Encouraging employees to return to the office goes beyond furniture

Explor­ing the inten­tion­al design of Texas Tow­er in Houston 

The arti­cle rep­re­sents sub­jec­tive opin­ions of Hines, the spon­sor of the invest­ment vehi­cles offered by Hines Secu­ri­ties. Oth­er mar­ket par­tic­i­pants may rea­son­ably have dif­fer­ing opinions.

Texas Tow­er, Hines’ new glob­al head­quar­ters in down­town Hous­ton, was designed with a focus on pro­vid­ing a pos­i­tive expe­ri­ence for employ­ees and vis­i­tors. The inten­tion­al design of Texas Tow­er pro­motes col­lab­o­ra­tion and con­nec­tiv­i­ty, both with­in the build­ing and through­out the sur­round­ing community.

Texas Tow­er could be viewed as a sky­scraper case study in how to lure employ­ees back to the office by focus­ing on com­fort and con­ve­nience. Designed by Pel­li Clarke Pel­li, Hines devel­oped the build­ing in part­ner­ship with Ivan­hoé Cambridge.

The build­ing was designed with tech­nol­o­gy at its core, offer­ing an under­floor HVAC sys­tem that enables employ­ees to con­trol the air flow in their spaces. The win­dow shades also adjust based on tem­per­a­ture and sun­light, thanks to sen­sor tech­nol­o­gy. Con­fer­ence rooms inte­grate video and con­fer­enc­ing tech­nol­o­gy to make meet­ings sim­pler and more engag­ing. Texas Tow­er also offers an auto­mat­ed dry-clean­ing sys­tem. All Hines employ­ees have motor­ized sit-stand desks, and can use Hines apps to assist with space book­ing and com­mu­ni­ty acti­va­tions, employ­ee recog­ni­tion and awards.

The tow­er is placed diag­o­nal­ly on the site, result­ing in inter­est­ing view angles. It is sit­u­at­ed at the con­flu­ence of down­town Houston’s cen­tral busi­ness dis­trict, The­atre Dis­trict, and His­toric Dis­trict, pro­vid­ing easy access to restau­rants, bars, and enter­tain­ment venues. The ameni­ties focus on employ­ee well­ness, and include a state-of-the-art fit­ness cen­ter, a pub­lic gar­den, and access to fresh air and green space through­out the build­ing. It oper­ates as a liv­ing lab for Hines occu­pi­er ser­vices and the facil­i­ties man­age­ment business.

The goal is to offer hos­pi­tal­i­ty-focused expe­ri­ences to our own employ­ees and test pro­grams and ser­vices that help refine future offer­ings to sup­port clients and ten­ants. Pro­grams include host­ing a Fam­i­ly Day, a Cof­fee Chat series, and pop-up events like sur­prise dessert bars, gift-wrap­ping sta­tions, and ping-pong tour­na­ments to pro­mote fun-focused ameni­ties. The Hines prop­er­ty man­age­ment team is also con­sid­er­ing ways to use spe­cif­ic spaces in Texas Tow­er and oth­er Hines facil­i­ties to host region­al or firm-wide, in-per­son events and pro­grams that fos­ter team con­nec­tion, col­lab­o­ra­tion, and culture.

Texas Tow­er also offers a flex­i­ble office space through The Square. Com­prised of 18,000 square feet on the mez­za­nine lev­el over­look­ing the expan­sive lob­by, The Square offers a com­pre­hen­sive range of flex­i­ble space solu­tions to its cus­tomers and pro­vides an ele­vat­ed lev­el of ser­vice and ameni­ti­za­tion akin to a hos­pi­tal­i­ty envi­ron­ment. Con­nect­ed to the city and tai­lored to mem­bers’ spe­cif­ic needs, The Square at Texas Tow­er is intend­ed to opti­mize per­for­mance and client satisfaction.

A beau­ti­ful addi­tion to the Hous­ton sky­line, Texas Tow­er also shines as a des­ti­na­tion built to the high­est stan­dards, includ­ing LEED® Plat­inum, Wired­Score, and WELL Build­ing Standards.