190 South LaSalle Street vs North Harbor Tower


Comparing the 190 South LaSalle Street and the North Harbor Tower is interesting because they both stand in Chicago, IL, and were completed just one year apart, but they were designed by different architects.
This offers a unique glimpse at how rival designers approached projects in the same city during the same era.
Height & Size
These two towers present an interesting contrast in their proportions. The 190 South LaSalle Street rises higher at 574ft (175m), while the North Harbor Tower reaches 554ft (169m). However, the North Harbor Tower accommodates more floors with 55 levels above ground, compared to 40 floors in the 190 South LaSalle Street.
This suggests different approaches to interior space design. The 190 South LaSalle Street has an average floor-to-floor height of approximately 4.4m, while the North Harbor Tower has more compact floors averaging around 3.1m each. The taller building's more generous floor heights might indicate grander interior spaces, higher ceilings, or different programmatic requirements.
These different proportions likely reflect the specific needs each building was designed to serve, whether driven by zoning regulations, client requirements, or the intended use of the spaces within. The contrast shows how architects can achieve different spatial experiences even when working with similar overall building scales.
Architectural Style
Both the 190 South LaSalle Street and the North Harbor Tower were designed in line with the aesthetic conventions of the Postmodernism style.
At the time, this style was at the height of its popularity. So both Johnson/Burgee Architects and Fujikawa Johnson & Associates followed what was in many ways expected of them, producing designs that fit comfortably within contemporary architectural norms, rather than breaking with convention.
Uses
The 190 South LaSalle Street is primarily commercial, while the North Harbor Tower is primarily residential.
The North Harbor Tower offers 600 residential units.
Both towers provide significant parking capacity, with 190 South LaSalle Street offering 55 spaces and the North Harbor Tower offering 404.
Structure & Facade
Both towers share the same structural solution, a Frame 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.
However, when it comes to the facade, both buildings use different approaches. The 190 South LaSalle Street uses a Modular facade, while the North Harbor Tower uses a Window Wall facade.
A Modular facade like the one seen in the 190 South LaSalle Street employs prefabricated panels, often mixing solid surfaces with smaller windows, while a window-wall facade like the one seen in the North Harbor Tower uses panels fitted between floor slabs, leaving slab edges visible.
190 South LaSalle Street | North Harbor Tower | |
---|---|---|
Johnson/Burgee Architects | Architect | Fujikawa Johnson & Associates |
1987 | Year Completed | 1988 |
Postmodernism | Architectural Style | Postmodernism |
Commercial | Current Use | Residential |
40 | Floors Above Ground | 55 |
175 m | Height (m) | 169 m |
Frame | Structure Type | Frame |
Steel | Vertical Structure Material | Concrete |
Steel, Concrete | Horizontal Structure Material | Concrete |
No | Facade Structural? | Yes |
Turner Construction Company | Main Contractor | Metropolitan Structues Inc. |
Cohen Barreto Marchertas | Structural Engineer | Alfred Benesch & Company |
IL | State | IL |
Chicago | City | Chicago |
190 South LaSalle Street | Address | 175 North Harbor Drive |