220 Central Park South Tower vs One Vanderbilt

Comparing the 220 Central Park South Tower and the One Vanderbilt is interesting because they both stand in New York, NY, and were completed within 2 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 One Vanderbilt is clearly the larger tower of the two, both in terms of height and number of floors. It rises to 1401ft (427m) with 67 floors above ground, while the 220 Central Park South Tower reaches 951ft (290m) with 65 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 220 Central Park South Tower and the One Vanderbilt 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 Robert A.M. Stern Architects and Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates followed what was in many ways expected of them, producing designs that fit comfortably within contemporary architectural norms, rather than breaking with convention.

The 220 Central Park South Tower is primarily residential, while the One Vanderbilt is primarily commercial.

The 220 Central Park South Tower offers 117 residential units.

The two buildings opted for different structural and facade solutions.

The 220 Central Park South Tower uses a Frame system, which relies on a regular grid of columns and beams to sustain its weight, while the One Vanderbilt uses a Trussed Frame system, that uses diagonal bracing in addition to beams and columns for stability.

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 One Vanderbilt opted for a Curtain Wall facade, that uses a lightweight glass curtain wall hung from the structure.