Crain Communications Building vs North Harbor Tower

Comparing the Crain Communications Building and the North Harbor Tower is interesting because they both stand in Chicago, IL, and were completed within 4 years of each other, 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.

These two towers present an interesting contrast in their proportions. The Crain Communications Building rises higher at 581ft (177m), while the North Harbor Tower reaches 554ft (169m). However, the North Harbor Tower accommodates more floors with 55 levels above ground, compared to 41 floors in the Crain Communications Building.

This suggests different approaches to interior space design. The Crain Communications Building has an average floor-to-floor height of approximately 4.3m, while the North Harbor Tower has more compact floors averaging around 3.1m each. The taller building's more generous floor heights might indicate grander interior spaces, higher ceilings, or different programmatic requirements.

These different proportions likely reflect the specific needs each building was designed to serve, whether driven by zoning regulations, client requirements, or the intended use of the spaces within. The contrast shows how architects can achieve different spatial experiences even when working with similar overall building scales.

Both the Crain Communications Building and the North Harbor Tower were designed in line with the aesthetic conventions of the Postmodernism style.

At the time, this style was at the height of its popularity. So both A.Epstein and Sons International and Fujikawa Johnson & Associates followed what was in many ways expected of them, producing designs that fit comfortably within contemporary architectural norms, rather than breaking with convention.

The Crain Communications Building is primarily commercial, while the North Harbor Tower is primarily residential.

The North Harbor Tower offers 600 residential units.

The North Harbor Tower also provides 404 parking spaces.

Both towers share the same structural solution, a Frame 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.

However, when it comes to the facade, both buildings use different approaches. The Crain Communications Building uses a Curtain Wall facade, while the North Harbor Tower uses a Window Wall facade.

A Curtain Wall facade like the one seen in the Crain Communications Building uses a lightweight glass curtain wall hung from the structure, while a window-wall facade like the one seen in the North Harbor Tower uses panels fitted between floor slabs, leaving slab edges visible.