Blue Cross Blue Shield Tower vs Trump International Hotel and Tower

Comparing the Blue Cross Blue Shield Tower and the Trump International Hotel and Tower is interesting because they both rise in Chicago, IL, yet they were conceived by two different design teams, Goettsch Partners and Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, 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 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 Blue Cross Blue Shield Tower reaches 745ft (227m) with 54 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 Blue Cross Blue Shield Tower and the Trump International Hotel and Tower 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 Trump International Hotel and Tower came later, when the style was already more established.

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

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

The Trump International Hotel and Tower offers 486 residential units.

Both towers provide significant parking capacity, with Blue Cross Blue Shield Tower offering 5226 spaces and the Trump International Hotel and Tower offering 960.

Both the Blue Cross Blue Shield Tower 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.