The Alliance Tower

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   In the spring of 1987 Ross Perot, Jr and I were at a college friend’s wedding and our discussion turned to what he was doing on his new industrial airport. He mentioned that he was looking for architects to design the tower and terminal building. I asked if he had considered doing a design competition? I may world of as an architect at the time design competition were a way of life. Ross called to follow up later that next week. By the time I showed up as a summer intern two years later Gene Aubrey had won the design competition and the Alliance team was in the design process to build his very unique Control Tower. Gene’s Control Tower was the iconic design statement and the first of its kind in the world industrial airport needed to set Alliance apart from every other airport in both form and function. Over 30 years later, the Tower still stands as a beacon of innovation and a testament to pushing the boundaries of design through competitions. Hillwood has used design competitions for the architectural selection on every major project from the American Airlines Center to the Perot Headquarters.