One Bennett Park Building vs BMO Tower

Comparing the One Bennett Park Building and the BMO Tower is interesting because they both stand in Chicago, IL, and were completed within 3 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 One Bennett Park Building is clearly the larger tower of the two, both in terms of height and number of floors. It rises to 837ft (255m) with 69 floors above ground, while the BMO Tower reaches 728ft (222m) with 51 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 One Bennett Park Building and the BMO 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 Robert A.M. Stern Architects and Goettsch 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 One Bennett Park Building is primarily residential, while the BMO Tower is primarily commercial.

The One Bennett Park Building offers 350 residential units.

The BMO Tower also provides 324 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 One Bennett Park Building uses a Modular facade, while the BMO Tower uses a Curtain Wall facade.

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