First City Tower

Walter P Moore provided complete structural engineering services for this high-rise office tower located in downtown Houston. The 14th-tallest building in the city, formerly housed the headquarters of First City National Bank, but now serves as the headquarters of Waste Management, Inc and Vinson & Elkins.

Shaped like a parallelogram, the tower is placed in a diagonal position on a full city block. There are four 11-story high indentations in the facade where glass panels provide an outside view. The indentations, which are key architectural design elements in the tower, required the development of a specialized composite structural steel framing system.

The structure’s basement contains an underground shopping mall and concourses radiating in three directions, tying into downtown Houston’s pedestrian tunnel system.