One Beacon Street Building vs One World Trade Center

Comparing the One Beacon Street Building and the One World Trade Center is compelling because they were both designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, yet they stand in different cities (Boston, MA and New York, NY), 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 One World Trade Center is clearly the larger tower of the two, both in terms of height and number of floors. It rises to 1775ft (541m) with 104 floors above ground, while the One Beacon Street Building reaches 505ft (154m) with 36 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.

The One Beacon Street Building was designed in the International Style style, while the One World Trade Center reflects the principles of Contemporary.

The One Beacon Street Building represents a late expression of the International Style, a style already in decline in 1972 when it was completed. By contrast, the One World Trade Center followed the then mainstream Contemporary, embodying the dominant architectural direction of its time.

With 42 years between them, the comparison also reflects how quickly architectural priorities can shift from one dominant language to another.

Both the One Beacon Street Building and the One World Trade Center 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 two buildings opted for different structural and facade solutions.

The One Beacon Street Building uses a Frame system, which relies on a regular grid of columns and beams to sustain its weight, while the One World Trade Center uses a Framed Tube In Tube system, that combines a strong central core with a perimeter tube of columns.

And when it came to the facade, the Window Wall went with a Window Wall facade, which uses panels fitted between floor slabs, leaving slab edges visible, while the One World Trade Center opted for a Curtain Wall facade, that uses a lightweight glass curtain wall hung from the structure.