Westin Bonaventure Hotel vs 777 Tower

Comparing the Westin Bonaventure Hotel and the 777 Tower is interesting because they both rise in Los Angeles, CA, yet they were conceived by two different design teams, John C. Portman Jr. and César Pelli & Associates, 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 Los Angeles across time.

Let's take a closer look!

The 777 Tower is clearly the larger tower of the two, both in terms of height and number of floors. It rises to 725ft (221m) with 53 floors above ground, while the Westin Bonaventure Hotel reaches 387ft (118m) with 33 floors above ground.

Despite being taller and having more floors, 777 Tower has less total built-up area than Westin Bonaventure Hotel.

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 Westin Bonaventure Hotel and the 777 Tower were designed in line with the aesthetic conventions of the Postmodernism style.

The 777 Tower was designed at a moment when the Postmodernism style was already in decline, making it more of a lingering expression of the movement. In contrast, the Westin Bonaventure Hotel was built when the style still carried greater cultural weight.

The Westin Bonaventure Hotel is primarily hotel, while the 777 Tower is primarily commercial.

The Westin Bonaventure Hotel incorporates a 4-star hotel with 1354 rooms. More information is available at the official website.

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

The Westin Bonaventure Hotel uses a Frame structural system, which relies on a regular grid of columns and beams to sustain its weight, while the 777 Tower uses a Framed Tube In Tube system, that combines a strong central core with a perimeter tube of columns.

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.