One International Place Building vs One Lincoln Street Building

Comparing the One International Place Building and the One Lincoln Street Building is interesting because they both rise in Boston, MA, yet they were conceived by two different design teams, Johnson/Burgee Architects and TRO Jung Brannen , and were completed at different points in time. They were finished more than a decade apart.

This contrast within the same city allows us to see how different creative minds interpreted the evolving needs of Boston across time.

Let's take a closer look!

The One International Place Building is clearly the larger tower of the two, both in terms of height and number of floors. It rises to 600ft (183m) with 46 floors above ground, while the One Lincoln Street Building reaches 463ft (141m) 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.

Both the One International Place Building and the One Lincoln Street Building were designed in line with the aesthetic conventions of the Postmodernism style.

The One Lincoln Street Building was designed at a moment when the Postmodernism style was already in decline, making it more of a lingering expression of the movement. In contrast, the One International Place Building was built when the style still carried greater cultural weight.

Both the One International Place Building and the One Lincoln Street Building were designed to serve as commercial towers, and that has remained their main use since their completion, serving similar roles in the urban fabric.

Both towers provide significant parking capacity, with One International Place Building offering 400 spaces and the One Lincoln Street Building offering 900.

The two buildings opted for different structural and facade solutions.

The One International Place Building uses a Frame system, which relies on a regular grid of columns and beams to sustain its weight, while the One Lincoln Street Building 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 Lincoln Street Building opted for a Curtain Wall facade, that uses a lightweight glass curtain wall hung from the structure.