Chicago, IL: SOM has received four Professional Project Awards from the Architectural Engineering Institute. The prestigious accolades recognize outstanding achievements in design and construction around the globe.
Pearl River Tower, a highly sustainable, 309-meter-tall tower in Guangzhou, China, won both an Award of Excellence and Most Innovative Project Award in the mechanical systems design category. The tower is one of the most energy-efficient, supertall buildings ever constructed. Its sculpted body directs wind to a pair of openings at its mechanical floors, where traveling winds push turbines that generate energy for the building. Other integrated sustainable elements include solar panels, a double-skin curtain wall, a chilled ceiling system, under-floor ventilation, and daylight harvesting.
Tianjin Global Financial Center, a 337-meter-tall tower in Tianjin, China, won an Award of Excellence in the structural category. The supertall building’s structural framework is uniquely slender for a region with high wind loads. The innovative application of steel plate shear walls significantly reduced material usage.
Zhengzhou Greenland Plaza, a 280-meter-tall mixed-use tower in Zhengzhou, China, won an Award of Excellence in the architectural engineering integration category. SOM utilized advanced environmental technologies in the design of the building. Aluminum screens are configured at an outward cant to enhance daylighting, while a solar reflector on the tower’s crown funnels sunlight into an atrium.
SOM was honored during an event on March 29, 2014, at Drexel University in Philadelphia. The Architectural Engineering Institute (AEI) is a division of the American Society of Civil Engineers. For more information about the 2014 Professional Project Award winners, click here.
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 1,700 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, Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., London, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Mumbai, and Abu Dhabi.