The Bell Building vs Water Tower Place

Comparing the The Bell Building and the Water Tower Place is interesting because they both rise in Chicago, IL, yet they were conceived by two different design teams, Holabird & Root and Loebl Schlossman Bennett and Dart, and were completed at different points in time. They were finished more than a decade apart.

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

Let's take a closer look!

The Water Tower Place is clearly the larger tower of the two, both in terms of height and number of floors. It rises to 860ft (262m) with 74 floors above ground, while the The Bell Building reaches 427ft (130m) with 31 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.

Both the The Bell Building and the Water Tower Place were designed in line with the aesthetic conventions of the Modern style.

Both buildings were completed when the Modern style was already past its peak. This makes them feel like late echoes of the movement, more reflective of continuity or nostalgia than of cutting-edge design at the time.

The Water Tower Place follows a mixed-use model, combining hotel, residential and retail. In contrast, the The Bell Building has remained primarily .

Originally, the The Bell Building was designed for commercial, but over time it was converted to . The Water Tower Place by contrast has maintained its original role.

The Water Tower Place incorporates a 5-star hotel with 435 rooms. More information is available at the official website.

The Water Tower Place offers 360 residential units.

The two buildings opted for different structural and facade solutions.

The The Bell Building uses a Framed Tube In Tube system, which combines a strong central core with a perimeter tube of columns, while the Water Tower Place 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 Curtain Wall went with a Curtain Wall facade, which uses a lightweight glass curtain wall hung from the structure, while the Water Tower Place opted for a Window Wall facade, that uses panels fitted between floor slabs, leaving slab edges visible.