Onterie Center vs Random House Tower

Comparing the Onterie Center and the Random House Tower is compelling because they were both designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, yet they stand in different cities (Chicago, IL and New York, NY), and were completed a decade apart.

What this will allow us to see, is how the same firm's approach adapted to different places in different periods of time.

These two towers present an interesting contrast in their proportions. The Random House Tower rises higher at 682ft (208m), while the Onterie Center reaches 571ft (174m). However, the Onterie Center accommodates more floors with 60 levels above ground, compared to 52 floors in the Random House Tower.

This suggests different approaches to interior space design. The Random House Tower has an average floor-to-floor height of approximately 4m, while the Onterie Center has more compact floors averaging around 2.9m 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.

The Onterie Center was designed in the Modern style, while the Random House Tower reflects the principles of Contemporary.

The Onterie Center represents a late expression of the Modern, a style already in decline in 1986 when it was completed. By contrast, the Random House Tower followed the then mainstream Contemporary, embodying the dominant architectural direction of its time.

Both towers follow a mixed-use program. The Onterie Center combines residential, commercial, retail and hotel, while the Random House Tower integrates commercial and residential. Notably, both include residential and commercial as part of their program.

The Onterie Center incorporates a -star hotel with 101 rooms. More information is available at the official website.

In terms of capacity, the Onterie Center offers 594 apartments, while the Random House Tower provides 101 units.

Both towers provide significant parking capacity, with Onterie Center offering 363 spaces and the Random House Tower offering 150.

The two buildings opted for different structural and facade solutions.

The Onterie Center uses a Trussed Tube system, which , while the Random House Tower uses a Frame system, that relies on a regular grid of columns and beams to sustain its weight.

And when it came to the facade, the Masonry went with a Masonry facade, which features a heavy masonry skin that gives it a more clasical look, while the Random House Tower opted for a Curtain Wall facade, that uses a lightweight glass curtain wall hung from the structure.