One International Place Building

The One International Place Building is a Postmodernist skyscraper designed by Johnson/Burgee Architects, and built in 1987 in Boston, MA.

One International Place Building is not the only name you might know this building by though. The building is, or has also been known as Fort Hill Square.

Its precise street address is 100 Oliver Street, Boston, MA. You can also find it on the map here.

The building has three distinct elements: the tower itself and two smaller components of 27 and 19 floors, respectively.

It is one of the towers in a complex of five structures, anchored by two towers. The One International Place is linked to Two Internacional Place by a fountain court and winter garden.

The building underwent a major restoration in 2023. The architect commissioned to undertake this restoration was Gensler.

Johnson/Burgee Architects was the architecture firm in charge of the architectural design.

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 One International Place Building a reality:

• McNamara . Salvia in charge of Structural Engineering
• The Chiofaro Company as the Main Developer

The One International Place Building can be categorized as a Postmodernist building.

The One International Place Building was completed in 1987. At that time Postmodernism was the prevailing style. Fresh, bold and daring, architects were exploring the freedom of designing without having to follow the strict, sometimes arbitrary rules of a specific architectural movement (which ironically became a movement itself). The One International Place Building was therefore every much in line with what the architecture community, and the people liked and wanted at the time.

The One International Place Building uses a frame structure made of steel columns and reinforced concrete 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 window wall system, which by itself is non-load-bearing. However, in this case, the facade is technically load-bearing, since there are structural elements that have been integrated into it, adirectly influencing the facade’s design.

Window walls are easier to install than curtain walls, often resulting in reduced construction time and cost. However, the exposed edge of the slabs, and in this case other structura elements too, are weak points in terms of thermal insulation. These areas need to be carefully detailed to prevent thermal bridging and potential condensation issues.

From an aesthetic point of view, the facade features a pink granite clad with fixed windows, except for a small section of the building where the facade turns into a curtain wall.

The two lower structures, which are part of the same building follow the same color and material palette, but with Palladian windows instead of squared ones.