engineering

Allen Center

Allen Center is a engineering topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Allen Center rather than just read about it. In short: The Allen Center is a mixed-use skyscraper complex in Downtown Houston, Texas, United States. It consists of three buildings, One Allen Center (500 Dallas Street), Two Allen Center (1200 Smith Street), Three Allen Center (333 Clay Street).

Key takeaways

Allen Center belongs to engineering; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Allen Center to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Allen Center from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The Allen Center is a mixed-use skyscraper complex in Downtown Houston, Texas, United States. It consists of three buildings, One Allen Center (500 Dallas Street), Two Allen Center (1200 Smith Street), Three Allen Center (333 Clay Street). The complex has about 3,000,000 square feet (280,000 m2) of space.

History The area that became the Allen Center was originally considered to be an eastern portion of the Fourth Ward. The opening of Interstate 45 in the 1950s separated the eastern portion from the rest of the Fourth Ward; that portion became the Allen Center and is now considered to be a part of Downtown Houston. TrizecHahn Properties acquired the Allen Center in 1996. Trizec defeated 16 other real estate companies so it could purchase the center for an amount reported by Tanya Rutledge of the Houston Business Journal as $270 million. When Trizec acquired the Allen Center in November 1996, the complex had a 76 percent occupancy rate. By 1997, Trizec had convinced several tenants of the Cullen Center, also owned by Trizec, to relocate to the Allen Center. Paul Layne, a vice president of the office division of Trizec, said that the shifting of tenants would lead to Allen Center having an occupancy rate of 92 percent in 1998. In 2001, when Enron collapsed, it vacated 800,000 square feet (74,000 m2) of space in the Allen Center and Cullen Center complexes in Downtown Houston. In 2010 Devon Energy was trying to sublease about 125,000 square feet (11,600 m2) of space that it occupied in the Allen Center complex. Hess Corporation announced it would vacate approximately 500,000 square feet (46,000 m2) of space in the complex when a new office tower in the east side of Downtown Houston opened. Major renovations to the property were completed in March 2021; these included new lobbies, bike storage, and a suite of rooms designated for breastfeeding mothers.

One Allen Center

One Allen Center is a 452 ft (138m) tall skyscraper. It was completed in 1972 and has 34 floors. It is the 31st tallest building in the city. One Allen Center employs a composite stub-girder steel frame floor system, originally developed in part by Joseph Colaco then of Ellisor Engineers Inc., currently of CBM Engineers, Inc. Macquarie Bank houses its Houston representative office in Suite 3100 of the building. Houston Public Library (HPL) maintains its Booklink facility there.

Two Allen Center

Two Allen Center was previously known as the Citicorp Building.

Three Allen Center

Three Allen Center is a 685-foot (209 m) tall skyscraper completed in 1983 with 50 floors. It is the 12th-tallest building in the city.

Macquarie Capital (USA) Inc. has an office in Suite 4200. Oil States International (NYSE: OIS) has an office in Suite 4620.

Tenants One Allen Center

Don Patron Bar and Grill - Lobby Operated a sit-down restaurant and a breakfast and lunch taco bar. The restaurant was active for around 20 years, servicing local office workers and catering corporate office parties. Phaedra Cook of the Houston Press wrote that Don Patron "hasn't been a critical darling of food writers in a long time" but that "it has been an important part of work life for thousands of people who work in" the complex and that "it's been treasured for good Tex-Mex plates and as a convenient spot for business lunches[...]and was great for indulging in an after-work margarita or two, also." In 2016 the management revealed plans to remodel the lobby area of One Allen Center; Don Patron's dining hall was closed by February 29, 2016, and the taco stand is scheduled to close on Friday March 5, 2016. The owners of Don Patron will continue to operate Tejas Grill & Sports Bar. Coastal Water Authority - Suite 2800 Two Allen Center

Qatar Airways, Suite 1600 Chamberlain Hrdlicka law firm in Suite 1400 on the 13th and 14th floors. Three Allen Center

The headquarters of Plains All American Pipeline, Suite 1600 EOG Resources had space in Allen Center; in 2006 it announced that it was moving to the Heritage Plaza. It planned to move 400 employees there by early 2007. When it occupied portions of Three Allen Center, EOG had 165,000 square feet (15,300 m2) of space occupied scattered throughout Three Allen Center. At one point the Consulate-General of Switzerland in Houston resided in Suite 1040 of Two Allen Center; the mission closed in 2006.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Allen Center

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Allen Center claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In engineering, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Allen Center before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Allen Center ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Allen Center

In research: Allen Center appears in engineering research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Allen Center in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Allen Center is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Brookfield Properties buildings, Buildings and structures in Houston, Skyscraper office buildings in Houston, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Allen Center outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Allen Center in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Allen Center means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Allen Center out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Allen Center in simple terms?

Why does Allen Center matter?

Because it connects several engineering ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Allen Center?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Allen Center.