On October 25th, Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP (SOM) and the Skyway Concession Company, operators of the Chicago Skyway Toll Bridge, announced the completion of the restoration of the historic Chicago Skyway toll plaza canopy located on the city’s southern edge. Designed by SOM, the restoration preserves the canopy’s original 1958 design while modernizing the … Continued
The SOM Women’s Initiative (SOMWI) invites undergraduate and graduate students to apply for its annual Shadowing Opportunity. Now in its eighth year, the four-day winter program provides experience, mentorship, and guidance to talented students planning to pursue careers in architecture, engineering, or related fields. From January 8th to 11th, 2019, selected students will rotate through … Continued
Architecture firm SOM has designed Kinematic Sculpture, an origami-like pavilion installation for Chicago Design Week. Exploring kinematics as the science of motion, the sculpture was formed as one of the firm’s ongoing interdisciplinary research projects. As a test in integrated design, the structure aims to establish ideas that foster new architectural and structural solutions for … Continued
On Thursday, October 25th, SOM senior urban designer Dawveed Scully will host “Live Art: Community Parks” at the Apple Michigan Avenue store? in Chicago. The event is part of The Big Draw, a month-long festival hosted at Apple flagship stores around the world. Scully will discuss how designers translate the needs of the community into playful and practical … Continued
For years, the Chicago Skyway’s tollbooth canopies served as gateways to Chicago and northwest Indiana. They also happened to be eyesores. No more. Sixty years after the canopies were built, the private company that runs the Skyway on Thursday celebrated the restoration of the canopies to their original streamlined appearance, plus the addition of modern … Continued
The Chicago chapter of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) has honored three SOM projects with 2018 Design Excellence Awards. The award winners were announced at the 63rd annual Designight ceremony, which took place at the Navy Pier Aon Grand Ballroom on Friday, October 26th. Optimo Hat Company won the Honor Award in the Interior Architecture category. … Continued
On Saturday, October 27th, SOM urban designers Julie O’Brochta and Jennifer Skowlund will host “Sketch Walks: The Riverwalk” as the fifth installment of The Big Draw, a month-long festival hosted at Apple flagship stores around the world. The event will start at the Apple Michigan Avenue store in Chicago and continue along the Chicago Riverwalk in … Continued
The University of Connecticut – Innovation Partnership Building has won an Excellence Award in the 2018 AIA Connecticut Design Awards. The building was selected among four other projects in the “Built” category, which includes the commercial, institutional, multi-family, and educational typologies. Located in UConn’s Technology Park, the new Innovation Partnership Building is a place of discovery and … Continued
Now that 35 Hudson Yards is sufficiently underway, we can safely compare the once-abstract design to the reality rising out of the ground. Like all the buildings at the $25 billion Hudson Yards development, it is a one-off structure, employing many of the devices that make up the regularly (and, perhaps overly) used Deconstructivist style. … Continued
Many architects dream of designing their own homes — but not all architects. Carrie Byles, for instance, is a partner at Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, one of the largest architecture firms in the United States, but when it came to renovating her 1956 house in Sausalito, Calif., she wanted help. “I thought that if I … Continued