One Magnificent Mile Building vs Grant Thornton Tower

Comparing the One Magnificent Mile Building and the Grant Thornton Tower is interesting because they both rise in Chicago, IL, yet they were conceived by two different design teams, Skidmore, Owings & Merrill and Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates, and were completed at different points in time. They were finished more than 9 years apart.

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

Let's take a closer look!

These two towers present an interesting contrast in their proportions. The Grant Thornton Tower rises higher at 755ft (230m), while the One Magnificent Mile Building reaches 673ft (205m). However, the One Magnificent Mile Building accommodates more floors with 57 levels above ground, compared to 50 floors in the Grant Thornton Tower.

This suggests different approaches to interior space design. The Grant Thornton Tower has an average floor-to-floor height of approximately 4.6m, while the One Magnificent Mile Building has more compact floors averaging around 3.6m each. The taller building's more generous floor heights might indicate grander interior spaces, higher ceilings, or different programmatic requirements.

These different proportions likely reflect the specific needs each building was designed to serve, whether driven by zoning regulations, client requirements, or the intended use of the spaces within. The contrast shows how architects can achieve different spatial experiences even when working with similar overall building scales.

Both the One Magnificent Mile Building and the Grant Thornton Tower were designed in line with the aesthetic conventions of the Postmodernism style.

The Grant Thornton Tower 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 Magnificent Mile Building was built when the style still carried greater cultural weight.

The One Magnificent Mile Building follows a mixed-use model, combining retail, commercial and residential. In contrast, the Grant Thornton Tower has remained primarily commercial.

The One Magnificent Mile Building offers 182 residential units.

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 Magnificent Mile Building uses a Modular facade, while the Grant Thornton Tower uses a Curtain Wall facade.

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