North Harbor Tower vs One Magnificent Mile Building

Comparing the North Harbor Tower and the One Magnificent Mile Building is interesting because they both stand in Chicago, IL, and were completed within 5 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 Magnificent Mile Building is clearly the larger tower of the two, both in terms of height and number of floors. It rises to 673ft (205m) with 57 floors above ground, while the North Harbor Tower reaches 554ft (169m) with 55 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 North Harbor Tower and the One Magnificent Mile Building 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 both Fujikawa Johnson & Associates and Skidmore, Owings & Merrill 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 Magnificent Mile Building follows a mixed-use model, combining retail, commercial and residential. In contrast, the North Harbor Tower has remained primarily residential.

In terms of capacity, the North Harbor Tower offers 600 apartments, while the One Magnificent Mile Building provides 182 units.

The North Harbor Tower also provides 404 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 North Harbor Tower uses a Window Wall facade, while the One Magnificent Mile Building uses a Modular facade.

A Window Wall facade like the one seen in the North Harbor Tower uses panels fitted between floor slabs, leaving slab edges visible, while a modular facade like the one seen in the One Magnificent Mile Building employs prefabricated panels, often mixing solid surfaces with smaller windows.