5900 Wilshire Building vs Union Bank Plaza Tower

Comparing the 5900 Wilshire Building and the Union Bank Plaza Tower is interesting because they both stand in Los Angeles, CA, 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 Union Bank Plaza Tower is clearly the larger tower of the two, both in terms of height and number of floors. It rises to 515ft (157m) with 40 floors above ground, while the 5900 Wilshire Building reaches 443ft (135m) with 32 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 5900 Wilshire Building and the Union Bank Plaza Tower were designed in line with the aesthetic conventions of the International Style style.

The 5900 Wilshire Building was designed at a moment when the International Style style was already in decline, making it more of a lingering expression of the movement. In contrast, the Union Bank Plaza Tower style was already in decline, making it more of a lingering expression of the movement. In contrast, the Union Bank Plaza Tower was built when the style still carried greater cultural weight.

Both the 5900 Wilshire Building and the Union Bank Plaza 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.

Both towers provide significant parking capacity, with 5900 Wilshire Building offering 135 spaces and the Union Bank Plaza Tower offering 914.

The two buildings opted for different structural and facade solutions.

The 5900 Wilshire Building uses a Framed Tube In Tube system, which combines a strong central core with a perimeter tube of columns, while the Union Bank Plaza Tower 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 Union Bank Plaza Tower opted for a Window Wall facade, that uses panels fitted between floor slabs, leaving slab edges visible.