Salesforce Tower

The Salesforce Tower is a Contemporary skyscraper designed between 2012 and 2020 by Pelli Clark & Partners, in association with HKS Architects, and built between 2020 and 2023 in Chicago, IL.

Salesforce Tower is not the only name you might know this building by though. It is common for companies to want to attach their names to iconic buildings when they move in, or for the general public to come up with nicknames, and this one is no exception. The Salesforce Tower is also known, or has been known as, Wolf Point South Tower, or Wolf Point Tower B.

Its precise street address is 333 West Wolf Point Plaza, Chicago, IL. You can also find it on the map here.

The Salesforce Tower has received multiple architecture awards for its architectural design since 2023. The following is a list of such prizes and awards:

• Excellence in Concrete Construction Awards in 2023
• Award of Excdellence, Best Tall Building CTBUH in 2024

Salesforce Tower is the final structure to complete the Wolf Point master plan development.

Surrounding the base of the tower, a public park slopes down to the riverside promenade, at the confluence of the three branches of the Chicago River, featuring green spaces, shops, and restaurants.

At the time of its completion in 2023 the Salesforce Tower incorporated solutions that were quite advanced at the time, these included locally sourced materials, such as stone and wood panels from sustainably managed forests. In an effort to reduce the carbon emissions associated with a tower of this scale, 27% less concrete and 9% less steel were utilized during the building process. “It is the first building in Chicago in compliance with the requirements for the Environmental Product Declarations, a comprehensive analysis of the life cycle of the building, offering transparency around sustainability credentials,” says Pelli Clarke & Partners.

Pelli Clark & Partners was the architecture firm in charge of the architectural design, in association with HKS Architects.

That being said, architecture is a complex discipline involving many professionals from different fields, without whom this building would have not been possible. We will surely be leaving out a lot of names here, but here is a list of the people we do know also played their part in making the Salesforce Tower a reality:

• Magnusson Klemencic Associates in charge of Structural Engineering
• Walsh Construction as the Main Contractor
• Hines as the Main Developer
• Alvine Engineering in charge of MEP Engineering

The Salesforce Tower can be categorized as a Contemporary building.

The Salesforce Tower uses a frame structure made of steel columns and poured concrete over metal decking slabs.

A frame structure uses a combination of beams and columns to sustain the building's weight. The walls in this case are non-load bearing, which allows for more flexibility when distributing the interior spaces.

The facade uses a non-load bearing curtain wall system. This means the curtain wall modules are anchored to the building's structural frame, typically by being attached to the edge of the floor slabs. The curtain wall system connects to the slabs using brackets, anchors, and mullions, which transfer the loads imposed by wind and temperature changes, to the building's primary structural elements.

This setup allows the curtain wall to accommodate differential movement between the facade and the structural frame, such as thermal expansion, floor deflection, or sway from wind forces. This system's integration with the slab edges also allows for continuous insulation and weatherproofing layers.

From an aesthetic point of view, the facade features blue-tinted glass with slender, high-strength steel frames that extend from floor to ceiling. The building showcases a stepped profile with small upward setbacks seamlessly connected to form a central focal point.

Other materials found at the Salesforce Tower include, aucalyptus wood, used on the back wall of each elevator, and white-oak, found in the lobby ceiling layers with fine finishes that create a three-dimensional, deep surface that gives character to the lobby.