32 Old Slip Building vs 200 Liberty Street Building

Comparing the 32 Old Slip Building and the 200 Liberty Street Building is interesting because they both stand in New York, NY, 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.

The 200 Liberty Street Building is clearly the larger tower of the two, both in terms of height and number of floors. It rises to 577ft (176m) with 40 floors above ground, while the 32 Old Slip Building reaches 574ft (175m) with 36 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 32 Old Slip Building and the 200 Liberty Street Building 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 Edward Durell Stone & Associates and Cesar Pelli & Associates 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 32 Old Slip Building and the 200 Liberty Street Building 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 32 Old Slip Building offering 104 spaces and the 200 Liberty Street Building offering 232.

The two towers rely on different structural systems, reflecting distinct engineering strategies.

The 32 Old Slip Building uses a Trussed Frame structural system, which uses diagonal bracing in addition to beams and columns for stability, while the 200 Liberty Street Building uses a Frame system, that relies on a regular grid of columns and beams to sustain its weight.

Yet, when it comes to their facade, they both employed the same solution, 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.