Lafayette Apartment Towers vs 1001 Woodward

Comparing the Lafayette Apartment Towers and the 1001 Woodward is interesting because they both stand in Detroit, MI, and were completed within 2 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.

The 1001 Woodward is clearly the larger tower of the two, both in terms of height and number of floors. It rises to 338ft (103m) with 23 floors above ground, while the Lafayette Apartment Towers reaches 213ft (65m) with 22 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 Lafayette Apartment Towers and the 1001 Woodward were designed in line with the aesthetic conventions of the International Style style.

At the time, this style was at the height of its popularity. So both Mies van der Rohe and Smith, Hinchman & Grylls followed what was in many ways expected of them, producing designs that fit comfortably within contemporary architectural norms, rather than breaking with convention.

The Lafayette Apartment Towers is primarily residential, while the 1001 Woodward is primarily commercial.

The Lafayette Apartment Towers offers 584 residential units.

Both the Lafayette Apartment Towers and the 1001 Woodward 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 Window Wall facade.

A window wall system is installed between floor slabs. It is simpler and faster to build than curtain walls, but exposes slab edges and requires careful detailing to avoid thermal bridges.