220 Central Park South Tower vs One World Trade Center

Comparing the 220 Central Park South Tower and the One World Trade Center is interesting because they both stand in New York, NY, and were completed within 4 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 World Trade Center is clearly the larger tower of the two, both in terms of height and number of floors. It rises to 1775ft (541m) with 104 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 World Trade Center 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 Skidmore, Owings & Merrill 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 World Trade Center 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 World Trade Center 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 One World Trade Center opted for a Curtain Wall facade, that uses a lightweight glass curtain wall hung from the structure.