28 Liberty Street Building vs One Chase Manhattan Plaza Building

Comparing the 28 Liberty Street Building and the One Chase Manhattan Plaza Building is especially interesting because they share much in common. Both rise in New York, NY both were designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, and they were completed in the same year.

This overlap gives us a unique opportunity to understand how Skidmore, Owings & Merrill approached different commissions in the same urban context and historical context during a short period.

Both the 28 Liberty Street Building and the One Chase Manhattan Plaza Building were designed in line with the aesthetic conventions of the International Style style.

At the time, this style was at the height of its popularity. So Skidmore, Owings & Merrill followed what was in many ways expected at the time, producing designs that fit comfortably within contemporary architectural norms rather, than breaking with convention.

Both the 28 Liberty Street Building and the One Chase Manhattan Plaza 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.

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

The 28 Liberty Street Building uses a Frame structural system, which relies on a regular grid of columns and beams to sustain its weight, while the One Chase Manhattan Plaza Building uses a Framed Tube In Tube system, that combines a strong central core with a perimeter tube of columns.

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.