Spear Tower at One Market Plaza vs One Post Street Building

Comparing the Spear Tower at One Market Plaza and the One Post Street Building is particularly interesting because they share the same skyline in San Francisco, CA, and were both designed by Welton Becket & Associates. However, they were completed more than 7 years apart.

This offers a unique perspective on how the architect's style and the city's architecture evolved over time.

The Spear Tower at One Market Plaza is clearly the larger tower of the two, both in terms of height and number of floors. It rises to 564ft (172m) with 42 floors above ground, while the One Post Street Building reaches 528ft (161m) 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.

The Spear Tower at One Market Plaza was designed in the International Style style, while the One Post Street Building reflects the principles of Postmodernism.

The One Post Street Building marked the rise of the Postmodernism, while the Spear Tower at One Market Plaza represented one of the last echoes of the International Style. Together, they frame a moment of transition, when an older movement was fading and a new one was just beginning to take shape. The 7-year gap between their completions makes the overlap between decline and emergence even more apparent.

Both the Spear Tower at One Market Plaza and the One Post 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.

The Spear Tower at One Market Plaza also provides 162 parking spaces.

The two buildings opted for different structural and facade solutions.

The Spear Tower at One Market Plaza uses a Frame system, which relies on a regular grid of columns and beams to sustain its weight, while the One Post 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 Modular went with a Modular facade, which employs prefabricated panels, often mixing solid surfaces with smaller windows, while the One Post Street Building opted for a Curtain Wall facade, that uses a lightweight glass curtain wall hung from the structure.