One Bennett Park Building vs One Chicago East Tower

Comparing the One Bennett Park Building and the One Chicago East Tower is interesting because they both stand in Chicago, IL, and were completed within 4 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 Chicago East Tower is clearly the larger tower of the two, both in terms of height and number of floors. It rises to 971ft (296m) with 77 floors above ground, while the One Bennett Park Building reaches 837ft (255m) with 69 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 One Chicago East 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.

Both the One Bennett Park Building and the One Chicago East Tower were designed to serve as residential towers, and that has remained their main use since their completion, serving similar roles in the urban fabric.

In terms of capacity, the One Bennett Park Building offers 350 apartments, while the One Chicago East Tower provides 353 units.

The One Chicago East Tower also provides 1100 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 One Chicago East 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 One Chicago East Tower uses a lightweight glass curtain wall hung from the structure.