425 Market Street Building vs Trump International Hotel and Tower

Comparing the 425 Market Street Building and the Trump International Hotel and Tower is compelling because they were both designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, yet they stand in different cities (San Francisco, CA and Chicago, IL), and were completed over two decades 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 Trump International Hotel and Tower is clearly the larger tower of the two, both in terms of height and number of floors. It rises to 1181ft (360m) with 92 floors above ground, while the 425 Market Street Building reaches 525ft (160m) with 38 floors above ground.

Despite being taller and having more floors, Trump International Hotel and Tower has less total built-up area than 425 Market Street Building.

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 Trump International Hotel and Tower reflects the principles of Contemporary.

The 425 Market Street Building represents a late expression of the International Style, a style already in decline in 1973 when it was completed. By contrast, the Trump International Hotel and Tower followed the then mainstream Contemporary, embodying the dominant architectural direction of its time.

With 36 years between them, the comparison also reflects how quickly architectural priorities can shift from one dominant language to another.

The Trump International Hotel and Tower follows a mixed-use model, combining hotel, residential and commercial. In contrast, the 425 Market Street Building has remained primarily commercial.

The Trump International Hotel and Tower incorporates a 5-star hotel with 339 rooms. More information is available at the official website.

The Trump International Hotel and Tower offers 486 residential units.

Both towers provide significant parking capacity, with 425 Market Street Building offering 139 spaces and the Trump International Hotel and Tower offering 960.

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 Trump International Hotel and 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 Trump International Hotel and Tower uses a lightweight glass curtain wall hung from the structure.