Blue Cross Blue Shield Tower vs 150 North Riverside Building

Comparing the Blue Cross Blue Shield Tower and the 150 North Riverside Building is particularly interesting because they share the same skyline in Chicago, IL, and were both designed by Goettsch Partners. However, they were completed more than 20 years apart.

This offers a unique perspective on how the architect's style and the city's architecture evolved over time.

Both the Blue Cross Blue Shield Tower and the 150 North Riverside Building were designed in line with the aesthetic conventions of the Contemporary style.

Back then, theContemporary was still an emerging movement, so both giving it a pioneering role. By contrast, the 150 North Riverside Building came later, when the style was already more established.

Both the Blue Cross Blue Shield Tower and the 150 North Riverside Building were designed to serve as commercial towers, and that has remained their main use since their completion, serving similar roles in the urban fabric.

Both towers provide significant parking capacity, with Blue Cross Blue Shield Tower offering 5226 spaces and the 150 North Riverside Building offering 72.

The two towers rely on different structural systems, reflecting distinct engineering strategies.

The Blue Cross Blue Shield Tower uses a Frame structural system, which relies on a regular grid of columns and beams to sustain its weight, while the 150 North Riverside Building uses a Framed Tube In Tube system, that combines a strong central core with a perimeter tube of columns.

Yet, when it comes to their facade, they both employed the same solution, 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.