Aqua Tower vs Trump International Hotel and Tower

Comparing the Aqua Tower and the Trump International Hotel and Tower is interesting because they both stand in Chicago, IL, and were completed in the same year, 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 Trump International Hotel and Tower is clearly the larger tower of the two, both in terms of height and number of floors. It rises to 1181ft (360m) with 92 floors above ground, while the Aqua Tower reaches 859ft (261.8m) with 82 floors above ground.

Despite being taller and having more floors, Trump International Hotel and Tower has less total built-up area than Aqua Tower.

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 Aqua Tower and the Trump International Hotel and Tower were designed in line with the aesthetic conventions of the Contemporary style.

At the time, this style was at the height of its popularity. So both Studio Gang Architects and Skidmore, Owings & Merrill followed what was in many ways expected of them, producing designs that fit comfortably within contemporary architectural norms, rather than breaking with convention.

Both towers follow a mixed-use program. The Aqua Tower combines commercial, residential, hotel and parking, while the Trump International Hotel and Tower integrates hotel, residential and commercial. Notably, both include commercial, residential and hotel as part of their program.

Both towers incorporate hotels as part of their program. The Aqua Tower features a -star hotel with 225 rooms, while the Trump International Hotel and Tower includes a 5-star hotel with 339 rooms. You can also visit the official website of the Trump International Hotel and Tower.

In terms of capacity, the Aqua Tower offers 739 apartments, while the Trump International Hotel and Tower provides 486 units.

Both towers provide significant parking capacity, with Aqua Tower offering 1557 spaces and the Trump International Hotel and Tower offering 960.

The two buildings opted for different structural and facade solutions.

The Aqua Tower uses a Framed Tube In Tube system, which combines a strong central core with a perimeter tube of columns, while the Trump International Hotel and 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 Window Wall went with a Window Wall facade, which uses panels fitted between floor slabs, leaving slab edges visible, while the Trump International Hotel and Tower opted for a Curtain Wall facade, that uses a lightweight glass curtain wall hung from the structure.