Skidmore, Owings & Merrill

Skidmore, Owings & Merrill

Type	Partnership
Industry	Architecture
Founded	Chicago, Illinois, United States (1936 (1936))
Founder	Louis Skidmore Nathaniel Owings John O. Merrill
Area served	International
Key people	John O. Merrill Fazlur Rahman Khan
Services	Architecture, Building Services/MEP Engineering, Graphics, Interior Design, Structural Engineering, Civil Engineering, Sustainable Design and Urban Design & Planning
Net income	[1]
Website	www.som.com

Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP (SOM) is an American architectural, urban planning, and engineering firm. It was formed in Chicago in 1936 by Louis Skidmore and Nathaniel Owings; in 1939 they were joined by John O. Merrill. The firm opened their first branch in New York City in 1937, and has since expanded all over the world, with regional offices in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Washington DC, London, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Mumbai and Abu Dhabi.

With a portfolio spanning thousands of projects across 50 countries, SOM is one of the largest architectural firms in the world. Their primary expertise is in high-end commercial buildings, as it was SOM that led the way to the widespread use of the modern international-style or "glass box" skyscraper. They have designed several of the tallest buildings in the world, including the John Hancock Center (1969, second tallest in the world when built), Willis Tower (1973, tallest in the world for over twenty years), and Burj Khalifa (2010, currently the world's tallest building).

SOM provides services in Architecture, Building Services/MEP Engineering, Digital Design, Graphics, Interior Design, Structural Engineering, Civil Engineering, Sustainable Design and Urban Design & Planning.^[2]

Design

Many of SOM's post-war designs have become icons of American modern architecture, including the Manhattan House (1950), designated as a New York City landmark in 2007 by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission; and the Lever House (1952), also in New York City; as well as the Air Force Academy Chapel (1958) in Colorado Springs, Colorado; and the John Hancock Center (1969) and Sears Tower (1973), both in Chicago.

Although SOM was one of the first major modern American architectural firms to promote a corporate face (i.e. not specifically crediting individual architects for their buildings), many famous architects, engineers and interior designers have been associated with the various national offices.

Due to their faithful following of Ludwig Mies Van Der Rohe's ideas, Frank Lloyd Wright nicknamed them "The Three Blind Mies".^[3]

Architects

SOM's original three partners — Louis Skidmore, Nathaniel Owings and John O. Merrill.

Notable SOM architects include: Edward Charles Bassett,^[4] Natalie de Blois,^[5][6] Gordon Bunshaft,^[7][8] David Childs,^[9][10] Myron Goldsmith,^[11][12] Bruce Graham,^[13][14] Gertrude Kerbis,^[15] Fazlur Rahman Khan.^[16] Lucien Lagrange,^[17] Walter Netsch,^[18][19] Larry Oltmanns,^[20] Brigitte Peterhans,^[21][22] Adrian Smith,^[23] and Marilyn Jordan Taylor^[24]

Engineers

The earliest amongst the many SOM engineers was John O. Merrill.^[25] Fazlur Khan, another engineer at SOM, is considered "the greatest structural engineer of the second half of the 20th century"; he is best known for his design and construction of the Willis Tower (formerly the Sears Tower), and John Hancock Center and for his designs of structural systems that remain fundamental to all high-rise skyscrapers.^[26] 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 manmade structure. To support the tower's record heights and slim footprint, he developed the "buttressed core"^[27] structural system, consisting of a hexagonal core reinforced by three buttresses that form a Y shape.

Interior designers

Davis Allen, a pioneer in corporate interior design, had a forty-year tenure at SOM.^[28]

Awards

Throughout its history, SOM has been recognized with more than 1,700 awards for quality and innovation.^[29] More than 900 of these awards have been received since 1998.^[30] In 1996 and 1962, SOM received the Architecture Firm Award^[31] from the American Institute of Architects, which recognizes the design work of an entire firm. SOM is the only firm to have received this honor twic13 R+D Awards from Architect Magazine.^{[32][33][34][35]} In addition, a collaboration between SOM and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, The Center for Architecture, Science and Ecology, was honored with a fifth award.^[36]

Projects

SOM has completed over 10,000 projects around the United States and in more than 50 other countries around the world, and maintains offices in Chicago, New York City, San Francisco, Washington, D.C., London, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Mumbai, and Abu Dhabi. Smaller field offices supplement these in locations such as the Philippines.

Burj Khalifa

Burj Khalifa is the tallest man-made structure ever built, at 829.8 m (2,722 ft).^[37] Construction began on 21 September 2004, and the building officially opened on 4 January 2010.^[38][39] The tower's architect and engineer was Skidmore, Owings and Merrill.^[40] George J. Efstathiou was the Managing Partner for the project. Bill Baker, the Chief Structural Engineer for the project, invented the buttressed core structural system in order to enable the tower to achieve such heights economically. Adrian Smith, who worked with Skidmore, Owings and Merrill until 2006, was the Consulting Design Partner.^[40][41] The primary builder is a joint venture of South Korean Samsung C&T, who also built the Taipei 101 and Petronas Twin Towers,^[42] Besix and Arabtec.

One World Trade Center

One World Trade Center, also known as the Freedom Tower, is located in Manhattan, New York City, and is 1,776 ft (541 m) high, making it the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere. After Daniel Libeskind won the competition for master-planning, SOM was awarded the architectural design contract for the Freedom Tower, despite having withdrawn their entry in the original design competition.

The Beacon

The Beacon is one of the largest condominium complexes in San Francisco. It was designed by SOM.

Rockwell Center

The Rockwell Center is a high-end mixed-use area in Makati City, Philippines. It is a project of Rockwell Land Corporation which is in turn owned by the Lopez Holdings Corporation. Rockwell Center was first developed in 1998 and is being expanded since 2012, carried out the design under the direction of former design partner Larry Oltmanns

Planning work

In addition to architectural services, Skidmore, Owings and Merrill has also competed in the field of large scale planning programs. An example of one important commission was as the lead design firm for the Boston Transportation Planning Review, a metropolitan wide re-design of Boston's entire transit and roadway infrastructure in the 1970s.

Notable projects

Lever House, 390 Park Avenue, Manhattan

Manufacturers Trust Company Building at 510 Fifth Avenue, Manhattan

Willis Tower, formerly known as the Sears Tower, in Chicago

7 World Trade Center, New York City

Shaklee Terraces, San Francisco, completed 1979 with a flush aluminum and glass facade and rounded corners.

See also

• Gary Berkovich

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Skidmore, Owings & Merrill.

• Official website
• 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