712 Fifth Avenue Building vs 250 Vesey Street Building

Comparing the 712 Fifth Avenue Building and the 250 Vesey Street Building is interesting because they both stand in New York, NY, and were completed within 4 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 712 Fifth Avenue Building is clearly the larger tower of the two, both in terms of height and number of floors. It rises to 650ft (198m) with 52 floors above ground, while the 250 Vesey Street Building reaches 499ft (152m) with 34 floors above ground.

Despite being taller and having more floors, 712 Fifth Avenue Building has less total built-up area than 250 Vesey 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 712 Fifth Avenue Building and the 250 Vesey Street Building 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 Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates and César Pelli & 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 712 Fifth Avenue Building and the 250 Vesey Street Building 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 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 712 Fifth Avenue Building uses a Masonry facade, while the 250 Vesey Street Building uses a Curtain Wall facade.

A Masonry facade like the one seen in the 712 Fifth Avenue Building features a heavy masonry skin that gives it a more clasical look, while a curtain-wall facade like the one seen in the 250 Vesey Street Building uses a lightweight glass curtain wall hung from the structure.