Atwater Apartments Building vs Trump International Hotel and Tower

Comparing the Atwater Apartments Building 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 Atwater Apartments Building reaches 554ft (169m) with 53 floors above ground.

Despite being taller and having more floors, Trump International Hotel and Tower has less total built-up area than Atwater Apartments 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 Atwater Apartments Building 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 Solomon Cordwell Buenz 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.

The Trump International Hotel and Tower follows a mixed-use model, combining hotel, residential and commercial. In contrast, the Atwater Apartments Building has remained primarily residential.

The Trump International Hotel and Tower incorporates a 5-star hotel with 339 rooms. More information is available at the official website.

In terms of capacity, the Atwater Apartments Building offers 480 apartments, while the Trump International Hotel and Tower provides 486 units.

Both towers provide significant parking capacity, with Atwater Apartments Building offering 401 spaces and the Trump International Hotel and Tower offering 960.

Both the Atwater Apartments Building and the Trump International Hotel and Tower rely on a Frame structural 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.

They also employ the same type of facade, a Curtain Wall facade.

A curtain wall is a non-load-bearing facade hung from the structural frame. It is anchored to floor slabs and transfers only its own weight and wind loads, allowing for sleek, glassy exteriors.