One Front Street Building vs 345 California Center

Comparing the One Front Street Building and the 345 California Center is especially interesting because they share much in common. Both rise in San Francisco, CA both were designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, and they were completed within 4 years of each other.

This overlap gives us a unique opportunity to understand how Skidmore, Owings & Merrill approached different commissions in the same urban context and historical context during a short period.

The 345 California Center is clearly the larger tower of the two, both in terms of height and number of floors. It rises to 620ft (189m) with 48 floors above ground, while the One Front Street Building reaches 538ft (164m) with 38 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 Front Street Building and the 345 California Center were designed in line with the aesthetic conventions of the Postmodernism style.

At the time, this style was at the height of its popularity. So Skidmore, Owings & Merrill followed what was in many ways expected at the time, producing designs that fit comfortably within contemporary architectural norms rather, than breaking with convention.

The 345 California Center follows a mixed-use model, combining commercial and hotel. In contrast, the One Front Street Building has remained primarily commercial.

The 345 California Center incorporates a 5-star hotel with 155 rooms. More information is available at the official website.

Both towers provide significant parking capacity, with One Front Street Building offering 290 spaces and the 345 California Center offering 180.

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 Front Street Building uses a Curtain Wall facade, while the 345 California Center uses a Window Wall facade.

A Curtain Wall facade like the one seen in the One Front Street Building uses a lightweight glass curtain wall hung from the structure, while a window-wall facade like the one seen in the 345 California Center uses panels fitted between floor slabs, leaving slab edges visible.