Huntington Bank Tower vs Hollywood Casino and Hotel Tower at Greektown

Comparing the Huntington Bank Tower and the Hollywood Casino and Hotel Tower at Greektown is interesting because they both rise in Detroit, MI, yet they were conceived by two different design teams, Neumann/Smith Architecture and Rossetti Architects, and were completed at different points in time. They were finished more than a decade apart.

This contrast within the same city allows us to see how different creative minds interpreted the evolving needs of Detroit across time.

Let's take a closer look!

The Hollywood Casino and Hotel Tower at Greektown is clearly the larger tower of the two, both in terms of height and number of floors. It rises to 344ft (105m) with 30 floors above ground, while the Huntington Bank Tower reaches 312ft (95m) with 21 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 Huntington Bank Tower and the Hollywood Casino and Hotel Tower at Greektown were designed in line with the aesthetic conventions of the Contemporary style.

At the time, this style was at the height of its popularity. So both Neumann/Smith Architecture and Rossetti Architects followed what was in many ways expected of them, producing designs that fit comfortably within contemporary architectural norms, rather than breaking with convention.

Both towers follow a mixed-use program. The Huntington Bank Tower combines commercial and parking, while the Hollywood Casino and Hotel Tower at Greektown integrates gambling and hotel.

The Hollywood Casino and Hotel Tower at Greektown incorporates a 4-star hotel with 400 rooms. More information is available at the official website.

The Hollywood Casino and Hotel Tower at Greektown also provides 3000 parking spaces.

These two towers illustrate the many possible ways to combine structure and enclosure in skyscraper design.