Solow Building vs One World Trade Center

Comparing the Solow Building and the One World Trade Center is particularly interesting because they share the same skyline in New York, NY, and were both designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill. However, they were completed more than 40 years apart.

This offers a unique perspective on how the architect's style and the city's architecture evolved over time.

The One World Trade Center is clearly the larger tower of the two, both in terms of height and number of floors. It rises to 1775ft (541m) with 104 floors above ground, while the Solow Building reaches 673ft (205m) with 49 floors above ground.

One World Trade Center also offers more total built-up area, a total fo 3,500,000 sqf (325,161m²), which is about 1,956,339 sqf (181,750m²) more than what the Solow Building offers.

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 Solow Building was designed in the Modern style, while the One World Trade Center reflects the principles of Contemporary.

The Solow Building represents a late expression of the Modern, a style already in decline in 1974 when it was completed. By contrast, the One World Trade Center followed the then mainstream Contemporary, embodying the dominant architectural direction of its time.

With 40 years between them, the comparison also reflects how quickly architectural priorities can shift from one dominant language to another.

Both the Solow Building and the One World Trade Center 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 two towers rely on different structural systems, reflecting distinct engineering strategies.

The Solow Building uses a Trussed Frame structural system, which uses diagonal bracing in addition to beams and columns for stability, while the One World Trade Center 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.