Equitable Life Building vs Union Bank Plaza Tower

Comparing the Equitable Life Building and the Union Bank Plaza Tower is interesting because they both stand in Los Angeles, CA, and were completed just one year apart, 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 Union Bank Plaza Tower is clearly the larger tower of the two, both in terms of height and number of floors. It rises to 515ft (157m) with 40 floors above ground, while the Equitable Life Building reaches 453ft (138m) with 34 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 Equitable Life Building and the Union Bank Plaza Tower were designed in line with the aesthetic conventions of the International Style style.

At the time, this style was at the height of its popularity. So both Welton Becket & Associates and Albert C. Martin & Associates followed what was in many ways expected of them, producing designs that fit comfortably within contemporary architectural norms, rather than breaking with convention.

Both the Equitable Life Building and the Union Bank Plaza 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.

The Union Bank Plaza Tower also provides 914 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 Equitable Life Building uses a Curtain Wall facade, while the Union Bank Plaza Tower uses a Window Wall facade.

A Curtain Wall facade like the one seen in the Equitable Life Building uses a lightweight glass curtain wall hung from the structure, while a window-wall facade like the one seen in the Union Bank Plaza Tower uses panels fitted between floor slabs, leaving slab edges visible.