55 East Erie Street Building vs Trump International Hotel and Tower

Comparing the 55 East Erie Street Building and the Trump International Hotel and Tower is interesting because they both stand in Chicago, IL, and were completed within 5 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 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 55 East Erie Street Building reaches 647ft (197.2m) with 56 floors above ground.

Despite being taller and having more floors, Trump International Hotel and Tower has less total built-up area than 55 East Erie 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.

Both the 55 East Erie Street Building and the Trump International Hotel and Tower 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 Fujikawa Johnson & Associates and Skidmore, Owings & Merrill followed what was in many ways expected of them, producing designs that fit comfortably within contemporary architectural norms, rather than breaking with convention.

The Trump International Hotel and Tower follows a mixed-use model, combining hotel, residential and commercial. In contrast, the 55 East Erie Street Building has remained primarily residential.

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

In terms of capacity, the 55 East Erie Street Building offers 194 apartments, while the Trump International Hotel and Tower provides 486 units.

Both towers provide significant parking capacity, with 55 East Erie Street Building offering 425 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 55 East Erie Street Building uses a Modular facade, while the Trump International Hotel and Tower uses a Curtain Wall facade.

A Modular facade like the one seen in the 55 East Erie Street Building employs prefabricated panels, often mixing solid surfaces with smaller windows, 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.