STG Design's O27 Tower Brings Sinuous Glass Form to Houston River Oaks

A 32-storey office skyscraper clad in triangular glass panels is coming to Houston's River Oaks area, with completion expected in 2028.

Texas architecture studio STG Design has released renderings of O27, an office tower the firm describes as bending the rules of the conventional corporate high-rise. The building stacks flexible office floors, luxury amenities and a rooftop terrace on a nine-storey base. A parking garage block sits at the podium, and the tower above rises in an undulating form.

The studio says the design emerged from an "intensive computational design process" that sought to prioritise "highly efficient, repeatable floorplates" within the building's curved geometry — a way of keeping usable office area regular inside an irregular envelope.

What does the form actually look like?

Renders show two curving glass facades folded around either side of the building. The facades divide at the middle, where a spine of terraces travels up the tower's length.

"Its unconventional, sinuous form resists the rigid verticality that has come to dominate contemporary office buildings, resulting in a structure that feels fluid, expressive and perpetually in motion," said the STG Design team.

The facade will consist of triangular glass panels, creating what the team calls a "shimmering skin" that appears to shift as daylight changes over the course of the day.

At ground level, an entrance drive will sit under a sculpted ceiling embedded with lights, designed to "evoke a night sky". A double-height, glass-clad lobby joins it. Both spaces come from international design practice Design ALT + TAB.

Interior renderings show spaces finished in metallic bronze, with black-and-white marble surfaces and curved seating.

Who is behind it, and why River Oaks?

Developer Broadview Capital is backing the project. According to the company, the design was informed by the admiration its founders — brothers Anish and Ashay Bavishi — hold for Houston's Williams Tower, the 1980s landmark designed by architects Philip Johnson and John Burgee.

The team said the skyscraper symbolises "ambition, possibility and global sophistication" for Houston — qualities the designers and developers want to bring to the city's "prestigious" River Oaks area, a district known for its historic estates and luxury shopping.

"O27 serves as both a geographic marker and a tribute to a neighbourhood whose century-long legacy has been defined by thoughtful planning, architectural distinction and enduring relevance," said the team.

Context and next steps

STG Design is based in Austin, Texas, and was founded in 1976. O27 adds to a run of recent Houston announcements, including a coffee plant set to be converted into a music school by OMA and a performance space created by Theaster Gates and Studio Zewde.

With construction timelines pointing to 2028, O27 will test whether a curved, terrace-spliced office tower can command premium interest in one of Houston's most expensive neighbourhoods at a moment when office demand remains uneven nationwide.