425 Market Street Building vs Gas Company Tower

Comparing the 425 Market Street Building and the Gas Company Tower is compelling because they were both designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, yet they stand in different cities (San Francisco, CA and Los Angeles, CA), and were completed a decade apart.

What this will allow us to see, is how the same firm's approach adapted to different places in different periods of time.

The Gas Company Tower is clearly the larger tower of the two, both in terms of height and number of floors. It rises to 748ft (228m) with 52 floors above ground, while the 425 Market Street Building reaches 525ft (160m) with 38 floors above ground.

Gas Company Tower also offers more total built-up area, a total fo 1,781,748 sqf (165,530m²), which is about 681,753 sqf (63,337m²) more than what the 425 Market Street Building offers.

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.

The 425 Market Street Building was designed in the International Style style, while the Gas Company Tower reflects the principles of Postmodernism.

Both towers were built when their respective styles were already past their prime. This makes them feel more like late continuations rather than groundbreaking statements, showing how architectural traditions can linger even as tastes shift.

Both the 425 Market Street Building and the Gas Company Tower 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 425 Market Street Building also provides 139 parking spaces.

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 425 Market Street Building uses a Window Wall facade, while the Gas Company Tower uses a Curtain Wall facade.

A Window Wall facade like the one seen in the 425 Market Street Building uses panels fitted between floor slabs, leaving slab edges visible, while a curtain-wall facade like the one seen in the Gas Company Tower uses a lightweight glass curtain wall hung from the structure.