One North Wacker Building vs St. Regis Chicago

Comparing the One North Wacker Building and the St. Regis Chicago is interesting because they both rise in Chicago, IL, yet they were conceived by two different design teams, Goettsch Partners and Studio Gang Architects, 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 Chicago across time.

Let's take a closer look!

The St. Regis Chicago is clearly the larger tower of the two, both in terms of height and number of floors. It rises to 1194ft (364m) with 101 floors above ground, while the One North Wacker Building reaches 653ft (199m) with 50 floors above ground.

St. Regis Chicago also offers more total built-up area, a total fo 1,900,001 sqf (176,516m²), which is about 146,002 sqf (13,564m²) more than what the One North Wacker Building offers.

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 North Wacker Building and the St. Regis Chicago 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 Goettsch Partners and Studio Gang Architects 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 North Wacker Building is primarily commercial, while the St. Regis Chicago is primarily residential.

The St. Regis Chicago incorporates a 5-star hotel with 192 rooms. More information is available at the official website.

The St. Regis Chicago offers 393 residential units.

Both towers provide significant parking capacity, with One North Wacker Building offering 220 spaces and the St. Regis Chicago offering 295.

Both the One North Wacker Building and the St. Regis Chicago rely on a Frame structural 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.

They also employ the same type of facade, a Curtain Wall facade.

A curtain wall is a non-load-bearing facade hung from the structural frame. It is anchored to floor slabs and transfers only its own weight and wind loads, allowing for sleek, glassy exteriors.