Spear Tower at One Market Plaza vs 425 Market Street Building

Comparing the Spear Tower at One Market Plaza and the 425 Market Street Building is interesting because they both stand in San Francisco, CA, and were completed within 3 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 Spear Tower at One Market Plaza is clearly the larger tower of the two, both in terms of height and number of floors. It rises to 564ft (172m) with 42 floors above ground, while the 425 Market Street Building reaches 525ft (160m) with 38 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 Spear Tower at One Market Plaza and the 425 Market Street Building were designed in line with the aesthetic conventions of the International Style style.

Both buildings were completed when the International Style style was already past its peak. This makes them feel like late echoes of the movement, more reflective of continuity or nostalgia than of cutting-edge design at the time.

Both the Spear Tower at One Market Plaza and the 425 Market Street 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.

Both towers provide significant parking capacity, with Spear Tower at One Market Plaza offering 162 spaces and the 425 Market Street Building offering 139.

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 Spear Tower at One Market Plaza uses a Modular facade, while the 425 Market Street Building uses a Window Wall facade.

A Modular facade like the one seen in the Spear Tower at One Market Plaza employs prefabricated panels, often mixing solid surfaces with smaller windows, while a window-wall facade like the one seen in the 425 Market Street Building uses panels fitted between floor slabs, leaving slab edges visible.