One Worldwide Plaza vs 200 Vesey Street Building

Comparing the One Worldwide Plaza and the 200 Vesey Street Building is interesting because they both stand in New York, NY, and were completed within 3 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.

These two towers present an interesting contrast in their proportions. The One Worldwide Plaza rises higher at 778ft (237m), while the 200 Vesey Street Building reaches 0ft (m). However, the 200 Vesey Street Building accommodates more floors with 51 levels above ground, compared to 47 floors in the One Worldwide Plaza.

This suggests different approaches to interior space design. The One Worldwide Plaza has an average floor-to-floor height of approximately 5m, while the 200 Vesey Street Building has more compact floors averaging around 0m 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 Worldwide Plaza and the 200 Vesey Street 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 Skidmore, Owings & Merrill and Cesar Pelli & Associates 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 Worldwide Plaza and the 200 Vesey 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.

Both towers provide significant parking capacity, with One Worldwide Plaza offering 475 spaces and the 200 Vesey Street Building offering 800.

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 Worldwide Plaza uses a Masonry facade, while the 200 Vesey Street Building uses a Curtain Wall facade.

A Masonry facade like the one seen in the One Worldwide Plaza features a heavy masonry skin that gives it a more clasical look, while a curtain-wall facade like the one seen in the 200 Vesey Street Building uses a lightweight glass curtain wall hung from the structure.