425 Park Avenue Building vs One Vanderbilt

Comparing the 425 Park Avenue Building and the One Vanderbilt is interesting because they both stand in New York, NY, and were completed within 2 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 One Vanderbilt is clearly the larger tower of the two, both in terms of height and number of floors. It rises to 1401ft (427m) with 67 floors above ground, while the 425 Park Avenue Building reaches 860ft (262m) 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 425 Park Avenue Building and the One Vanderbilt 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 Foster + Partners and Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates followed what was in many ways expected of them, producing designs that fit comfortably within contemporary architectural norms, rather than breaking with convention.

Both the 425 Park Avenue Building and the One Vanderbilt 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 Park Avenue Building also provides 52 parking spaces.

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

The 425 Park Avenue Building uses a Frame structural system, which relies on a regular grid of columns and beams to sustain its weight, while the One Vanderbilt uses a Trussed Frame system, that uses diagonal bracing in addition to beams and columns for stability.

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.