Regions Center vs One Post Street Building

Comparing the Regions Center and the One Post Street Building is an interesting exercise, because even though they are located in different cities (Birmingham, AL and San Francisco, CA), both were designed by Welton Becket & Associates and finished within within 3 years of each other. This gives us the chance to see how the same architect's ideas were expressed in different urban contexts almost simultaneously.

The One Post Street Building is clearly the larger tower of the two, both in terms of height and number of floors. It rises to 528ft (161m) with 38 floors above ground, while the Regions Center reaches 390ft (119m) with 30 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 Regions Center 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 Regions Center 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 3-year gap between their completions makes the overlap between decline and emergence even more apparent.

Both the Regions Center 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 Regions Center also provides 390 parking spaces.

The two towers rely on different structural systems, reflecting distinct engineering strategies.

The Regions Center uses a Frame structural 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.

Yet, when it comes to their facade, they both employed the same solution, a Curtain Wall facade.

A curtain wall is a non-load-bearing facade hung from the structural frame. It is anchored to floor slabs and transfers only its own weight and wind loads, allowing for sleek, glassy exteriors.