The Mid-Continent Tower, a 36-story office building in downtown Tulsa, Oklahoma, has been recognized with the prestigious 25 Year Award from the Eastern Oklahoma Chapter of the American Institute of Architects (AIA). The award was presented to the Tulsa office of Dewberry (then known as HTB), which designed the distinctive tower for then-owner Reading & Bates in the early 1980s.
Among the most challenging design and construction projects in the nation at the time, the Mid-Continent Tower was built adjacent to and above the historic 16-story Mid-Continent Building, also known as the Cosden Building, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Reading & Bates, an energy resources company, owned the circa-1918 building and sought to expand the property to serve as its headquarters.
Because the existing building’s structural system would not support additional weight, Dewberry’s design concept called for constructing the tower’s base adjacent to the building to its full height, and then cantilevering over the building for an additional 20 stories. In all, 330,000 square feet were added to the original 90,000-square-foot building, aided by a series of five massive steel trusses, each weighing 230 tons.
In order to replicate the original building’s terra cotta façade, the Dewberry team researched available manufacturers to create the 85,000 tiles, spires, cornices, and moldings required for construction. With the peak of Tudor Gothic-revival architecture long past, only one American firm still manufactured terra cotta tiles at the time, a company called Gladding, McBean & Co. in Lincoln, California. The company, which had never manufactured such a large order, expanded its operations to meet the requirements, which included more than 7,000 different shapes and 13,000 hand-made tiles.
The building won numerous awards upon its completion in 1984, including a National Trust Preservation Honor Award. BD+C
Related Stories
| Jun 26, 2014
Plans for Britain’s newest landmark brings in international cooperation
Designers of the London Eye will team up with companies from France, the Netherlands and the United States to construct i360 Brighton, the U.K.'s newest observation tower.
| Jun 25, 2014
The best tall buildings of 2014
Four high-rise buildings from multiple continents have been selected as the best of their region. The best worldwide tall building will be announced November 6.
| Jun 25, 2014
AIA Foundation launches Regional Resilient Design Studio
The Studio is the first to be launched as part of the AIA Foundation’s National Resilience Program, which plans to open a total of five Regional Resilience Design Studios nationwide in collaboration with Architecture for Humanity, and Public Architecture.
| Jun 25, 2014
Frank Lloyd Wright’s Spring House, Cincinnati’s Union Terminal among 11 Most Endangered Historic Places for 2014
The National Trust for Historic Preservation released its annual list of 11 Most Endangered Historical Sites in the United States for 2014.
| Jun 25, 2014
Best of Britain: 56 buildings make it to the RIBA Stirling Prize's longlist
The longlist for the 2014 prize includes Foster + Partners' Marseille and London's now-famous Shard, designed by Renzo Piano.
| Jun 25, 2014
Green Building Initiative Announces New Appointments to Board
Glumac consulting engineer CEO Steve Straus and Plum Creek director of real estate Doug Cole join GBI's board of directors.
| Jun 25, 2014
Taking a page from Lean manufacturing for improved design review processes
SPONSORED CONTENT As more building project teams look for ways to collaborate better, technology continues to provide solutions. Yet, as I learned from the experience of one of my customers, choosing the wrong technology can have an underwhelming effect, causing a team to simply swap out old challenges for new ones.
| Jun 24, 2014
From Babylon to Sydney: The evolution of the modern workspace [infographic]
This infographic, made by Sunica de Klerk and originally posted by ArchDaily, shows the evolution of the office from 2400 B.C. to the present day.
| Jun 24, 2014
Mayor Rahm Emanuel announces plans for a Chicago Architecture Biennial
Chicago's mayor Rahm Emanuel announces plan to hold the Chicago Architecture Biennial in late 2015, intended to rival Venice's Biennale.
| Jun 24, 2014
Intuit begins work on LEED Platinum campus addition
Demolition will begin this week as a precursor to construction of Intuit's new addition to its Mountain View, Calif., campus. The first of two additions, a 185,000-sf building on Marine Way, is expected to begin construction in August.