NBC Tower vs Gas Company Tower

Comparing the NBC Tower and the Gas Company Tower is an interesting exercise, because even though they are located in different cities (Chicago, IL and Los Angeles, CA), both were designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill and finished within within 2 years of each other. This gives us the chance to see how the same architect's ideas were expressed in different urban contexts almost simultaneously.

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 NBC Tower reaches 561ft (171m) with 37 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 647,524 sqf (60,157m²) more than what the NBC Tower offers.

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 NBC Tower was designed in the Art Deco style, while the Gas Company Tower reflects the principles of Postmodernism.

Both towers were built when their respective styles were already past their prime. This makes them feel more like late continuations rather than groundbreaking statements, showing how architectural traditions can linger even as tastes shift.

Both the NBC Tower 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.

The NBC Tower also provides 261 parking spaces.

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