U.S. Bank Tower vs Wells Fargo Tower

Comparing the U.S. Bank Tower and the Wells Fargo Tower is interesting because they both rise in Los Angeles, CA, yet they were conceived by two different design teams, Pei Cobb Freed & Partners and Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, and were completed at different points in time. They were finished more than 6 years apart.

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

Let's take a closer look!

The U.S. Bank Tower is clearly the larger tower of the two, both in terms of height and number of floors. It rises to 1017ft (310m) with 73 floors above ground, while the Wells Fargo Tower reaches 722ft (220m) with 54 floors above ground.

U.S. Bank Tower also offers more total built-up area, a total fo 1,754,516 sqf (163,000m²), which is about 363,820 sqf (33,800m²) more than what the Wells Fargo Tower 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.

Both the U.S. Bank Tower and the Wells Fargo Tower 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 Pei Cobb Freed & Partners 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.

Both the U.S. Bank Tower and the Wells Fargo Tower 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 U.S. Bank Tower also provides 1396 parking spaces.

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

The U.S. Bank Tower uses a Framed Tube In Tube structural system, which combines a strong central core with a perimeter tube of columns, while the Wells Fargo Tower 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.