32 Old Slip Building vs 550 Madison Avenue

Comparing the 32 Old Slip Building and the 550 Madison Avenue is interesting because they both stand in New York, NY, 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 550 Madison Avenue is clearly the larger tower of the two, both in terms of height and number of floors. It rises to 646ft (197m) with 37 floors above ground, while the 32 Old Slip Building reaches 574ft (175m) with 36 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 32 Old Slip Building and the 550 Madison Avenue were designed in line with the aesthetic conventions of the Postmodernism style.

At the time, this style was at the height of its popularity. So both Edward Durell Stone & Associates and Johnson/Burgee Architects 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 32 Old Slip Building and the 550 Madison Avenue 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 32 Old Slip Building offering 104 spaces and the 550 Madison Avenue offering 20.

The two buildings opted for different structural and facade solutions.

The 32 Old Slip Building uses a Trussed Frame system, which uses diagonal bracing in addition to beams and columns for stability, while the 550 Madison Avenue uses a Frame system, that relies on a regular grid of columns and beams to sustain its weight.

And when it came to the facade, the Curtain Wall went with a Curtain Wall facade, which uses a lightweight glass curtain wall hung from the structure, while the 550 Madison Avenue opted for a Modular facade, that employs prefabricated panels, often mixing solid surfaces with smaller windows.