In its continuous exchange with the city, the building is an integral part of the larger urban context comprised of flows of people, transportation, electricity, water, waste, data and other forms of information. This interconnection has inspired new concepts of building systems that consider theories of rheology, self-reflection, and morphology that affect the individual and collective performance of structures within a broader ecological context. Mark P. Sarkisian, Director at SOM, has developed engineering solutions for more than 100 building projects around the world. Mark holds six U.S. patents, is the author of Designing Tall Buildings – Structure as Architecture, and teaches at UC Berkeley, California College of the Arts, Stanford University, and Cal Poly.