860-880 Lake Shore Drive Apartments vs Aon Center

Comparing the 860-880 Lake Shore Drive Apartments and the Aon Center is interesting because they both rise in Chicago, IL, yet they were conceived by two different design teams, Mies van der Rohe and Edward Durell Stone, and were completed at different points in time. They were finished over two decades apart.

This contrast within the same city allows us to see how different creative minds interpreted the evolving needs of Chicago across time.

Let's take a closer look!

The Aon Center is clearly the larger tower of the two, both in terms of height and number of floors. It rises to 1135ft (346m) with 83 floors above ground, while the 860-880 Lake Shore Drive Apartments reaches 269ft (82m) with 26 floors above ground.

Aon Center also offers more total built-up area, a total fo 3,599,965 sqf (334,448m²), which is about 2,866,943 sqf (266,348m²) more than what the 860-880 Lake Shore Drive Apartments offers.

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 860-880 Lake Shore Drive Apartments and the Aon Center were designed in line with the aesthetic conventions of the International Style style.

The Aon Center 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 860 880 Lake Shore Drive Apartments was built when the style still carried greater cultural weight.

The 860-880 Lake Shore Drive Apartments is primarily residential, while the Aon Center is primarily commercial.

The 860-880 Lake Shore Drive Apartments offers 248 residential units.

The Aon Center also provides 679 parking spaces.

The two buildings opted for different structural and facade solutions.

The 860-880 Lake Shore Drive Apartments uses a Frame system, which relies on a regular grid of columns and beams to sustain its weight, while the Aon Center uses a Framed Tube In Tube system, that combines a strong central core with a perimeter tube of columns.

And when it came to the facade, the Window Wall went with a Window Wall facade, which uses panels fitted between floor slabs, leaving slab edges visible, while the Aon Center opted for a Curtain Wall facade, that uses a lightweight glass curtain wall hung from the structure.