One Rincon Hill South Tower vs The Avery Building

Comparing the One Rincon Hill South Tower and the The Avery Building is interesting because they both rise in San Francisco, CA, yet they were conceived by two different design teams, Solomon Cordwell Buenz and OMA, 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 San Francisco across time.

Let's take a closer look!

These two towers present an interesting contrast in their proportions. The One Rincon Hill South Tower rises higher at 640ft (195m), while the The Avery Building reaches 617ft (188m). However, the The Avery Building accommodates more floors with 56 levels above ground, compared to 54 floors in the One Rincon Hill South Tower.

This suggests different approaches to interior space design. The One Rincon Hill South Tower has an average floor-to-floor height of approximately 3.6m, while the The Avery Building has more compact floors averaging around 3.4m each.

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 Rincon Hill South Tower and the The Avery Building 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 Solomon Cordwell Buenz and OMA followed what was in many ways expected of them, producing designs that fit comfortably within contemporary architectural norms, rather than breaking with convention.

Both the One Rincon Hill South Tower and the The Avery Building were designed to serve as residential towers, and that has remained their main use since their completion, serving similar roles in the urban fabric.

In terms of capacity, the One Rincon Hill South Tower offers 390 apartments, while the The Avery Building provides 548 units.

Both towers provide significant parking capacity, with One Rincon Hill South Tower offering 455 spaces and the The Avery Building offering 218.

These two towers illustrate the many possible ways to combine structure and enclosure in skyscraper design.