383 Madison Avenue Building vs 111 West 57th Street

Comparing the 383 Madison Avenue Building and the 111 West 57th Street is interesting because they both rise in New York, NY, yet they were conceived by two different design teams, Skidmore, Owings & Merrill and SHoP Architects, and were completed at different points in time. They were finished over two decades apart.

This contrast within the same city allows us to see how different creative minds interpreted the evolving needs of New York across time.

Let's take a closer look!

The 111 West 57th Street is clearly the larger tower of the two, both in terms of height and number of floors. It rises to 1427ft (435m) with 84 floors above ground, while the 383 Madison Avenue Building reaches 755ft (230m) with 47 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 383 Madison Avenue Building and the 111 West 57th Street 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 Skidmore, Owings & Merrill and SHoP Architects followed what was in many ways expected of them, producing designs that fit comfortably within contemporary architectural norms, rather than breaking with convention.

The 383 Madison Avenue Building is primarily commercial, while the 111 West 57th Street is primarily residential.

The 111 West 57th Street offers 60 residential units.

Both towers share the same structural solution, a Frame system.

A frame structure uses a grid of columns and beams to carry the building's loads. This frees the walls from structural duties, allowing for flexible floor plans and larger windows.

However, when it comes to the facade, both buildings use different approaches. The 383 Madison Avenue Building uses a Modular facade, while the 111 West 57th Street uses a Curtain Wall facade.

A Modular facade like the one seen in the 383 Madison Avenue Building employs prefabricated panels, often mixing solid surfaces with smaller windows, while a curtain-wall facade like the one seen in the 111 West 57th Street uses a lightweight glass curtain wall hung from the structure.