Millennium Centre vs Salesforce Tower

Comparing the Millennium Centre and the Salesforce Tower is interesting because they both rise in Chicago, IL, yet they were conceived by two different design teams, Solomon Cordwell Buenz and Pelli Clark & Partners, and were completed at different points in time. They were finished over two decades apart.

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

Let's take a closer look!

These two towers present an interesting contrast in their proportions. The Salesforce Tower rises higher at 817ft (249m), while the Millennium Centre reaches 610ft (185.9m). However, the Millennium Centre accommodates more floors with 58 levels above ground, compared to 57 floors in the Salesforce Tower.

This suggests different approaches to interior space design. The Salesforce Tower has an average floor-to-floor height of approximately 4.4m, while the Millennium Centre has more compact floors averaging around 3.2m 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 Millennium Centre and the Salesforce Tower 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 Solomon Cordwell Buenz and Pelli Clark & Partners followed what was in many ways expected of them, producing designs that fit comfortably within contemporary architectural norms, rather than breaking with convention.

The Millennium Centre is primarily residential, while the Salesforce Tower is primarily commercial.

The Millennium Centre offers 341 residential units.

The Millennium Centre also provides 680 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 Millennium Centre uses a Modular facade, while the Salesforce Tower uses a Curtain Wall facade.

A Modular facade like the one seen in the Millennium Centre employs prefabricated panels, often mixing solid surfaces with smaller windows, while a curtain-wall facade like the one seen in the Salesforce Tower uses a lightweight glass curtain wall hung from the structure.