Orange County Courthouse vs Bank of America Center

Comparing the Orange County Courthouse and the Bank of America Center is interesting because they both rise in Orlando, FL, yet they were conceived by two different design teams, HLM Design and Morris-Aubry Architects, and were completed at different points in time. They were finished more than 9 years apart.

This contrast within the same city allows us to see how different creative minds interpreted the evolving needs of Orlando across time.

Let's take a closer look!

These two towers present an interesting contrast in their proportions. The Orange County Courthouse rises higher at 417ft (127m), while the Bank of America Center reaches 404ft (123m). However, the Bank of America Center accommodates more floors with 28 levels above ground, compared to 23 floors in the Orange County Courthouse.

This suggests different approaches to interior space design. The Orange County Courthouse has an average floor-to-floor height of approximately 5.5m, while the Bank of America Center has more compact floors averaging around 4.4m 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 Orange County Courthouse and the Bank of America Center were designed in line with the aesthetic conventions of the Postmodernism style.

The Orange County Courthouse was designed at a moment when the Postmodernism style was already in decline, making it more of a lingering expression of the movement. In contrast, the Bank of America Center style was already in decline, making it more of a lingering expression of the movement. In contrast, the Bank of America Center was built when the style still carried greater cultural weight.

The Orange County Courthouse is primarily governmental, while the Bank of America Center is primarily commercial.

The Orange County Courthouse also provides 750 parking spaces.

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