Lions Gate
Realty

Location: Downtown Houston
Type: Retail

Fannin St, Downtown Houston — Retail

Keep the building. Finish the office.

The tenant asked for an industrial space with modern finishes and the sensibility of a classic office — three things that usually pull against each other. The answer was subtraction before addition: the old brick and the timber ceiling stay exactly as they were found, and everything new is quiet enough to sit beside them.

The floor makes the argument. Rather than cover the existing concrete, it was diamond-buffed and kept — the same slab, read as a finish. Above it the work is precise: new lighting throughout, custom-built cabinetry, and door hardware replaced across the floor. The plan is drawn almost entirely in glass, so the private offices read as rooms without closing the daylight off from the middle of the plate.

One thing had to be made from nothing. The floor arrived without a restroom, so one was built from the ground up — framed, plumbed, fitted and finished — and it is the only room here with no brick left showing in it.

The open floor on arrival: a glass-walled room carrying the Lions Gate Realty name, a mirrored partition reflecting the length of the plate, and buffed concrete underfoot — 01 Arrival — the open floorHouston, TX

The circulation spine: a run of glass-fronted offices on one side, linear lighting overhead and a patterned rug laid on the concrete — 02 The glass corridorHouston, TX

An executive office with a dark timber desk and credenza against bare brick, velvet armchairs, and a glazed meeting room visible beyond — 03 Executive officeHouston, TX

The corner office: brick on two walls, a tall arched window onto the street, a framed painting, sofa and leather armchairs — 04 Corner officeHouston, TX

An office set between a panelled green wall and raw brick, with a hide rug, desk and armchairs at the arched window — 05 The green roomHouston, TX

A long meeting table with tan leather chairs set against brick, beneath an arched window looking over downtown — 06 The table at the windowHouston, TX

A recording set-up: four swivel armchairs around a marble side table, boom microphones on stands, a fluted timber wall and a large paper pendant — 07 The studio cornerHouston, TX

The training room: rows of light timber desks with microphones and mats, black chairs, brick to one side and a white curved wall to the other — 08 Training roomHouston, TX

The same training room from the opposite corner, the desks running back toward the curved white wall under suspended linear lights — 09 Across the tablesHouston, TX

The full depth of the floor: kitchen and island to the left, a black service bulkhead overhead, and the training room reading through to the far brick wall — 10 The whole plateHouston, TX

Custom grey cabinetry and a stone island with bar stools, a deep sectional and low table in front of it, the training room beyond — 11 Kitchen and loungeHouston, TX

The restroom built from the ground up: stone-look tile to the walls and floor, a wall-hung basin, framed mirror, ring pendant and grab rails — 12 The room that was not thereHouston, TX

01 — 12

The length of the floor from the kitchen through to the training room and the far brick wall

The work

Five decisions carried the floor: keep the slab, keep the brick, draw the plan in glass, build the cabinetry, and change every handle anyone touches.

Concrete
Light
Glass
Cabinetry
Hardware

Glass office fronts running the length of the corridor under continuous linear lighting

The completed restroom, tiled on the wet walls with a wall-hung basin and framed mirror

Built from nothing

There was no restroom on the floor. This one was framed, plumbed, fitted and finished from the ground up — the one piece of the project with no existing fabric to work with, and the only room here where nothing was left exposed.

Project: Lions Gate Realty
Location: Fannin St, Downtown Houston
Type: Retail