1201 North Market Street Building vs University Club Tower

Comparing the 1201 North Market Street Building and the University Club Tower is compelling because they were both designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, yet they stand in different cities (Wilmington, DE and Milwaukee, WI), and were completed a decade apart.

What this will allow us to see, is how the same firm's approach adapted to different places in different periods of time.

The University Club Tower is clearly the larger tower of the two, both in terms of height and number of floors. It rises to 446ft (136m) with 34 floors above ground, while the 1201 North Market Street Building reaches 361ft (110m) with 23 floors above ground.

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.

The 1201 North Market Street Building was designed in the Modern style, while the University Club Tower reflects the principles of Contemporary.

The 1201 North Market Street Building represents a late expression of the Modern, a style already in decline in 1988 when it was completed. By contrast, the University Club Tower followed the then mainstream Contemporary, embodying the dominant architectural direction of its time.

The 1201 North Market Street Building is primarily commercial, while the University Club Tower is primarily residential.

The University Club Tower offers 53 residential units.

Both towers provide significant parking capacity, with 1201 North Market Street Building offering 475 spaces and the University Club Tower offering 106.

The two buildings opted for different structural and facade solutions.

The 1201 North Market Street Building uses a Framed Tube In Tube system, which combines a strong central core with a perimeter tube of columns, while the University Club Tower uses a Frame system, that relies on a regular grid of columns and beams to sustain its weight.

And when it came to the facade, the Curtain Wall went with a Curtain Wall facade, which uses a lightweight glass curtain wall hung from the structure, while the University Club Tower opted for a Modular facade, that employs prefabricated panels, often mixing solid surfaces with smaller windows.