North Harbor Tower vs Grant Thornton Tower

Comparing the North Harbor Tower and the Grant Thornton 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 Grant Thornton Tower rises higher at 755ft (230m), while the North Harbor Tower reaches 554ft (169m). However, the North Harbor Tower accommodates more floors with 55 levels above ground, compared to 50 floors in the Grant Thornton Tower.

This suggests different approaches to interior space design. The Grant Thornton Tower has an average floor-to-floor height of approximately 4.6m, 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 North Harbor Tower 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 North Harbor Tower was built when the style still carried greater cultural weight.

The North Harbor Tower is primarily residential, while the Grant Thornton Tower is primarily commercial.

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 North Harbor Tower uses a Window Wall facade, while the Grant Thornton Tower uses a Curtain Wall facade.

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