Gas Company Tower vs One World Trade Center

Comparing the Gas Company Tower and the One World Trade Center is compelling because they were both designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, yet they stand in different cities (Los Angeles, CA and New York, NY), and were completed over two decades 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 World Trade Center is clearly the larger tower of the two, both in terms of height and number of floors. It rises to 1775ft (541m) with 104 floors above ground, while the Gas Company Tower reaches 748ft (228m) with 52 floors above ground.

One World Trade Center also offers more total built-up area, a total fo 3,500,000 sqf (325,161m²), which is about 1,718,252 sqf (159,631m²) more than what the Gas Company Tower offers.

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.

The Gas Company Tower was designed in the Postmodernism style, while the One World Trade Center reflects the principles of Contemporary.

The Gas Company Tower represents a late expression of the Postmodernism, a style already in decline in 1991 when it was completed. By contrast, the One World Trade Center followed the then mainstream Contemporary, embodying the dominant architectural direction of its time.

With 23 years between them, the comparison also reflects how quickly architectural priorities can shift from one dominant language to another.

Both the Gas Company Tower and the One World Trade Center 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 two towers rely on different structural systems, reflecting distinct engineering strategies.

The Gas Company Tower uses a Frame structural system, which relies on a regular grid of columns and beams to sustain its weight, while the One World Trade Center uses a Framed Tube In Tube system, that combines a strong central core with a perimeter tube of columns.

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.