University Apartments vs Aon Center

Comparing the University Apartments and the Aon Center is interesting because they both rise in Chicago, IL, yet they were conceived by two different design teams, I. M. Pei and Edward Durell Stone, and were completed at different points in time. They were finished more than a decade 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 University Apartments reaches 308ft (94m) with 10 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 University 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 University Apartments was built when the style still carried greater cultural weight.

The University Apartments is primarily residential, while the Aon Center is primarily commercial.

The University Apartments offers 540 residential units.

Both towers provide significant parking capacity, with University Apartments offering 220 spaces and the Aon Center offering 679.

The two buildings opted for different structural and facade solutions.

The University 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.