North Harbor Tower vs 900 North Michigan Building

Comparing the North Harbor Tower and the 900 North Michigan Building is interesting because they both stand in Chicago, IL, and were completed just one year apart, 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 900 North Michigan Building is clearly the larger tower of the two, both in terms of height and number of floors. It rises to 871ft (265.5m) with 66 floors above ground, while the North Harbor Tower reaches 554ft (169m) with 55 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 North Harbor Tower and the 900 North Michigan 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 Fujikawa Johnson & Associates and Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates followed what was in many ways expected of them, producing designs that fit comfortably within contemporary architectural norms, rather than breaking with convention.

The 900 North Michigan Building follows a mixed-use model, combining retail, commercial, residential and hotel. In contrast, the North Harbor Tower has remained primarily residential.

The 900 North Michigan Building incorporates a 5-star hotel with rooms. More information is available at the official website.

In terms of capacity, the North Harbor Tower offers 600 apartments, while the 900 North Michigan Building provides 106 units.

Both towers provide significant parking capacity, with North Harbor Tower offering 404 spaces and the 900 North Michigan Building offering 1330.

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 North Harbor Tower uses a Window Wall facade, while the 900 North Michigan Building uses a Curtain Wall facade.

A Window Wall facade like the one seen in the North Harbor Tower uses panels fitted between floor slabs, leaving slab edges visible, while a curtain-wall facade like the one seen in the 900 North Michigan Building uses a lightweight glass curtain wall hung from the structure.