At this year’s Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH) International Conference, SOM gathered with industry peers to share recent and upcoming work at conference programs in both Chicago and Shanghai. Our work received several awards and is featured in a new publication released at the conference, World’s 118 Tallest Buildings, which names SOM as the #1 architecture company for 2022. The book reflects this year’s conference theme, “Tall Excellence: Seeking the Ideal in Vertical Urbanism,” and features 23 SOM-designed towers in cities ranging from Chicago to Shenzhen. Here’s a recap of the events.

Excellence in Engineering

Structural and Seismic Engineering Partner Mark Sarkisian and Associate Principal Neville John Mathias presented “Accommodating Irregularities with Innovation,” highlighting the unique seismic and structural design of the recently-completed Hangzhou GT Land Jumeirah. The project was also honored with a CTBUH Award of Excellence in Structural Engineering at an event in Shanghai.

Reaching Net Zero

Following our presentation at COP27, Principal Luke Leung shared Urban Sequoia, our updated proposal to design buildings that can leverage existing technologies to not only achieve zero emissions but actually absorb carbon over their lifespan. Our research on “responsive tendon patterns” was also recognized at the CTBUH Awards in the innovation category. Enabling the use of a concrete framing system with lower embodied carbon than traditional systems, this research has the potential to be applied widely in building construction. At an upcoming event on December 9th in Hong Kong, Principal Nic Medrano will discuss timber construction at an event titled “Roadmap to a Carbon Negative Future.”

Measuring New Heights

CTBUH released a new edition of The World’s 118 Tallest Buildings at the conference, featuring 23 SOM-designed towers in cities from Chicago to Shenzhen. Building on this, Principal Aaron Mazeika presented these same buildings, rearranging their ranking from height to other measurements—gross area, slenderness ratio, and embodied carbon, among others—to reveal through-lines in our work and offer lessons for the future.

Experiencing Our Latest Work

Conference participants toured the recently-completed 800 Fulton Market for Thor Equities, which has been recognized as setting a new standard for smart, sustainable office buildings.

Throughout the week it was abundantly clear that our cities, people and environment are faced with an urgent need for collective action. We’re honored to participate in conversations among the world’s most talented designers and look forward to next year’s conference.