Facing busy Interstate 35 a few miles west of downtown Dallas stands a replica Crystal Palace: Dallas Market Center, developed in the mid-1980s by famed Dallas real estate tycoon Trammell Crow—whose other ventures may be better known to the architectural community as they were in partnership with John Portman, such as Peachtree Center in Atlanta and Embarcadero Center in San Francisco. The Dallas Market Center is still a successful property, currently named the Infomart, its 1.58m square feet no longer an exhibition trade hall but now operating as a data center and tech hub, and now cornerstone of a bustling corporate office park—interesting to consider this iteration of the “Expo Great Hall” typology. Martin Growald, architect, 1985. Photo May 2019 Bauzeitgeist.
