Marshall Strabala
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Jay Marshall Strabala is an American
architect An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...
who has participated in the design of skyscrapers and other buildings. In 2010, Strabala founded 2DEFINE Architecture, an architectural firm, with three Chinese partners, though the partnership later soured. Before that, he had been employed by
Skidmore, Owings and Merrill Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) is an American architectural, urban planning and engineering firm. It was founded in 1936 by Louis Skidmore and Nathaniel Owings in Chicago, Illinois. In 1939, they were joined by engineer John Merrill. The fir ...
(SOM) and
Gensler Gensler is a global design and architecture firm founded in San Francisco, California, in 1965. In 2021, Gensler generated $1.235 billion in revenue, the most of any architecture firm in the U.S. As of 2021, Gensler operated offices in 49 citi ...
.


Education

Strabala received his Bachelor of Arts in design from the
University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California S ...
. In 1988, Strabala graduated with a
Master of Architecture The “Master of Architecture”(M.Arch or MArch) or a “Bachelor of Architecture” is a professional degree in architecture, qualifying the graduate to move through the various stages of professional accreditation (internship, exams) that res ...
from Harvard Graduate School of Design.


Career


SOM

After graduating with his master's degree, Strabala worked at SOM in
Chicago, Illinois (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...
, for 19 years. He ultimately was made an associate partner in charge of design. While at SOM, Strabala served as the studio head under lead architect
Adrian Smith Adrian Frederick "H" Smith (born 27 February 1957) is an English guitarist best known as a member of heavy metal band Iron Maiden, for whom he also writes songs and performs backing vocals both live and in the studio. Smith grew up in London ...
in working on the design of Burj Khalifa (
Dubai Dubai (, ; ar, دبي, translit=Dubayy, , ) is the most populous city in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the capital of the Emirate of Dubai, the most populated of the 7 emirates of the United Arab Emirates.The Government and Politics of ...
, 2009), which is the tallest building in the world. Strabala also worked under Smith as one of the two studio heads over the course of the project in designing the 450 m. tall Nanjing Greenland Financial Center (
Nanjing Nanjing (; , Mandarin pronunciation: ), alternately romanized as Nanking, is the capital of Jiangsu province of the People's Republic of China. It is a sub-provincial city, a megacity, and the second largest city in the East China region. T ...
, China, 2010). Also while at SOM, Strabala participated in the design of the
Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre The Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre (HKCEC) is one of the two major convention and exhibition venues in Hong Kong, along with AsiaWorld–Expo. It is located in Wan Chai North, Hong Kong Island. Built along the Victoria Harbou ...
(Hong Kong, 1997). Strabala left SOM in 2006. In a 2007 interview, Adrian Smith said that Strabala was one of several architects up for partner at SOM who did not make it, in what Smith described as "a power move by the New York office."


Gensler

After leaving SOM, Strabala joined the
Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 i ...
, Texas, office of the architectural firm
Gensler Gensler is a global design and architecture firm founded in San Francisco, California, in 1965. In 2021, Gensler generated $1.235 billion in revenue, the most of any architecture firm in the U.S. As of 2021, Gensler operated offices in 49 citi ...
in 2006. While at Gensler, Strabala has been reported to have led the design of the 128-story
Shanghai Tower Shanghai Tower () is a 128-story, megatall skyscraper in Lujiazui, Pudong, Shanghai.
and to have completed the "bulk of the design work". Gensler, however, claims that the tower is not Strabala's design. According to Gensler in a lawsuit it later dropped, "Gensler, not (Strabala), is the source of the architectural and design services rendered in designing the Shanghai Tower."
Art Gensler Millard Arthur Gensler Jr. (July 12, 1935 – May 10, 2021) was an American architect and entrepreneur. He was best known for founding Gensler, the world's largest architecture firm. The firm's most prominent works include the terminals at the S ...
, founder of Gensler, credited Jun Xia as "designer of the building (Shanghai Tower)". Xia was also credited as having "helped the firm score the Shanghai Tower contract and led the team's work on it", and as "the design principal for Gensler on the project." Strabala also has been credited for leading Gensler's efforts in designing
Hess Tower Hess Tower is a 29-story building located adjacent to Discovery Green park in downtown Houston, Texas. It was formerly called Discovery Tower until Hess Corporation leased the entire tower in January 2009. The global architectural firm Gensler de ...
(Houston, 2010) and the
Houston Ballet Center for Dance Houston Ballet, operated by Houston Ballet Foundation, is a professional ballet company based in Houston, Texas. The company, consisting of 59 dancers, produces over 85 performances per year. History Tatiana Semenova (1955–1967) Houston dev ...
(2011). However, Gensler has claimed that "'Gensler, not (Strabala), is the source of the architectural and design services rendered in designing Hess Tower'", and that Strabala was but "'one of many members of that Gensler team'" that designed the Houston Ballet Center for Dance. "In March 2010, before the hanghaiTower was completed, Strabala had a falling out with Gensler and his employment with that firm terminated."


2DEFINE Architecture


Founding

Shortly after leaving Gensler, "In June 2010, Strabala and three Chinese partners ( iaoZhang, Zhou himiao and one other who has since left the partnership) founded 2DEFINE." According to Strabala, as of December 2010, he "continues to be involved in the Shanghai Tower project at the behest of the client".


Breakup and Lawsuits

"For reasons that are very much in dispute, the DEFINE Architecturepartnership soured and litigation ensued, first in China where the partnership was centered, and then in Illinois." In February 2015, Strabala sued Zhang and Zhou in Illinois alleging "Zhang and Zhou were secretly diverting money from 2DEFINE," though Zhang and Zhou denied "any wrongdoing". In November 2016, the Illinois court partially denied and partially granted the defendants' motion to dismiss. There were also three lawsuits in China. One was "a lawsuit brought by Zhou against Strabala." Another of them was "a lawsuit brought by Strabala against Zhang and Zhou." In 2014, Shanghai Huangpu District Court, in a case (case number:(2014)黄浦民二(商)初字第980号), in which Strabala alleged that Zhang and Zhou were secretly diverting money from 2DEFINE, all of Strabala's charge was turned down, by both the District Court Judge and the Judges from the Court of Appeals(case number(2016)沪02民终2258号). Finally, the third was "a lawsuit brought by Zhou's Chinese architecture firm, Tufan Architects Design Firm, against Strabala." According to Zhou in an affidavit in the Illinois lawsuit, "the first two lawsuits
n China N, or n, is the fourteenth letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''en'' (pronounced ), plural ''ens''. History ...
have been resolved, while the third was still pending at the time the affidavit was filed."


Previous Employers Sue Strabala


Gensler

In June 2011, Gensler, sued Strabala alleging in a complaint that after founding his own firm Strabala publicly misrepresented his role in several projects while "'intentionally minimizing or entirely omitting the nature of Gensler's contribution.'" Gensler claimed that Strabala's actions violated the
Lanham Act The Lanham (Trademark) Act (, codified at et seq. () is the primary federal trademark statute of law in the United States. The Act prohibits a number of activities, including trademark infringement, trademark dilution, and false advertising. ...
and various state laws. In February 2012, Judge Ronald A. Guzman of the
United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois The United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois (in case citations, N.D. Ill.) is the federal trial-level court with jurisdiction over the northern counties of Illinois. Appeals from the Northern District of Illinois ar ...
dismissed Gensler's complaint on procedural grounds before trial, ruling that the allegations Gensler made against Strabala do not constitute a violation of the Lanham Act or related state law. Gensler appealed the dismissal. In August 2014, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
vacated A vacated judgment (also known as vacatur relief) makes a previous legal judgment legally void. A vacated judgment is usually the result of the judgment of an appellate court, which overturns, reverses, or sets aside the judgment of a lower court. ...
the District Court's dismissal of the lawsuit and remanded the case back to the District Court therefore reviving the lawsuit. In April 2015, Gensler dropped the suit.


SOM

The day after Gensler sued Strabala, SOM sued Strabala in the
United States District Court for the Southern District of New York The United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (in case citations, S.D.N.Y.) is a federal trial court whose geographic jurisdiction encompasses eight counties of New York State. Two of these are in New York City: New ...
alleging that he was "falsely claiming credit for work that originated with the company, including the designs for three of the 10 tallest buildings in the world." Among SOM's allegations was "that most of Strabala's work on Burj Khalifa, for example, "occurred in the construction-document phase" following design completion." The case was transferred to the
United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois The United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois (in case citations, N.D. Ill.) is the federal trial-level court with jurisdiction over the northern counties of Illinois. Appeals from the Northern District of Illinois ar ...
in June 2012. In December 2012, SOM and Strabala reached a binding
settlement agreement In law, a settlement is a resolution between disputing parties about a legal case, reached either before or after court action begins. A collective settlement is a settlement of multiple similar legal cases. The term also has other meanings in t ...
and the case was dismissed under its terms. Neither party may discuss the lawsuit per the agreement.


Local involvement

" or around 1999, he and his wife purchased a condominium in a well-known high-rise building in Chicago designed by the famed architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe." Also in 1999, Strabala, speaking as a private citizen as part of a community group, testified before the Chicago City Council Zoning Committee against a high-rise development at 840 Lake Shore Drive in Chicago, Illinois. Strabala lived nearby and was concerned that the high-rise would be "out of scale with the neighborhood". Despite opponents' efforts, and that the project would "flout existing law", the Zoning Committee amended the ordinance allowing the project to proceed.


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Strabala, Marshall American architects Harvard Graduate School of Design alumni Architects from Seattle UCLA School of the Arts and Architecture alumni 21st-century American architects Living people Year of birth missing (living people)