Comerica Bank Tower - Design

Design

• The tower uses a traditional three-sectioned skyscraper form with upper level setbacks. A modern interpretation of the classic barrel vault is used throughout the structure, giving the building an overall art nouveau style. The setbacks carve a cross shape from the building's top section, but sheets of glass descending like a waterfall from the vaults continue the illusion to street level.

• The first five floors contain a massive banking/stock exchange hall with a vaulted ceiling and skylight.

• The building contains a 3 level underground parking garage and is connected to the Elm Street Garage, giving tenants 1,530 parking spaces.

• Comerica Tower is a main hub in the Dallas Pedestrian Network and features several retail spaces below ground.

• The east side of the building features a small plaza with a grid of trees and benches facing the Titche-Goettinger Building.

• The building has been criticized heavily for its poor urban environment at street level. The lack of retail, block-long walls of polished granite and dark glass cause the tower to seem very formidable. The west side entrance plaza, located at one of the busiest corners in downtown Dallas, isolates the building from the street instead of acting like a true public space. At the time of opening, MCorp stated that the stolid exterior was intended. "We wanted a banking building, not an office building,' says MCorp chairman Gene Bishop. "We didn't want the block to be crowded. And we prevailed.' In 2009 a small restaurant extension was constructed along Main Street in the east plaza, hoping to mitigate some of these problems.