555 California Street Building vs Gas Company Tower

Comparing the 555 California Street Building and the Gas Company Tower is compelling because they were both designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, yet they stand in different cities (San Francisco, CA and Los Angeles, CA), 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.

Both the 555 California Street Building and the Gas Company Tower were designed in line with the aesthetic conventions of the Postmodernism style.

Back then, thePostmodernism was still an emerging movement, so both giving it a pioneering role. By contrast, the Gas Company Tower came later, when the style was already more established.

Both the 555 California Street Building and the Gas Company Tower 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 555 California Street Building also provides 450 parking spaces.

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

The 555 California Street Building uses a Framed Tube In Tube structural system, which combines a strong central core with a perimeter tube of columns, while the Gas Company Tower uses a Frame system, that relies on a regular grid of columns and beams to sustain its weight.

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.