Millennium Tower vs Salesforce Tower

Comparing the Millennium Tower and the Salesforce Tower is interesting because they both rise in San Francisco, CA, yet they were conceived by two different design teams, Handel Architects and Pelli Clark & Partners, and were completed at different points in time. They were finished more than 9 years apart.

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

Let's take a closer look!

The Salesforce Tower is clearly the larger tower of the two, both in terms of height and number of floors. It rises to 1070ft (326m) with 61 floors above ground, while the Millennium Tower reaches 604ft (184m) with 58 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 Millennium Tower 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 Handel Architects 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 Tower is primarily residential, while the Salesforce Tower is primarily commercial.

The Millennium Tower offers 419 residential units.

The Millennium Tower also provides 340 parking spaces.

The two towers rely on different structural systems, reflecting distinct engineering strategies.

The Millennium Tower uses a Frame structural system, which relies on a regular grid of columns and beams to sustain its weight, while the Salesforce Tower uses a Framed Tube In Tube system, that combines a strong central core with a perimeter tube of columns.

Yet, when it comes to their facade, they both employed the same solution, 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.