900 North Michigan Building vs Grant Thornton Tower

Comparing the 900 North Michigan Building and the Grant Thornton Tower is especially interesting because they share much in common. Both rise in Chicago, IL both were designed by Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates, and they were completed within 3 years of each other.

This overlap gives us a unique opportunity to understand how Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates approached different commissions in the same urban context and historical context during a short period.

The 900 North Michigan Building is clearly the larger tower of the two, both in terms of height and number of floors. It rises to 871ft (265.5m) with 66 floors above ground, while the Grant Thornton Tower reaches 755ft (230m) with 50 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 900 North Michigan 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 900 North Michigan Building was built when the style still carried greater cultural weight.

The 900 North Michigan Building follows a mixed-use model, combining retail, commercial, residential and hotel. In contrast, the Grant Thornton Tower has remained primarily commercial.

The 900 North Michigan Building incorporates a 5-star hotel with rooms. More information is available at the official website.

The 900 North Michigan Building offers 106 residential units.

The 900 North Michigan Building also provides 1330 parking spaces.

Both the 900 North Michigan 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.