111 Huntington Avenue Building vs Millennium Tower

Comparing the 111 Huntington Avenue Building and the Millennium Tower is interesting because they both rise in Boston, MA, yet they were conceived by two different design teams, CBT Architects and Handel Architects, and were completed at different points in time. They were finished more than a decade apart.

This contrast within the same city allows us to see how different creative minds interpreted the evolving needs of Boston across time.

Let's take a closer look!

The Millennium Tower is clearly the larger tower of the two, both in terms of height and number of floors. It rises to 686ft (209m) with 60 floors above ground, while the 111 Huntington Avenue Building reaches 554ft (169m) with 36 floors above ground.

Millennium Tower also offers more total built-up area, a total fo 1,100,017 sqf (102,195m²), which is about 231,015 sqf (21,462m²) more than what the 111 Huntington Avenue Building offers.

Of course, each project may have faced different briefs or regulatory constraints, which we don't really know about and could also explain the outcome.

Both the 111 Huntington Avenue Building and the Millennium Tower were designed in line with the aesthetic conventions of the Contemporary style.

At the time, this style was at the height of its popularity. So both CBT Architects and Handel Architects followed what was in many ways expected of them, producing designs that fit comfortably within contemporary architectural norms, rather than breaking with convention.

The 111 Huntington Avenue Building is primarily commercial, while the Millennium Tower is primarily residential.

The Millennium Tower offers 442 residential units.

The Millennium Tower also provides 550 parking spaces.

Both the 111 Huntington Avenue Building and the Millennium Tower rely on a Frame structural system.

A frame structure uses a grid of columns and beams to carry the building's loads. This frees the walls from structural duties, allowing for flexible floor plans and larger windows.

They also employ the same type of facade, a Curtain Wall facade.

A curtain wall is a non-load-bearing facade hung from the structural frame. It is anchored to floor slabs and transfers only its own weight and wind loads, allowing for sleek, glassy exteriors.