Crain Communications Building vs Grant Thornton Tower

Comparing the Crain Communications Building and the Grant Thornton Tower is interesting because they both rise in Chicago, IL, yet they were conceived by two different design teams, A.Epstein and Sons International and Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates, and were completed at different points in time. They were finished more than 8 years 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 Grant Thornton Tower is clearly the larger tower of the two, both in terms of height and number of floors. It rises to 755ft (230m) with 50 floors above ground, while the Crain Communications Building reaches 581ft (177m) with 41 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 Crain Communications Building and the Grant Thornton Tower were designed in line with the aesthetic conventions of the Postmodernism style.

The Grant Thornton Tower was designed at a moment when the Postmodernism style was already in decline, making it more of a lingering expression of the movement. In contrast, the Crain Communications Building was built when the style still carried greater cultural weight.

Both the Crain Communications Building and the Grant Thornton Tower 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 the Crain Communications Building and the Grant Thornton 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.