Ellison Balanced Doors Selected for Next Chapter of Houston Center

FALCONER, NY…Ellison Bronze, manufacturer of premier custom balanced doors for entrances around the world, recently provided entryways for the newly renovated central plaza at the Houston Center in Houston, TX, a retail and office complex comprised of four buildings covering more than four million square feet.

Renovations to the Houston Center included a complete replacement of the building envelope on the first four floors of two adjacent skyscrapers: LyondellBasell Tower, and 2 Houston Center. For the renovated portions of the buildings, architects specified 24 stainless steel narrow stile custom balanced doors by Ellison Bronze with panic exit devices and PowerNow^® Stanley^® power operators. The balanced doors – featuring thin, decorative stile edges – helped to provide transparency for the entryways. The Ellison doors deliver a consistent appearance with the curtainwall system, which is constructed primarily of glass with silver-painted framing components.

“Architects at Gensler chose Ellison balanced doors because they delivered on the aesthetic vision of the project and hit the mark for longevity,” said Dustin Price, independent manufacturer’s representative at Texas Glazing Solutions, Inc. “There isn’t another door out there that can compete with Ellison Bronze when it comes to the management of high-traffic entryways and can continue to perform flawlessly for the life of the building.”

Balanced doors pivot at two-thirds width to distribute their weight more evenly. This effectively reduces opening force, door leaf projection, and relieves air pressure at both sides of the door, which leads to near-effortless operation.

LyondellBasell Tower and 2 Houston Center previously featured aluminum balanced doors that were installed when the buildings were first constructed. In fact, Gensler’s Houston office is located within 2 Houston Center, and they included Ellison in the specification because they loved the operation, durability, and longevity of the original balanced doors.

“Gensler knew that the first floor design would not be complete without new Ellison Bronze balanced doors,” added Price.

The building’s original window and curtainwall framing materials had a dark bronze anodized finish, but the newly-renovated exterior curtainwall is painted silver. Therefore, the new balanced doors were treated with a stainless satin finish to adhere to the aesthetic of the curtainwall.

The project was completed in December 2020. In addition to Ellison Bronze, the project team included architect Gensler; manufacturer’s representative Texas Glazing Solutions, Inc.; glazing contractor Crown Corr; and door installer Lonestar Facility Services.