David Magie Childs (born April 1, 1941) is an American architect and chairman emeritus of the architectural firm

Skidmore, Owings & Merrill Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) is an American architectural, urban planning and engineering firm. It was founded in 1936 by Louis Skidmore and Nathaniel A. Owings, Nathaniel Owings in Chicago, Illinois. In 1939, they were joined by engineer Jo ...

. He is the architect of the new

One World Trade Center One World Trade Center (also known as One World Trade, One WTC, and formerly Freedom Tower) is the main building of the rebuilt World Trade Center complex in Lower Manhattan, New York City. Designed by David Childs of Skidmore, Owings & Mer ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

Early life and education

Childs graduated from

Deerfield Academy Deerfield Academy is an elite coeducational preparatory school in Deerfield, Massachusetts. Founded in 1797, it is one of the oldest secondary schools in the United States. It is a member of the Eight Schools Association, the Ten Schools Admissi ...

Deerfield, Massachusetts Deerfield is a town in Franklin County, Massachusetts, United States. Settled near the Connecticut River in the 17th century during the colonial era, the population was 5,090 as of the 2020 census. Deerfield is part of the Springfield, Massac ...

, in 1959 and from

Yale University Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the w ...

New Haven, Connecticut New Haven is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound in New Haven County, Connecticut and is part of the New York City metropolitan area. With a population of 134 ...

in 1963. He first majored in zoology before he then turned to architecture at the

Yale School of Architecture The Yale School of Architecture (YSOA) is one of the constituent professional schools of Yale University, and is generally considered to be one of the best architecture schools in the United States. The School awards the degrees of Master of Arc ...

and earned his master's degree in 1967.

Career

He joined the Washington, D.C., office of SOM in 1971, after working with Nathaniel Owings and

Daniel Patrick Moynihan Daniel Patrick Moynihan (March 16, 1927 – March 26, 2003) was an American politician, diplomat and sociologist. A member of the Democratic Party, he represented New York in the United States Senate from 1977 until 2001 and served as a ...

on plans for the redevelopment of

Pennsylvania Avenue Pennsylvania Avenue is a diagonal street in Washington, D.C., and Prince George's County, Maryland, that connects the White House and the United States Capitol and then crosses the city to Maryland. In Maryland it is also Maryland Route 4 (MD 4 ...

. Childs was a design partner of the firm in Washington until 1984, when he moved to SOM's New York Office. His major projects include: in Washington, D.C.,

1201 Pennsylvania Avenue 1201 Pennsylvania Avenue is a highrise skyscraper office building in Washington, D.C., on Pennsylvania Avenue. The building is 49 m (160 ft) tall and has approximately 13 floors. Its construction ended in 1981. It was designed by Skid ...

, the Four Seasons Hotel, master plans for the

National Mall The National Mall is a landscaped park near the downtown area of Washington, D.C., the capital city of the United States. It contains and borders a number of museums of the Smithsonian Institution, art galleries, cultural institutions, and va ...

, the '' U.S. News & World Report'' headquarters, and the headquarters for ''National Geographic''; in

, Worldwide Plaza,

450 Lexington Avenue 450 Lexington Avenue is a 38-story office building located on Lexington Avenue between East 44th and 45th Streets, in East Midtown, Manhattan, New York City. The building, which was built in 1992, is clad in Sardinian gray granite and features a ...

, Bertelsmann Tower, and

; and internationally, the

Embassy of the United States, Ottawa The Embassy of the United States of America in Ottawa (french: Ambassade des États-Unis d'Amérique à Ottawa) is the diplomatic mission of the United States of America to Canada. Opened in 1999, the embassy complex is located at 490 Sussex Dr ...

, and the Changi international terminal in

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, bor ...

. Childs served as the chairman of the

National Capital Planning Commission The National Capital Planning Commission (NCPC) is a U.S. government executive branch agency that provides planning guidance for Washington, D.C., and the surrounding National Capital Region. Through its planning policies and review of developmen ...

from 1975 to 1981 and he was appointed to the

U.S. Commission of Fine Arts The U.S. Commission of Fine Arts (CFA) is an independent agency of the federal government of the United States, and was established in 1910. The CFA has review (but not approval) authority over the "design and aesthetics" of all construction with ...

in 2002, serving as chairman from 2003 to 2005. He was the recipient of a

Rome Prize The Rome Prize is awarded by the American Academy in Rome, in Rome, Italy. Approximately thirty scholars and artists are selected each year to receive a study fellowship at the academy. Prizes have been awarded annually since 1921, with a hiatus ...

in 2004; named a senior fellow of the

Design Futures Council The Design Futures Council is an interdisciplinary network of design, product, and construction leaders exploring global trends, challenges, and opportunities to advance innovation and shape the future of the industry and environment. Members inclu ...

in 2010; and has served on the boards of the

Municipal Art Society The Municipal Art Society of New York (MAS) is a non-profit membership organization for preservation in New York City, which aims to encourage thoughtful planning and urban design and inclusive neighborhoods across the city. The organization was ...

, the

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, and is often identified as one of t ...

, and the

American Academy in Rome The American Academy in Rome is a research and arts institution located on the Gianicolo (Janiculum Hill) in Rome. The academy is a member of the Council of American Overseas Research Centers. History In 1893, a group of American architects, ...

.Thomas E. Luebke, ed., ''Civic Art: A Centennial History of the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts'' (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Commission of Fine Arts, 2013): Appendix B, p. 542.

Skidmore, Owings & Merrill projects

Washington, D.C. (1971–1985)

* Metro Center (1976) * Formerly the Daon Building, now the

Inter-American Development Bank The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB or IADB) is an international financial institution headquartered in Washington, D.C., United States of America, and serving as the largest source of development financing for Latin America and the Carib ...

, 1300 New York Avenue, NW (1984) *

National Geographic ''National Geographic'' (formerly the ''National Geographic Magazine'', sometimes branded as NAT GEO) is a popular American monthly magazine published by National Geographic Partners. Known for its photojournalism, it is one of the most widel ...

headquarters M Street building (1985) * Four Seasons (1979), Regent, and Park Hyatt Washington (1986) hotels * Expansion of the Dulles Airport main terminal * '' U.S. News & World Report'' headquarters * University Yard, 1985-1986 restoration,

The George Washington University , mottoeng = "God is Our Trust" , established = , type = Private federally chartered research university , academic_affiliations = , endowment = $2.8 billion (2022) , presid ...

New York City (1984–present)

Completed

* Worldwide Plaza 825 8th Avenue (1989) * Bertelsmann Building, 1540 Broadway (1990) *

383 Madison Avenue 383 Madison Avenue, formerly known as the Bear Stearns Building, is a , 47-story skyscraper in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City, United States. Built in 2002 for financial services firm Bear Stearns, it was designed by archi ...

(2002) *

Time Warner Center Deutsche Bank Center (also One Columbus Circle and formerly Time Warner Center) is a mixed-use building on Columbus Circle in Manhattan, New York City. The building occupies the western side of Columbus Circle and straddles the border between ...

, Columbus Circle (2003) *

Times Square Tower Times Square Tower, also known as 7 Times Square, is a 48-story office skyscraper at the southern end of Times Square in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. Located on the city block bounded by Broadway, 42nd Street, Seve ...

, 7 Times Square (2004) *

7 World Trade Center 7 World Trade Center (7 WTC, WTC-7, or Tower 7) refers to two buildings that have existed at the same location within the World Trade Center site in Lower Manhattan, New York City. The original structure, part of the original World Trade C ...

250 Greenwich Street (2006) *

(2014) *

(over the Grand Central Station Post Office at

Grand Central Terminal Grand Central Terminal (GCT; also referred to as Grand Central Station or simply as Grand Central) is a commuter rail terminal located at 42nd Street and Park Avenue in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. Grand Central is the southern terminus ...

) *

New York Mercantile Exchange The New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) is a commodity futures exchange owned and operated by CME Group of Chicago. NYMEX is located at One North End Avenue in Brookfield Place in the Battery Park City section of Manhattan, New York City. T ...

* JFK International Airport Arrivals Building * New

Pennsylvania Station Pennsylvania Station (often abbreviated Penn Station) is a name applied by the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) to several of its grand passenger terminals. Several are still in active use by Amtrak and other transportation services; others have been ...

(

Moynihan Train Hall Moynihan Train Hall is an expansion of Pennsylvania Station, the main intercity and commuter rail station in New York City, into the city's former main post office building, the James A. Farley Building. Located between Eighth Avenue, Nin ...

) at James Farley Post Office Building

Planned

* New

New York Stock Exchange The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE, nicknamed "The Big Board") is an American stock exchange in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It is by far the world's largest stock exchange by market capitalization of its liste ...

* Renovation of

Lever House Lever House is a office building at 390 Park Avenue in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. The building was designed in the International Style by Gordon Bunshaft and Natalie de Blois of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) as ...

390 Park Avenue

Other locations

Embassy of the United States in Ottawa The Embassy of the United States of America in Ottawa (french: Ambassade des États-Unis d'Amérique à Ottawa) is the diplomatic mission of the United States of America to Canada. Opened in 1999, the embassy complex is located at 490 Sussex Dri ...

, 1999

References

External links

WTC.com
Interview with David Childs about Freedom Tower (video)
WTC.com
Freedom Tower
"The Power Broker Yearns to Be Cool"wirednewyork.com

A conversation with architect David Childs
About his design for the new Freedom Tower
charlierose.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Childs, David 1941 births Living people 20th-century American architects Deerfield Academy alumni Yale School of Architecture alumni 21st-century American architects People from Princeton, New Jersey Architects from New Jersey World Trade Center