Trump World Tower vs One World Trade Center

Comparing the Trump World Tower and the One World Trade Center is interesting because they both rise in New York, NY, yet they were conceived by two different design teams, Costas Kondylis and Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, 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 New York across time.

Let's take a closer look!

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 Trump World Tower reaches 860ft (262m) with 72 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 Trump World Tower and the One World Trade Center were designed in line with the aesthetic conventions of the Contemporary style.

At the time, this style was at the height of its popularity. So both Costas Kondylis and Skidmore, Owings & Merrill followed what was in many ways expected of them, producing designs that fit comfortably within contemporary architectural norms, rather than breaking with convention.

The Trump World Tower is primarily residential, while the One World Trade Center is primarily commercial.

The Trump World Tower offers 376 residential units.

The two buildings opted for different structural and facade solutions.

The Trump World Tower uses a Frame system, which relies on a regular grid of columns and beams to sustain its weight, 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.

And when it came to the facade, the Window Wall went with a Window Wall facade, which uses panels fitted between floor slabs, leaving slab edges visible, while the One World Trade Center opted for a Curtain Wall facade, that uses a lightweight glass curtain wall hung from the structure.