Crescent Real Estate Group is making a play to bring high-end business tenants to Uptown Dallas—an area better known for twenty somethings living above their means than big-name office tenants. In order to attract this kind of clientele, the developer has hired architect Cesar Pelli to design a dramatic new building that is promising to change the face of the neighborhood.

“We didn’t want it to look like just another suburban building that you’d plopped down in Uptown,” Crescent CEO John Goff told the Dallas Morning News. “Rectangles are boring, and we have a building that is much more interesting.”

The building is dramatically different from any other structure around the Big D. The 24-story tower rises from the corner of McKinney Avenue and Olive Street like a giant glass wave crashing down on the southwestern architectural scene. Sited across Olive Street from the Ritz-Carlton, the high-rise portion of the project slants nine degrees over a podium base, which includes space for shops, restaurants, and a parking garage. This two-story volume—one of the largest retail centers in the area—is clad in large glass windows offering spectacular views of a new street-side park.

The $200 million project is the most ambitious in Uptown since Crescent built the Philip Johnson–designed 400 Crescent Court in the 1980s. The two Crescent structures could not be more different, however. Johnson looked toward the past for inspiration, while Pelli’s structure is decidedly more modern.

“Buildings have changed, and the technology has improved dramatically,” said Crescent senior vice president Joseph Pitchford. “This will be a more contemporary expression than you see in Uptown.”