carried various television and radio signals since the building's completion.

Yeah, not exactly a masterpiece, but I always thought OSP was a box, but I was surprised to find out that part of its facade has this weird inverted thing...
http://pics3.city-data.com/businesses/p/8/6/6/8/4468668.JPG

7/10

9/10

Even I don't like this box. 3/10

New Orleans (One Shell Square) & Tulsa (First Place Tower) both have almost identical buildings to One Shell Plaza in Houston minus its massive antennae.

i give it less then 3.
not because its boxy. (there are some good boxes sometimes)
because its ugly!!!

6/10

Boxy and too heavy
5/10

5/10
Too simple

5/10

1/10 Epic fail!

4/10, ugly and outdated

5/10

Old and dull

5/10

3/10

5/10

:ohno:

5/10. It's a box :(