5555 San Felipe was rebranded and repositioned under new ownership with the expected departure of the building’s primary tenant. This 1983 landmark tower was transformed into a modern, sustainable, innovation hub to support Houston’s leading creative companies — designed to meet or exceed the demands of a changing workforce, today and tomorrow.
The work was structured in two phases.

In the first phase the design team focused on a newly activated Lobby Lounge and Food hall. A large existing space on the concourse level used to connect the parking garage with the tower lobby was transformed into a new social hub of the building. The 6,000-squarefoot second floor lobby provides multiple seating areas, a media wall with an 11-by-22- foot screen that can display news, programming for company functions, movies or scenic pictures. A large custom artwork on fabric by Margo Wolowiec of Detroit has an abstract digital representation of Houston in muted colors embedded in it. By the escalator, which leads to the new food hall inspired dining and common areas on the ground first floor, an installation of origami-like porcelain doves by international artist Michael Pendry floats overhead. A new food hall inspired dining was created as a chef-driven, food-hall style restaurant that offers remote ordering capabilities as well as a full-service catering services. The design team transformed the traditional red granite interiors into a modern yet timeless space. A balance between hospitality and workspace drove many of the design decisions with upgrades of plaster finished walls, Blackthorne marble slabs at the elevator lobbies and warm wood tones to create welcoming meeting spaces.

In the second phase a new 6,000 square-foot freestanding restaurant and open space is to be located on the east lawn with street front views. The open space was designed to allow for outdoor dining and events to be programmed for the new space. Designed to be the go-to-spot for client lunches and dinners, celebrating a successful transaction or meeting colleagues for social hour.