Two Prudential Plaza vs 900 North Michigan Building

Comparing the Two Prudential Plaza and the 900 North Michigan Building is interesting because they both stand in Chicago, IL, and were completed just one year apart, but they were designed by different architects.

This offers a unique glimpse at how rival designers approached projects in the same city during the same era.

These two towers present an interesting contrast in their proportions. The Two Prudential Plaza rises higher at 994ft (303m), while the 900 North Michigan Building reaches 871ft (265.5m). However, the 900 North Michigan Building accommodates more floors with 66 levels above ground, compared to 64 floors in the Two Prudential Plaza.

This suggests different approaches to interior space design. The Two Prudential Plaza has an average floor-to-floor height of approximately 4.7m, while the 900 North Michigan Building has more compact floors averaging around 4m each. The taller building's more generous floor heights might indicate grander interior spaces, higher ceilings, or different programmatic requirements.

These different proportions likely reflect the specific needs each building was designed to serve, whether driven by zoning regulations, client requirements, or the intended use of the spaces within. The contrast shows how architects can achieve different spatial experiences even when working with similar overall building scales.

Both the Two Prudential Plaza and the 900 North Michigan Building were designed in line with the aesthetic conventions of the Postmodernism style.

At the time, this style was at the height of its popularity. So both Loebl, Schlossman & Hackl and Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates followed what was in many ways expected of them, producing designs that fit comfortably within contemporary architectural norms, rather than breaking with convention.

The 900 North Michigan Building follows a mixed-use model, combining retail, commercial, residential and hotel. In contrast, the Two Prudential Plaza has remained primarily commercial.

The 900 North Michigan Building incorporates a 5-star hotel with rooms. More information is available at the official website.

The 900 North Michigan Building offers 106 residential units.

Both towers provide significant parking capacity, with Two Prudential Plaza offering 325 spaces and the 900 North Michigan Building offering 1330.

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

The Two Prudential Plaza uses a Framed Tube In Tube structural system, which combines a strong central core with a perimeter tube of columns, while the 900 North Michigan Building uses a Frame system, that relies on a regular grid of columns and beams to sustain its weight.

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.