National Arts Club Awards Gold Medal in Architecture to Skidmore, Owings & Merrill

SOM is the first architecture firm to receive this coveted honor

October 6, 2011 (New York, NY) – On October 20, 2011, Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP (SOM) will be awarded the prestigious Gold Medal in Architecture from the National Arts Club (NAC), the historic private club, located in New York City. The NAC awards Gold Medals in many disciplines, including the visual, musical, and literary arts; previous recipients of the Gold Medal have included such renowned artists as Chuck Close, Carolina Herrera, Ada Louise Huxtable, Roy Lichtenstein, Kurt Masur, David McCullough, Toni Morrison, Lynn Redgrave, Martin Scorsese, James Turrell, and Tom Wolfe. SOM is the first architecture firm to receive a Gold Medal in Architecture in the Club’s 113-year history.

“The President, Board of Governors, and Architectural Committee of the National Arts Club are pleased to honor Skidmore, Owings & Merrill with a Gold Medal and a gala dinner at our historic clubhouse,” states Douglas Friedlander, Chair of the National Arts Club Architectural Committee. “The firm’s portfolio of iconic 20th and 21st century buildings has long been admired by our members and leadership.”

The award coincides with SOM’s 75th anniversary and recognizes the firm’s historic and ongoing impact on the design profession and the physical environment at an evening gala to be held at the National Arts Club’s headquarters, the Tilden Mansion located on Gramercy Park South. Anthony Vidler, Dean of the Irwin S. Chanin School of Architecture at the Cooper Union; Carol Willis, Director of The Skyscraper Museum; and Julie Iovine, the noted observer of architecture and Executive Editor of The Architect’s Newspaper, will speak about SOM’s 75-year contribution to the practice of architecture.

The National Arts Club is a private club whose mission is to stimulate, foster and promote public interest in the arts. The Club’s membership has included three United States Presidents, as well as some of the most important artists and art patrons in America, including William Merritt Chase, Augustus Saint-Gaudens, Daniel Chester French, Alfred Stieglitz, Victor Herbert, and Stanford White.

About Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP
Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP (SOM) is one of the leading architecture, interior design, engineering, and urban-planning firms in the world, with a 75-year reputation for design excellence and a portfolio that includes some of the most important architectural accomplishments of the 20th and 21st centuries. Since its inception, SOM has been a leader in the research and development of specialized technologies, new processes and innovative ideas, many of which have had a palpable and lasting impact on the design profession and the physical environment. The firm’s longstanding leadership in design and building technology has been honored with more than 1,400 awards for quality, innovation, and management. The American Institute of Architects has recognized SOM twice with its highest honor, the Architecture Firm Award – in 1962 and again in 1996. The firm maintains offices in New York, Chicago, San Francisco,  Washington, D.C., London, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Mumbai and Abu Dhabi.