Transamerica Pyramid vs 611 Place Building

Comparing the Transamerica Pyramid and the 611 Place Building is an interesting exercise, because even though they are located in different cities (San Francisco, CA and Los Angeles, CA), both were designed by William L. Pereira 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 Transamerica Pyramid is clearly the larger tower of the two, both in terms of height and number of floors. It rises to 853ft (260m) with 48 floors above ground, while the 611 Place Building reaches 620ft (189m) with 42 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 Transamerica Pyramid was designed in the Postmodernism style, while the 611 Place Building reflects the principles of Modern.

The 611 Place Building represents a late expression of the Modern, a style already in decline in 1969 when it was completed. By contrast, the Transamerica Pyramid followed the then mainstream Postmodernism, embodying the dominant architectural direction of its time.

Both the Transamerica Pyramid and the 611 Place 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 611 Place Building also provides 200 parking spaces.

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