190 South LaSalle Street vs Two Prudential Plaza

Comparing the 190 South LaSalle Street and the Two Prudential Plaza is interesting because they both stand in Chicago, IL, and were completed within 3 years of each other, 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.

The Two Prudential Plaza is clearly the larger tower of the two, both in terms of height and number of floors. It rises to 994ft (303m) with 64 floors above ground, while the 190 South LaSalle Street reaches 574ft (175m) with 40 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.

Both the 190 South LaSalle Street and the Two Prudential Plaza 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 Loebl, Schlossman & Hackl followed what was in many ways expected of them, producing designs that fit comfortably within contemporary architectural norms, rather than breaking with convention.

Both the 190 South LaSalle Street and the Two Prudential Plaza were designed to serve as commercial towers, and that has remained their main use since their completion, serving similar roles in the urban fabric.

Both towers provide significant parking capacity, with 190 South LaSalle Street offering 55 spaces and the Two Prudential Plaza offering 325.

The two buildings opted for different structural and facade solutions.

The 190 South LaSalle Street uses a Frame system, which relies on a regular grid of columns and beams to sustain its weight, while the Two Prudential Plaza uses a Framed Tube In Tube system, that combines a strong central core with a perimeter tube of columns.

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