Profile

Hilton Houston Post Oak
(formerly Warwick Post Oak) Hotel

Houston, Texas
Completed 1982

Lead Designer: James Ingo Freed

14-story deluxe hotel with convention facilities and parking
 

Click on image to enlarge

This project was undertaken by two Houston-based developers to create a deluxe hotel for business travelers in the Galleria section of Houston. As much of the rapidly developing area was executed without regard for context, this project presented an opportunity, indeed a responsibility, to create a cohesive urban space. The 14-story hotel was designed to strengthen the street wall and shape the otherwise undefined ground plane. It is spatially related to, but stylistically distinct from, a group of glass towers across the road. The hotel is part of a master plan for a multi-use complex including an office building, landscaping, plaza, and exclusive retail.

The poured-in-place concrete hotel is triangular in shape. Its hypotenuse is aligned for maximum impact along the street, while a second floor garden and lanai pool are carved out on the south, away from public view. The façade is a screen designed to shade the open guestroom balconies that perforate it. The façade is split by a central six-story vaulted glass atrium and its extension above as elevator lobbies for the guest room floors. The atrium curves back and up to continue the outdoors in an interior garden setting integrated with natural light, focal sculpture, trees and other plantings.

Major Components

488,000 net s/f hotel with 460 guest rooms (212,000 s/f) in 18 configurations, including 60 suites; 9,800 s/f ballroom; 3,800 s/f conference rooms; 3,600 s/f atrium lobby; 3,100 s/f retail; 1,200 s/f bars/restaurants; 1,800 s/f private club; 1,400 s/f barber/beauty salon; 15,000 s/f outdoor terrace/pool; 117,000 s/f garage for 320 cars

I. M. Pei & Partners services

Master Planning; Architectural Design; coordination with associate architect on construction documents and construction administration

Associate Architect

Richard Fitzgerald & Associates, Houston, TX (owner's consultant)

Structural

CBM Engineers Inc., Houston, TX (owner's consultant)

Mechanical / Electrical / Plumbing

I. A. Naman Associates, Inc., Houston, TX (owner's consultant)  

Profile   Projects   Contacts   Contents