Inland Steel Building vs Gas Company Tower

Comparing the Inland Steel Building and the Gas Company Tower is compelling because they were both designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, yet they stand in different cities (Chicago, IL and Los Angeles, CA), 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 Gas Company Tower is clearly the larger tower of the two, both in terms of height and number of floors. It rises to 748ft (228m) with 52 floors above ground, while the Inland Steel Building reaches 331ft (101m) with 19 floors above ground.

Gas Company Tower also offers more total built-up area, a total fo 1,781,748 sqf (165,530m²), which is about 1,456,754 sqf (135,337m²) more than what the Inland Steel Building offers.

The Gas Company Tower also concentrates more floor area on its site, indicating a higher floor area ratio.

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 Inland Steel Building was designed in the International Style style, while the Gas Company Tower reflects the principles of Postmodernism.

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 Inland Steel Building followed the then mainstream International Style, embodying the dominant architectural direction of its time.

With 33 years between them, the comparison also reflects how quickly architectural priorities can shift from one dominant language to another.

Both the Inland Steel Building and the Gas Company 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.

Both the Inland Steel Building and the Gas Company 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.