One Post Street Building vs First Bank and Trust Tower

Comparing the One Post Street Building and the First Bank and Trust Tower is compelling because they were both designed by Welton Becket & Associates, yet they stand in different cities (San Francisco, CA and New Orleans, LA), and were completed a decade apart.

What this will allow us to see, is how the same firm's approach adapted to different places in different periods of time.

The One Post Street Building is clearly the larger tower of the two, both in terms of height and number of floors. It rises to 528ft (161m) with 38 floors above ground, while the First Bank and Trust Tower reaches 482ft (147m) with 36 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 One Post Street Building and the First Bank and Trust Tower were designed in line with the aesthetic conventions of the Postmodernism style.

Back then, thePostmodernism was still an emerging movement, so both giving it a pioneering role. By contrast, the First Bank and Trust Tower came later, when the style was already more established.

Both the One Post Street Building and the First Bank and Trust 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 First Bank and Trust Tower also provides 520 parking spaces.

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

The One Post Street Building uses a Framed Tube In Tube structural system, which combines a strong central core with a perimeter tube of columns, while the First Bank and Trust Tower uses a Frame system, that relies on a regular grid of columns and beams to sustain its weight.

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.