Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) 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 ...
ural,
urban planning
Urban planning, also known as town planning, city planning, regional planning, or rural planning, is a technical and political process that is focused on the development and design of land use and the built environment, including air, water, ...
and
engineering
Engineering is the use of scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings. The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad range of more speciali ...
firm. It was founded in 1936 by
Louis Skidmore
Louis Skidmore (April 8, 1897 – September 27, 1962) was an American architect, co-founder of the architecture firm Skidmore, Owings & Merrill and recipient of the AIA Gold Medal.
Biography
Louis Skidmore was born in Lawrenceburg, Indiana. H ...
and
Nathaniel Owings in
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
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, Illinois. In 1939, they were joined by engineer
John Merrill. The firm opened its second office, in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...
, in 1937 and has since expanded internationally, with offices in
San Francisco
San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...
,
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...
,
Washington, D.C.
)
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,
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
,
Melbourne
Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...
,
Hong Kong
Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delta i ...
,
Shanghai
Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flowin ...
,
Seattle
Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...
, and
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 ...
.
With a portfolio spanning thousands of projects across 50 countries, SOM is one of the most significant architectural firms in the world. The firm's notable current work includes the new headquarters for
The Walt Disney Company
The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment industry, entertainment conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios (Burbank), Walt Disney Stud ...
, the global headquarters for
Citigroup,
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 ...
and the expanded
Penn Station Pennsylvania Station is a name applied by the Pennsylvania Railroad to several of its grand passenger terminals.
Pennsylvania Station or Penn Station may also refer to
Current train stations
* Baltimore Penn Station
* Pennsylvania Station (Cinc ...
complex, and the restoration and renovation of the
Waldorf Astoria in New York City; airport projects at
O’Hare International Airport,
Kansas City International Airport, and
Kempegowda International Airport; urban master plans for the Charenton-Bercy district in Paris, New Covent Garden in London,
Treasure Island
''Treasure Island'' (originally titled ''The Sea Cook: A Story for Boys''Hammond, J. R. 1984. "Treasure Island." In ''A Robert Louis Stevenson Companion'', Palgrave Macmillan Literary Companions. London: Palgrave Macmillan. .) is an adventure no ...
in San Francisco, the East Riverfront in Detroit; P.S. 62, the first net-zero-energy school in New York City; and the design of the Moon Village, a concept for the first permanent lunar settlement, developed with the
European Space Agency and
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the ...
. Notable for its role as a pioneer of modernist architecture in America and for its groundbreaking work in
skyscraper design and construction
The design and construction of skyscrapers involves creating safe, habitable spaces in very high buildings. The buildings must support their weight, resist wind and earthquakes, and protect occupants from fire. Yet they must also be convenientl ...
, SOM has designed some of the world's most significant architectural and urban projects including several of the
tallest buildings in the world:
John Hancock Center
The John Hancock Center is a 100- story, 1,128-foot supertall skyscraper located in Chicago, Illinois. Located in the Magnificent Mile district, the building was officially renamed 875 North Michigan Avenue in 2018.
The skyscraper was designed ...
(1969, second tallest in the world when built),
Willis Tower
The Willis Tower (originally the Sears Tower) is a 108- story, skyscraper in the Loop community area of Chicago in Illinois, United States. Designed by architect Bruce Graham and engineer Fazlur Rahman Khan of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM ...
(1973, tallest in the world for over twenty years),
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 ...
(2014, currently the sixth tallest in the world), and
Burj Khalifa (2010, currently the world's tallest building).
SOM's multidisciplinary practice works across a range of scales and project types, providing services in
architecture
Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and constructing building ...
, building services/MEP engineering, digital design, graphics,
interior design
Interior design is the art and science of enhancing the interior of a building to achieve a healthier and more aesthetically pleasing environment for the people using the space. An interior designer is someone who plans, researches, coordi ...
,
structural engineering
Structural engineering is a sub-discipline of civil engineering in which structural engineers are trained to design the 'bones and muscles' that create the form and shape of man-made structures. Structural engineers also must understand and cal ...
,
civil engineering
Civil engineering is a professional engineering discipline that deals with the design, construction, and maintenance of the physical and naturally built environment, including public works such as roads, bridges, canals, dams, airports, sewa ...
,
sustainable design and
urban design
Urban design is an approach to the design of buildings and the spaces between them that focuses on specific design processes and outcomes. In addition to designing and shaping the physical features of towns, cities, and regional spaces, urban d ...
& planning.
History and influence
Early works
The firm's first influential project was
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 ...
, completed in 1952 to become the first
International Style office building in New York City. Constructed of glass and steel at a time when
Park Avenue
Park Avenue is a wide New York City boulevard which carries north and southbound traffic in the boroughs of Manhattan and the Bronx. For most of the road's length in Manhattan, it runs parallel to Madison Avenue to the west and Lexington Av ...
was lined with masonry buildings, Lever House introduced a modernist aesthetic that embodied the spirit of the times and influenced an entire generation of high-rise construction. As architectural historian
Reyner Banham
Peter Reyner Banham Hon. FRIBA (2 March 1922 – 19 March 1988) was an English architectural critic and writer best known for his theoretical treatise ''Theory and Design in the First Machine Age'' (1960) and for his 1971 book ''Los Angeles: Th ...
wrote in 1962, “It gave architectural expression to an age just as the age was being born ... Lever House was an uncontrollable success, imitated and sometimes understood all over the Americanized world, and one of the sights of New York”. In 1982, the
New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission
The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) is the New York City agency charged with administering the city's Landmarks Preservation Law. The LPC is responsible for protecting New York City's architecturally, historically, and cu ...
designated Lever House an official landmark.
SOM's work in New York City included the
Manufacturers Trust Company Building
510 Fifth Avenue, originally the Manufacturers Trust Company Building, is a commercial building at the southwest corner of West 43rd Street and Fifth Avenue in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. Opened in 1954, it is the first bank building in ...
, completed in 1954 as the first International Style bank building in the United States, and the
Pepsi-Cola World Headquarters, completed in 1960. Architectural historian Henry-Russell Hitchcock called the Pepsi building “the ultimate in refinement of proportion and elegance of materials,” while New York Times critic
Ada Louise Huxtable placed it "at the top of the list, with
Seagram
The Seagram Company Ltd. (which traded as Seagram's) was a Canadian multinational conglomerate formerly headquartered in Montreal, Quebec. Originally a distiller of Canadian whisky based in Waterloo, Ontario, it was once (in the 1990s) the ...
and Lever House, of the city's few modern landmarks."
The following year saw the completion of
One Chase Manhattan Plaza
28 Liberty Street, formerly known as One Chase Manhattan Plaza, is a 60-story International style skyscraper in the Financial District of Manhattan in New York City, between Nassau, Liberty, William, and Pine Streets. The building was designed ...
(later
28 Liberty Street), the first International Style building to rise in New York City's
Financial District
A financial district is usually a central area in a city where financial services firms such as banks, insurance companies and other related finance corporations have their head offices. In major cities, financial districts are often home to s ...
. The project is noted for helping to turn the tide of a corporate exodus to
Midtown Manhattan and the suburbs and reasserted
Lower Manhattan as a viable business district after years of decline. SOM's design for 28 Liberty Street also transformed the crowded streetscape of the Financial District by creating a plaza surrounding the tower, a novel concept that would be adapted in many future projects.
Another example of SOM's modernist works is found in Colorado Springs, Colorado, where SOM planned a campus for the U.S. Air Force Academy. Built between 1958 and 1968, the campus broke from the traditions of West Point and Annapolis to become the first U.S. military academy designed in the modern style. The centerpiece of the campus is the
Cadet Chapel, designed by architect
Walter Netsch. The American Institute of Architects awarded the building with its prestigious
Twenty-five Year Award, conferred onto "a building that has set a precedent for the last 25 to 35 years and continues to set standards of excellence for its architectural design and significance" .
Sustainable design
SOM has a long history in
sustainable architecture and design. In 1969, SOM founder Nathaniel Owings wrote, “Civilizations leave marks on the Earth by which they are known and judged. In large measure, the nature of their immortality is gauged by how well their builders made peace with the environment.” (source: Nathaniel Owings, “The American Aesthetic,” Harper & Row, 1969) This ethos has shaped the firm's journey into sustainable practices. An early example is a headquarters it designed for
Weyerhaeuser Company, completed in 1971, which has been called the “original green building” not only for its integration into the surrounding landscape, but also for its use of efficient building systems. Another milestone in large-scale sustainable architecture was the completion of
the U.S. Census Bureau Headquarters in 2007, the first federal office building to receive
LEED certification. Like Weyerhaeuser, the design of the campus works in concert with its natural surroundings and incorporates a range of design strategies to reduce its environmental impact.
In 2015, SOM completed the first
net-zero-energy school building in New York City and one of the first worldwide. The Kathleen Grimm School for Leadership and Sustainability at
Sandy Ground, Staten Island, has been awarded for its sustainability performance by organizations including the American Institute of Architects, the Municipal Art Society, and
Urban Land Institute
The Urban Land Institute, or ULI, is a nonprofit research and education organization with regional offices in Washington, D.C., Hong Kong, and London. ULI advocates progressive development, conducting research, and education in topics such as ...
. SOM has been recognized for its research and experimentation with new energy-saving and carbon-reducing technologies, such as a timber tower and a modified concrete slab design.
High-rise innovation
In the 1970s, SOM pioneered a new era of skyscraper design with its work in Chicago, including the
John Hancock Center
The John Hancock Center is a 100- story, 1,128-foot supertall skyscraper located in Chicago, Illinois. Located in the Magnificent Mile district, the building was officially renamed 875 North Michigan Avenue in 2018.
The skyscraper was designed ...
(completed 1970) and
Willis Tower
The Willis Tower (originally the Sears Tower) is a 108- story, skyscraper in the Loop community area of Chicago in Illinois, United States. Designed by architect Bruce Graham and engineer Fazlur Rahman Khan of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM ...
(formerly Sears Tower), which became the world's tallest structure upon its completion in 1973 and remained so for more than 20 years. Both towers are the result of collaboration between architect
Bruce Graham
Bruce John Graham (December 1, 1925 – March 6, 2010) was a Peruvian-American architect. Graham built buildings all over the world and was deeply involved with evolving the Burnham Plan of Chicago. Among his most notable buildings are the ...
and engineer
Fazlur Rahman Khan
Fazlur Rahman Khan ( bn, ফজলুর রহমান খান, ''Fozlur Rôhman Khan''; 3 April 1929 – 27 March 1982) was a Bangladeshi-American structural engineer and architect, who initiated important structural systems for skyscrape ...
, who is often considered to be the greatest structural engineer of the 20th century. Khan invented a tubular framing system that made it possible to build higher than ever before. This system has been adapted and is still used today for some of the world's most recent tallest buildings, including the 828-meter-tall
Burj Khalifa, designed by SOM and completed in 2010.
Digital design innovation
In the 1960s and 1970s, SOM was an early leader in computer-aided design, developing in-house digital tools that preceded the CAD systems used widely today. This work quickly proved valuable in the generation of structural analysis tools that were embraced by
Fazlur Khan and his engineering team, aiding the design of projects such as the John Hancock Center.
The activity of an experimental research group at SOM known as the Computer Group exemplifies a particularly productive effort within the firm to incorporate technological research into its practice. Through the 1970s and 1980s, members of the relatively small, dedicated group pushed to integrate the computer's enhanced data-storing and analytical abilities into various phases of the design process. Through these initiatives, SOM was able to identify the potential of the computer to not only expedite necessary calculations but also introduce new ways of representing and sharing information. Just as structural engineering came to be seen early on at SOM as a means of generating rather than simply realizing architectural ideas, with concerted effort, computers gained credence at the firm, and eventually throughout the industry, as a catalyst for architectural innovation. In 1980, an in-house team at SOM created Architecture Engineering Systems, a computer program that was used to study complex structural systems and energy demands. This program is regarded as a precursor to the array of
building information modeling (BIM) tools now used by the profession.
Integrating art and architecture
For decades, many of SOM's projects have featured works of art by significant artists. In many cases, the firm's architects and engineers played a role in commissioning, engineering, and installing the artworks—such as with the
Chicago Picasso
The Chicago Picasso (often just ''The Picasso'') is an untitled monumental sculpture by Pablo Picasso in Daley Plaza in Chicago, Illinois. ''The Picasso'' "precipitated an aesthetic shift in civic and urban planning, broadening the idea of public ...
, a 50-foot-tall steel sculpture in the city's civic center.
Joan Miró,
Alexander Calder
Alexander Calder (; July 22, 1898 – November 11, 1976) was an American sculptor known both for his innovative mobiles (kinetic sculptures powered by motors or air currents) that embrace chance in their aesthetic, his static "stabiles", and hi ...
,
Isamu Noguchi
was an American artist and landscape architect whose artistic career spanned six decades, from the 1920s onward. Known for his sculpture and public artworks, Noguchi also designed stage sets for various Martha Graham productions, and severa ...
,
Harry Bertoia
Harry Bertoia (March 10, 1915 – November 1978) was an Italian-born American artist, sound art sculptor, and modern furniture designer.
Bertoia was born in San Lorenzo, Pordenone, Italy. At age 15, given the opportunity to move to Detroit ...
,
Richard Lippold
Richard Lippold (May 3, 1915 – August 22, 2002) was an American sculptor, known for his geometric constructions using wire as a medium.
Life
Lippold was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He studied at the University of Chicago, and graduated from ...
, and
Jean Dubuffet
Jean Philippe Arthur Dubuffet (31 July 1901 – 12 May 1985) was a French painter and sculptor. His idealistic approach to aesthetics embraced so-called "low art" and eschewed traditional standards of beauty in favor of what he believed to be a ...
are among the artists whose work has been a part of SOM projects. More recently, SOM's architects and engineers have collaborated with artists such as
James Turrell
James Turrell (born May 6, 1943) is an American artist known for his work within the Light and Space movement. Much of Turrell's career has been devoted to a still-unfinished work, ''Roden Crater'', a natural cinder cone crater located outsid ...
,
Janet Echelman,
Iñigo Manglano–Ovalle,
James Carpenter, and
Jaume Plensa
Jaume Plensa i Suñé (; born 23 August 1955) is a Spanish visual artist, sculptor, designer and engraver. He is a versatile artist who has also created opera sets, video projections and acoustic installations. He worked with renowned Catalan t ...
.
People
SOM is structured as a partnership. The current partners and consulting partners are: Mustafa Abadan, William Baker, Thomas Behr, Keith Boswell, Carrie Byles, Larry Chien, Leo Chow, Brant Coletta, Chris Cooper, Paul Danna, Michael Duncan, Scott Duncan, Laura Ettelman, Xuan Fu, T.J. Gottesdiener, Gary Haney, Craig Hartman, Kent Jackson, Colin Koop, Kenneth Lewis, Mark Sarkisian, Adam Semel, Jonathan Stein, and Douglas Voigt.
Founders and notable architects
Gordon Bunshaft, who thrived as a design leader at SOM for more than 40 years, received the profession's highest honor, the Pritzker Architecture Prize, i
1988
Notable architects who are associated with SOM include: Stephen Apking,
T. J. Gottesdiener,
Edward Charles Bassett
Edward Charles "Chuck" Bassett (1921–1999) was an American architect based in San Francisco.
History
Edward Charles Bassett was born on September 12, 1921 in Port Huron, Michigan. Between high school and college Bassett worked for his fathe ...
,
Natalie de Blois,
Gordon Bunshaft
Gordon Bunshaft, (May 9, 1909 – August 6, 1990), was an American architect, a leading proponent of modern design in the mid-twentieth century. A partner in Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM), Bunshaft joined the firm in 1937 and remained with ...
,
David Childs
David Magie Childs (born April 1, 1941) is an American architect and chairman emeritus of the architectural firm Skidmore, Owings & Merrill. He is the architect of the new One World Trade Center in New York City.
Early life and education
Chil ...
, Robert Diamant,
Philip Enquist
Philip Enquist, FAIA is a partner in the Chicago office of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill in charge of Urban Design & Planning. He is a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects.
Since joining SOM in 1981, Enquist has focused on strengthening ...
,
Myron Goldsmith
Myron Goldsmith (September 15, 1918 – July 15, 1996) was an American architect and designer.David W. DunlaJuly 17, 1996 New York Times He was a student of Mies van der Rohe and Pier Luigi Nervi before designing 40 projects at Skidmore, Owings & ...
,
Bruce Graham
Bruce John Graham (December 1, 1925 – March 6, 2010) was a Peruvian-American architect. Graham built buildings all over the world and was deeply involved with evolving the Burnham Plan of Chicago. Among his most notable buildings are the ...
,
Gary Haney
Gary Paul Haney FRIBA, FAIA (born April 16, 1955) is an American architect, a design partner in the firm of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill. Haney's approach draws heavily on environmental modeling techniques, deep materials research, and advanced bui ...
,
Craig W. Hartman Craig W. Hartman, FAIA, is an architect and Design Partner in Skidmore, Owings & Merrill's San Francisco, California, office. His most prominent work includes the Cathedral of Christ the Light for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Oakland. It is the fi ...
,
Gertrude Kerbis,
Fazlur Rahman Khan
Fazlur Rahman Khan ( bn, ফজলুর রহমান খান, ''Fozlur Rôhman Khan''; 3 April 1929 – 27 March 1982) was a Bangladeshi-American structural engineer and architect, who initiated important structural systems for skyscrape ...
.
Lucien Lagrange,
Walter Netsch,
Larry Oltmanns,
Eszter Pécsi,
Brigitte Peterhans,
Norma Merrick Sklarek,
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 ...
,
and
Marilyn Jordan Taylor
Women at SOM
Architect
Sally Harkness, a founding partner at
The Architects Collaborative
The Architects Collaborative (TAC) was an American architectural firm formed by eight architects that operated between 1945 to 1995 in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The founding members were Norman C. Fletcher (1917-2007), Jean B. Fletcher (1915-19 ...
in 1947, was interviewed at the firm during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
along with her husband
Chip Harkness, but only her husband received a job offer. In an interview later in life, Sally Harkness explained that she was told the firm did not believe in hiring women.
Norma Merrick Sklarek, an African-American, was hired by SOM in 1955 after having been previously rejected by 19 other firms. She stayed there for 5 years, eventually starting her own firm.
Patricia Weston Swan spent her 30-year career with SOM including many leadership roles but never achieved partner status, perceived by a colleague in the Denver officer as evidence of the "
glass ceiling
A glass ceiling is a metaphor usually applied to women, used to represent an invisible barrier that prevents a given demographic from rising beyond a certain level in a hierarchy.Federal Glass Ceiling Commission''Solid Investments: Making Full ...
" that was in place at that time at SOM
When Julia Murphy, AIA joined SOM in 2008 there were no women partners and only a handful of directors. To attempt to address this imbalance, in 2010 she relaunched the Women's Initiative at SOM which had previously been active between 2002 and 2004.
The year 2020 marked a change in which three female partners, Carrie Byles, Xuan Fu, and Laura Ettelman were named to the Executive Committee of the 1250-person firm.
SOM Foundation
The
SOM Foundation was first established in 1979 with the mission to support and cultivate emerging design leaders by granting awards to outstanding students of architecture, design, urban design, and engineering. Many winners of SOM Foundation awards have gone on to distinguish themselves in professional and academic careers. Past winners include
Marion Weiss (1982),
Werner Sobek
Werner Sobek (born May 16, 1953) is a German architect and structural engineer.
Life
Werner Sobek was born 1953 in Aalen, Germany. From 1974 to 1980, he studied structural engineering and architecture at the University of Stuttgart. From 1980 t ...
(1983),
Himanshu Parikh
Himanshu Parikh is a leading Indian engineer.
Early life
Himanshu Parikh was born in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
Tanzania (; ), officially the United Republic of Tanzania ( sw, Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania), is a country in East Afri ...
(1985),
Santiago Calatrava
Santiago Calatrava Valls (born 28 July 1951) is a Spanish architect, structural engineer, sculptor and painter, particularly known for his bridges supported by single leaning pylons, and his railway stations, stadiums, and museums, whose sculp ...
(1988), and
Joshua Ramus (1995). The SOM Foundation continues to support emerging design leaders and interdisciplinary research with five annual awards granted to students from the United States, the United Kingdom, and China.
Awards
Throughout its history, SOM has been recognized with more than 2000 awards for quality and innovation. In 1996 and 1962, SOM received the
Architecture Firm Award The Architecture Firm Award is the highest honor that The American Institute of Architects can bestow on an architecture firm for consistently producing distinguished architecture.
Prior recipients of the AIA Architecture Firm Award include:
*202 ...
from the
American Institute of Architects
The American Institute of Architects (AIA) is a professional organization for architects in the United States. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., the AIA offers education, government advocacy, community redevelopment, and public outreach to su ...
, which recognizes the design work of an entire firm. SOM is the only firm to have received this honor twice. In August 2009 SOM received four of 13 available R+D Awards from Architect Magazine. In addition, a collaboration between SOM and
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, The
Center for Architecture, Science and Ecology, was honored with a fifth award.
Disciplines
Urban design and planning
Since the firm's founding, SOM has led large-scale urban design and planning projects. Many of these projects have had a lasting role in the development of cities and urban areas in America and the world, including London, Chicago, New York City, Washington, D.C., Baltimore, Denver, and Portland, Oregon. SOM's City Design practice has made influential contributions to urban design approaches such as
transit-oriented development
In urban planning, transit-oriented development (TOD) is a type of urban development that maximizes the amount of residential, business and leisure space within walking distance of public transport. It promotes a symbiotic relationship between ...
, overbuild strategies and
sustainable urbanism.
In 1942, SOM was hired by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for a highly confidential project: the planning of
Oak Ridge, Tennessee. By 1945, the town was home to 75,000 people. The work at Oak Ridge prepared SOM to take on the large-scale architectural and planning projects that would define the postwar era.
For more than 20 years, SOM was involved in the development of a master plan for the
National Mall in Washington, D.C. In 1962, President
John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), often referred to by his initials JFK and the nickname Jack, was an American politician who served as the 35th president of the United States from 1961 until his assassination ...
appointed Nathaniel Owings as chair of the Pennsylvania Avenue redesign council, and the resulting 1966 Washington Mall Master Plan laid the framework for a dynamic, inviting, and pedestrian-friendly place. A second master plan developed in 1973, envisioned the construction of major cultural facilities, including the
National Air and Space Museum, the
Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden
The Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden is an art museum beside the National Mall, in Washington, D.C., the United States. The museum was initially endowed during the 1960s with the permanent art collection of Joseph H. Hirshhorn. It was desig ...
, and the
National Gallery of Art Sculpture Garden
The National Gallery of Art Sculpture Garden is the most recent addition to the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. in the United States. It is located on the National Mall between the National Gallery's West Building and the Smithsonian ...
.
In Baltimore in the 1960s, SOM played a pivotal role in preventing the destruction of the city's historic districts and
Inner Harbor
The Inner Harbor is a historic seaport, tourist attraction, and landmark of the city of Baltimore, Maryland. It was described by the Urban Land Institute in 2009 as "the model for post-industrial waterfront redevelopment around the world". Th ...
to make way for the planned construction of an elevated highway. As the chair of a team to develop an alternate plan, Nathaniel Owings convinced the Federal Highway Administration to sign off on a plan to reroute the highway. It was eventually built around the harbor and the historic
Federal Hill district, saving these irreplaceable neighborhoods.
In the 1970s, SOM collaborated with landscape architect
Lawrence Halprin
Lawrence Halprin (July 1, 1916 – October 25, 2009) was an American landscape architect, designer and teacher.
Beginning his career in the San Francisco Bay Area, California, in 1949, Halprin often collaborated with a local circle of modernist a ...
to plan and design the
Portland Transit Mall
The Portland Transit Mall is a public transit corridor that travels north–south through the center of downtown in Portland, Oregon, United States. It comprises a pair of one-way streets—6th Avenue for northbound traffic and 5th Avenue for ...
. The goals were to revitalize the Oregon city's downtown area, to encourage the use of mass transit, and create walkable streets. The Transit Mall helped to change the perception of downtown Portland. As one of the first projects of its kind in the United States, it helped to usher in an era of streetscape design that prioritizes people. Another important commission in the 1970s was as the lead design firm for the
Boston Transportation Planning Review
Boston Transportation Planning Review (BTPR), published in 1972, was a transportation planning program for metropolitan Boston, Massachusetts, which was responsible for analyzing and redesigning the entire area-wide transit and highway system in ...
, a metropolitan-wide re-design of Boston's entire transit and roadway infrastructure.
Beginning in the 1980s, SOM planned the design and construction of
Canary Wharf
Canary Wharf is an area of London, England, located near the Isle of Dogs in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. Canary Wharf is defined by the Greater London Authority as being part of London's central business district, alongside Central Lon ...
in London. Intended to accommodate a flourishing financial sector and revitalize London's former Docklands, the plan included more than 20 building sites and a host of public spaces and amenities. The plan also provided for a robust transportation network including a light rail station that connects to the
London Underground
The London Underground (also known simply as the Underground or by its nickname the Tube) is a rapid transit system serving Greater London and some parts of the adjacent counties of Buckinghamshire, Essex and Hertfordshire in England.
The ...
. The massive scale of the project led to the opening of SOM's London office in 1986. The firm's work at Canary Wharf continued into the new millennium, with the completion of
Five Canada Square in 2002.
In central London, the opportunity to build above rail lines near Liverpool Street Station spurred the construction of
Broadgate, a new business district. SOM devised the master plan, and over three decades designed several of the site's 14 buildings. In order to build high-rise structures atop one of the city's busiest stations and its railyard, SOM's structural engineering team devised a deck over the tracks to allow for various building configurations on top. Exchange House, completed in 1990, is a building that acts as a bridge spanning the tracks. In 2008, Broadgate Tower, the district's tallest building, was completed. SOM also designed public space enhancements for the area.
SOM designed the master plan for Chicago's
Millennium Park
Millennium Park is a public park located in the Loop community area of Chicago, operated by the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs. The park, opened in 2004 and intended to celebrate the third millennium, is a prominent civic center nea ...
, which opened in 2004 and has become one of the city's most visited attractions. Constructed above bus lanes, parking garages, and a rail yard, Millennium Park can be considered the world's largest roof garden. Below the great lawn, two new levels of parking were built, bus stops were added, and rail stations were renovated and expanded, including
Millennium Station
Millennium Station (formerly Randolph Street Terminal; sometimes called Randolph Street station or Randolph/South Water Street station) is a major commuter rail terminal in the Loop (downtown), Chicago. It is the northern terminus of the Metra E ...
. The project revitalized a formerly blighted downtown site and marked the completion of Chicago planner
Daniel Burnham
Daniel Hudson Burnham (September 4, 1846 – June 1, 1912) was an American architect and urban designer. A proponent of the '' Beaux-Arts'' movement, he may have been, "the most successful power broker the American architectural profession has ...
’s 100-year vision for the area.
In Denver, SOM was commissioned to expand and transform the city's historic
Union Station
A union station (also known as a union terminal, a joint station in Europe, and a joint-use station in Japan) is a railway station at which the tracks and facilities are shared by two or more separate railway companies, allowing passengers to ...
into a major regional hub. 20 acres of former rail yards have been converted into a transit-oriented urban district that orchestrates light rail, pedestrian, bicycle, and bus routes, as well as commuter and intercity rail. Completed in 2014, the project has spurred more than $3.5 billion worth of private investment in the surrounding district.
Structural engineering
The earliest SOM engineer was
John O. Merrill.
Fazlur Khan, another engineer at SOM, is best known for his design and construction of the
Willis Tower
The Willis Tower (originally the Sears Tower) is a 108- story, skyscraper in the Loop community area of Chicago in Illinois, United States. Designed by architect Bruce Graham and engineer Fazlur Rahman Khan of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM ...
(formerly the Sears Tower), and
John Hancock Center
The John Hancock Center is a 100- story, 1,128-foot supertall skyscraper located in Chicago, Illinois. Located in the Magnificent Mile district, the building was officially renamed 875 North Michigan Avenue in 2018.
The skyscraper was designed ...
and for his
designs of structural systems that remain fundamental to all
high-rise skyscrapers. Indeed, Khan is responsible for developing the algorithms that made the Hancock building and many subsequent skyscrapers possible. Another notable SOM engineer is
Bill Baker, who is best known as the engineer of
Burj Khalifa (Dubai, 2010), the world's tallest man-made structure. To support the tower's record heights and slim footprint, he developed the "
buttressed core Buttressed core is a structural system for high buildings, consisting of a hexagonal core reinforced by three buttresses that form a Y shape.
Properties
The buttressed core supports itself both laterally and torsionally. It also eliminates the ne ...
" structural system, consisting of a hexagonal core reinforced by three buttresses that form a Y shape.
Interior design
Davis Allen, a pioneer in corporate
interior design
Interior design is the art and science of enhancing the interior of a building to achieve a healthier and more aesthetically pleasing environment for the people using the space. An interior designer is someone who plans, researches, coordi ...
, had a forty-year tenure at SOM. The designer of the iconic Andover chair, Allen was an institution in "the profession he helped to establish—the total design of the interior corporate environment with furniture, art, and functional and decorative objects integrated into a comprehensively planned space.”
Notable projects
*
Karlatornet,
Gothenburg, Sweden (ongoing)
*
Greenland Shandong International Financial Center,
Jinan, China (ongoing)
*
Busan Lotte Town Tower,
Busan
Busan (), officially known as is South Korea's most populous city after Seoul, with a population of over 3.4 million inhabitants. Formerly romanized as Pusan, it is the economic, cultural and educational center of southeastern South Korea, ...
, South Korea (ongoing)
* One Bangkok,
Bangkok
Bangkok, officially known in Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and colloquially as Krung Thep, is the capital and most populous city of Thailand. The city occupies in the Chao Phraya River delta in central Thailand and has an estimated populati ...
, Thailand (ongoing)
*
Greenland Centre,
Xi'an
Xi'an ( , ; ; Chinese: ), frequently spelled as Xian and also known by other names, is the capital of Shaanxi Province. A sub-provincial city on the Guanzhong Plain, the city is the third most populous city in Western China, after Chongqi ...
, China (ongoing)
*
Burj Jumeirah
, status = Proposed
, image = Buri Jumeira.jpg
, caption =
, location = Dubai, United Arab Emirates
, map_type =
, coordinates =
, start_date =
, cost =
, building_type =
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, height = ...
,
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 ...
,
United Arab Emirates
The United Arab Emirates (UAE; ar, اَلْإِمَارَات الْعَرَبِيَة الْمُتَحِدَة ), or simply the Emirates ( ar, الِْإمَارَات ), is a country in Western Asia ( The Middle East). It is located at t ...
(ongoing)
*
Taipei Twin Towers,
Taipei
Taipei (), officially Taipei City, is the capital and a special municipality of the Republic of China (Taiwan). Located in Northern Taiwan, Taipei City is an enclave of the municipality of New Taipei City that sits about southwest of the ...
, Taiwan (ongoing)
Moon Village(in partnership with
European Space Agency and
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the ...
– ongoing)
* Wild Mile, Chicago, Illinois (ongoing)
*
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 ...
, New York City, 2020
*
United Nations Office at Geneva
The United Nations Office at Geneva (UNOG, french: Office des Nations Unies à Genève) in Geneva, Switzerland, is one of the four major offices of the United Nations where numerous different UN agencies have a joint presence. The main UNO ...
, renovation, 2020
* The Walt Disney Company, New York City headquarters (ongoing)
*
Haeundae LCT The Sharp
Haeundae LCT The Sharp ( ko, 해운대 엘시티 더샵) is a major urban development project in Jung-dong, Haeundae District, Busan, South Korea. Located in front of Haeundae Beach, it consists of a 411.6 m, 101-floor supertall landmar ...
, Busan, South Korea, 2019
* Shenzhen Rural Commercial Bank Headquarters, Shenzhen, China, 2019
*
Guoco Tower
Guoco Tower is a mixed-use development skyscraper in Tanjong Pagar of the Downtown Core district of Singapore. With a height of , it is currently the List of tallest buildings in Singapore#Tallest buildings, tallest building in Singapore, break ...
, Singapore, 2018
*
The Stratford / Manhattan Loft Gardens, London, England, 2018
* Bio-Esfera, Guadalajara, Mexico, 2018
*
Barnard College
Barnard College of Columbia University is a private women's liberal arts college in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. It was founded in 1889 by a group of women led by young student activist Annie Nathan Meyer, who petitioned Columbia ...
, The Milstein Center, New York City, 2018
*
University of Connecticut
The University of Connecticut (UConn) is a public land-grant research university in Storrs, Connecticut, a village in the town of Mansfield. The primary 4,400-acre (17.8 km2) campus is in Storrs, approximately a half hour's drive from H ...
, Innovation Partnership Building, Storrs, Connecticut, 2018
*
NATO Headquarters
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) is headquartered in a complex in Haren, part of the City of Brussels municipality of Belgium. The staff at the headquarters is composed of national delegations of NATO member states and includes civ ...
, Brussels, Belgium, 2017
* Detroit East Riverfront Framework Plan, Detroit, Michigan, 2017
*
Cornell Tech
Cornell Tech is a technology, business, law, and design campus of Cornell University located on Roosevelt Island in Manhattan, New York City. It includes the Jacobs Technion-Cornell Institute, a joint academic venture between Cornell and the Tec ...
Master Plan, New York City,
*
Chronicle Tower, London, 2016
*
U.S. Air Force Academy, Center for Character and Leadership Development, Colorado Springs, Colorado, 2016
* Ningbo Bank of China Headquarters, Ningbo, China, 2016
* Public Safety Answering Center II, Bronx, New York, 2016
* Poly International Plaza, Beijing, China, 2016
* Superior Court of California, San Diego, 2016
* New U.S. Courthouse, Los Angeles, 2016
* The Strand,
American Conservatory Theater (A.C.T.), San Francisco, 2016
* BBVA Bancomer Operations Center, Mexico City, Mexico, 2015
*
Chicago Public Library
The Chicago Public Library (CPL) is the public library system that serves the City of Chicago in the U.S. state of Illinois. It consists of 81 locations, including a central library, two regional libraries, and branches distributed throughout the ...
, Chinatown Branch, Chicago, Illinois, 2015
*
350 Mission Street
Salesforce East is a skyscraper in the South of Market district of San Francisco, California. Current designs call for 30 stories and above street level.
It has attained LEED Platinum status.
Location
350 Mission Street is located at the nor ...
, San Francisco, 2015
* JTI Headquarters, Geneva, Switzerland, 2015
* AMIE 1.0, Oak Ridge, Tennessee, 2015
*
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, 2014
*
Denver Union Station
Denver Union Station is the main railway station and central transportation hub in Denver, Colorado. It is located at 17th and Wynkoop Streets in the present-day LoDo district and includes the historic station house, a modern open-air train shed, ...
, Denver, Colorado, 2014
*
Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport
Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport is an international airport serving Mumbai and the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR). It is the second busiest airport in the country in terms of total and international passenger traffic af ...
– Terminal 2, Mumbai, India, 2014
*
Cayan Tower
Cayan Tower, known as Infinity Tower before it was inaugurated, is a , 75-story skyscraper in Dubai, United Arab Emirates by Cayan Real Estate Investment and Development. The tower is designed by Skidmore, Owings and Merrill SOM architectural g ...
– Dubai, United Arab Emirates, 2013
*
University Center,
The New School
The New School is a private research university in New York City. It was founded in 1919 as The New School for Social Research with an original mission dedicated to academic freedom and intellectual inquiry and a home for progressive thinkers. ...
, New York City, 2013
*
Pearl River Tower
Pearl River Tower (; or ) is a 71- story, , clean technology neofuturistic skyscraper at the junction of Jinsui Road/Zhujiang Avenue West, Tianhe District, Guangzhou, China. The tower's architecture and engineering were performed by Skidmore, Ow ...
, Guangzhou, China, 2013
*
Al Hamra Tower
The Al Hamra Firduos Tower is a skyscraper in Kuwait City, Kuwait. It is the tallest building in Kuwait. Construction of the skyscraper started in 2005. It was completed in 2011. Designed by architectural firms Skidmore, Owings & Merrill and Ram ...
, Kuwait City, Kuwait, 2011
*
John Jay College of Criminal Justice
The John Jay College of Criminal Justice (John Jay) is a public college focused on criminal justice and located in New York City. It is a senior college of the City University of New York (CUNY). John Jay was founded as the only liberal arts ...
, New York City, 2011
*
Burj Khalifa, Dubai, United Arab Emirates, 2010
*
Zifeng Tower
Zifeng Tower (Greenland Center-Zifeng Tower or Greenland Square Zifeng Tower, formerly Nanjing Greenland Financial Center) is a supertall skyscraper (special class of skyscraper) in Nanjing, Jiangsu. The 89-story building completed in 2010 co ...
, Nanjing, China, 2010
*
Smithsonian National Museum of American History
The National Museum of American History: Kenneth E. Behring Center collects, preserves, and displays the heritage of the United States in the areas of social, political, cultural, scientific, and military history. Among the items on display is t ...
, Washington, D.C., 2008
*
Cathedral of Christ the Light, Oakland, California, 2008
*
U.S. Embassy, Beijing, China, 2008
*
Toronto Pearson International Airport
Lester B. Pearson International Airport , commonly known as Toronto Pearson International Airport, is an international airport located in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada. It is the main airport serving Toronto, its metropolitan area, and the surr ...
, Terminal 1, 2008
* 201 Bishopsgate and Broadgate Tower, London, 2008
*
Changi International Airport
Singapore Changi Airport, commonly known as Changi Airport , is a major civilian international airport that serves Singapore, and is one of the largest transportation hubs in Asia. As one of the world's busiest airports by international passen ...
, Terminal 3, Changi, Singapore, 2007
*
U.S. Census Bureau
The United States Census Bureau (USCB), officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the U.S. Federal Statistical System, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy. The Census Bureau is part of the ...
Headquarters, Suitland, Maryland, 2007
*
Tokyo Midtown
is a 569,000-square-meter (6.1 million sq ft) mixed-use development in Akasaka, Tokyo, Japan. Completed in March 2007, the $3 billion (¥370 billion) project includes office, residential, commercial, hotel, and leisure space, and the new quarte ...
, Tokyo, Japan, 2007
*
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...
, Northwest Science Building, Cambridge Massachusetts, 2007
*
7 World Trade Center, New York City, 2006
*
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 ...
, New York City, 2004
*
Chongming Island
Chongming, formerly known as Chungming, is an alluvial island at the mouth of the Yangtze River in eastern China covering as of 2010. Together with the islands Changxing and Hengsha, it forms Chongming District, the northernmost area of the ...
Master Plan, Shanghai, China, 2004
*
Greenwich Academy
Greenwich Academy is an independent, college-preparatory day school for girls in Greenwich, Connecticut. Founded in 1827, it is the oldest girls' school in Connecticut. Greenwich Academy's motto is ''Ad Ingenium Faciendum,'' "Toward the Building o ...
, Upper School, Greenwich, Connecticut, 2002
*
Millennium Park
Millennium Park is a public park located in the Loop community area of Chicago, operated by the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs. The park, opened in 2004 and intended to celebrate the third millennium, is a prominent civic center nea ...
Master Plan, Chicago, 2002
*
383 Madison Avenue, New York City, 2002
*
Ben Gurion International Airport
Ben Gurion International Airport, ; ar, مطار بن غوريون الدولي , commonly known by the Hebrew-language acronym (), is the main international airport of Israel. Situated on the northern outskirts of the city of Lod, it is th ...
, Tel Aviv, Israel, 2002
*
John F. Kennedy International Airport
John F. Kennedy International Airport (colloquially referred to as JFK Airport, Kennedy Airport, New York-JFK, or simply JFK) is the main international airport serving New York City. The airport is the busiest of the seven airports in the Avia ...
, International Arrivals Building, Terminal 4, New York City, 2001
*
San Francisco International Airport, International Terminal, San Francisco, 2000
*
Altice Arena
Altice Arena (formerly MEO Arena; also referred to by its original name, Pavilhão Atlântico) is a multi-purpose indoor arena in Lisbon, Portugal. The arena is among the largest indoor arenas in Europe and the largest in Portugal with a capacit ...
(formerly Pavilhão Atlântico) Lisbon, Portugal, 1998
*
1540 Broadway, New York City, 1990
* Exchange House, Broadgate Development, London, England, 1990
*
One Worldwide Plaza
One Worldwide Plaza is the largest tower of Worldwide Plaza, a three-building commercial and residential complex in the Hell's Kitchen neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City. Designed by David Childs of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM), One ...
, New York City, 1989
*
Rowes Wharf
The current incarnation of Rowes Wharf (built 1987) is a modern development in downtown Boston, Massachusetts. It is best known for the Boston Harbor Hotel's multi-story arch over the wide public plaza between Atlantic Avenue and the Boston Harb ...
, Boston, Massachusetts, 1986
*
National Mall Redevelopment, Washington, D.C., 1986
*
63 Building
The 63 Building ( ko, 63빌딩), officially called 63 SQUARE (formerly Hanwha 63 City), is a skyscraper on Yeouido island, overlooking the Han River (Korea), Han River in Seoul, South Korea. At 249 meters (817 ft) high, it was the tallest b ...
, Seoul, South Korea, 1985
*
Northeast Corridor Improvement Project, 1985
*
Demonet Building, Washington, D.C., 1984
* National Commercial Bank, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, 1984
*
Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome, Minneapolis, Minnesota, 1982
Grunstrom, Judy. "Just Judy: The history, the design and the holes in the Metrodome," ''MinnPost'' (Minneapolis, MN), Friday, December 17, 2010.
Retrieved July 1, 2022.
* Hajj Terminal, King Abdul Aziz International Airport, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, 1981
* Louise M. Davies Symphony Hall, San Francisco, 1980
* Willis Tower
The Willis Tower (originally the Sears Tower) is a 108- story, skyscraper in the Loop community area of Chicago in Illinois, United States. Designed by architect Bruce Graham and engineer Fazlur Rahman Khan of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM ...
(formerly Sears Tower), Chicago, 1974
* One Shell Plaza
One Shell Plaza (OSP) is a 50-story, skyscraper at 910 Louisiana Street in Downtown Houston, Texas. Perched atop the building is an antenna that brings the overall height of the building to . At its completion in 1971, the tower was the tallest ...
, Houston, Texas, 1972
* Seneca One Tower
Seneca One Tower is a skyscraper located in downtown Buffalo, New York. The building was formerly known as One HSBC Center (1999–2013) and prior to that, as Marine Midland Center (1972–1999), its name was changed in 1999 shortly af ...
, Buffalo, New York
Buffalo is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New York (behind only New York City) and the seat of Erie County. It is at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of the Niagara River, and is across the Canadian border from Sou ...
, 1972
*One Shell Square
Hancock Whitney Center, formerly One Shell Square, is a 51-story, skyscraper designed in the International style by Skidmore, Owings and Merrill, located at 701 Poydras Street in the Central Business District of New Orleans, Louisiana. It is ...
, New Orleans, Louisiana, 1972
* Uris Hall, Ithaca, New York, 1972
* Weyerhaeuser Company Headquarters Building, Tacoma, Washington, 1971
* Republic Newspaper Office and Printing Plant, Columbus, Indiana, 1971
* John Hancock Center
The John Hancock Center is a 100- story, 1,128-foot supertall skyscraper located in Chicago, Illinois. Located in the Magnificent Mile district, the building was officially renamed 875 North Michigan Avenue in 2018.
The skyscraper was designed ...
, Chicago, 1970
* 140 Broadway, New York City, 1967
* Oakland Arena
Oakland Arena is an indoor arena located in Oakland, California, United States. From its opening in 1966 until 1996, it was known as the Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum Arena. After a major renovation completed in 1997, the arena was renamed T ...
, Oakland, California, 1966[Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum – Skidmore, Owings & Merrill.](_blank)
Retrieved July 1, 2022.
* Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum
Oakland Coliseum, currently branded as RingCentral Coliseum, is a stadium in Oakland, California. It is part of the Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum Complex, with the adjacent Oakland Arena, near Interstate 880. The Coliseum is the home ba ...
, Oakland, California, 1966
* Radiation Research Building, University of Notre Dame
The University of Notre Dame du Lac, known simply as Notre Dame ( ) or ND, is a private Catholic university, Catholic research university in Notre Dame, Indiana, outside the city of South Bend, Indiana, South Bend. French priest Edward Sorin fo ...
, 1963
* Banque Lambert, Brussels, Belgium, 1964
* Lake Meadows Residential Community, Chicago, 1963
* Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library
The Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library () is the rare book library and literary archive of the Yale University Library in New Haven, Connecticut. It is one of the largest buildings in the world dedicated to rare books and manuscripts. Es ...
, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, 1963
* Albright-Knox Art Gallery
The Buffalo AKG Art Museum, formerly known as the Albright–Knox Art Gallery, is an art museum at 1285 Elmwood Avenue, Buffalo, New York, in Delaware Park. the museum's Elmwood Avenue campus is temporarily closed for construction. It hosted e ...
, Extension, Buffalo, New York
Buffalo is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New York (behind only New York City) and the seat of Erie County. It is at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of the Niagara River, and is across the Canadian border from Sou ...
, 1962
* United States Air Force Academy
The United States Air Force Academy (USAFA) is a United States service academy in El Paso County, Colorado, immediately north of Colorado Springs. It educates cadets for service in the officer corps of the United States Air Force and U ...
, Colorado Springs, Colorado, 1962
* 28 Liberty Street (Chase Manhattan Bank Building), New York City, 1961
* Veterans Memorial Coliseum, Portland, Oregon, 1960
* Union Carbide Building
270 Park Avenue, also the JPMorgan Chase Tower and Union Carbide Building, was a skyscraper in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. Built in 1960 for chemical company Union Carbide, it was designed by architects Gordon Bunshaft a ...
, New York City, 1954
* 500 Park Avenue
500 Park Avenue is an office and condominium building on the southwest corner of Park Avenue and 59th Street in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City, composed of the 11-story Pepsi-Cola Building and the 40-story 500 Park Tower. ...
(Pepsi-Cola Corporation World Headquarters), New York City, 1960
* John Hancock Western Home Office (Industrial Indemnity Building), San Francisco, 1959
* United Airlines Hangar and Wash Hangar, San Francisco, 1958
* Inland Steel Building
The Inland Steel Building is a skyscraper located at 30 W. Monroe Street in Chicago, Illinois. It is one of the city's defining commercial high-rises of the post-World War II era of modern architecture.Schulze, Franz & Harrington, Kevin (2003). ' ...
, Chicago, 1958
* Connecticut General Life Insurance Company, Bloomfield, Connecticut, 1957
* Manufacturers Trust Company Building
510 Fifth Avenue, originally the Manufacturers Trust Company Building, is a commercial building at the southwest corner of West 43rd Street and Fifth Avenue in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. Opened in 1954, it is the first bank building in ...
, New York City, 1954
* Naval Station Great Lakes, Chicago, 1954
* 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 ...
, New York City, 1952
* Manhattan House
Manhattan House is an apartment building on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, New York City. The building is at 200 East 66th Street, just east of Third Avenue. , New York City, 1951
* Oak Ridge New Town Master Plan, Oak Ridge, Tennessee, 1949
* Terrace Plaza Hotel, Cincinnati, Ohio, 1948
References
External links
*
Review of the 1954 Manufacturer's Hanover Trust Branch Bank in NYC
Skidmore, Owings & Merrill Architecture on Google Maps
Skidmore, Owings & Merrill photographs, circa 1945-1969 Held in the Dept. of Drawings & Archives, Avery Architectural & Fine Arts Library, Columbia University, New York City
{{DEFAULTSORT:Skidmore, Owings And Merrill
Architecture firms based in Chicago
Modernist architects
Design companies established in 1936
1936 establishments in Illinois
Skyscraper architects