Buildings reimagined as a climate solution At COP26, the 2021 UN Climate Change Conference in Glasgow, SOM unveiled Urban Sequoia—a concept for buildings and their urban context to absorb carbon at an unprecedented rate. SOM has developed the first step toward achieving this goal on a broad scale, with a design for a high-rise building … Continued
Less material, greater adaptability SPLAM [SPatial LAMinated timber] is a full-scale prototype of a single-story structural framing system used in mid-rise, fire-resistant construction. Lighter in weight than conventional building framing methods, spatial-laminated timber, or SLT, reduces material use by 46 percent compared to a traditional cross-laminated timber panel. It achieves this by making use of … Continued
A partnership for energy innovation The Additive Manufacturing Integrated Energy (AMIE) project is a research and design collaboration between SOM and the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). Highly energy efficient, the 3D-printed building was designed by SOM to produce and store renewable power and to share energy wirelessly with a … Continued
A solution for low-carbon construction Advancing sustainable construction methods is an urgent concern as cities look to reduce carbon emissions. Since 2013, SOM has explored the potential of mass timber to reduce the embodied carbon footprint of high-rise buildings. The Timber Tower Research Project, funded by the Softwood Lumber Board, examined solutions that could utilize … Continued
Discovery Science’s “If We Built It Today” series asked SOM’s Bill Baker and Scott Duncan to create an Eiffel Tower of the 21st century. The engineering and science show’s provocative thought experiments led to a group of experts weighing in on the materials, time, labor, and total cost it would require to build some of … Continued
Recent fires in California and the western United States have broken many previous records: number of fires, number of acres burned, number of structures destroyed, and persons displaced. The effects of climate change, including more frequent droughts and severe dry seasons, have combined to make forests and wildlands more vulnerable to fire. What’s more, millions … Continued
Timber construction is part of the holistic sustainable design strategy for Billie Jean King Library in Long Beach, California; the use of laminated timber structural beams dramatically reduces the building’s carbon impact. During construction, separations — known as “checking” — were spotted between some of the glued timber beams. Checking can occur naturally when wood … Continued
Disaster response aided by technology In the wake of the devastating Pueblo-Morelos earthquake in September 2017, a team of SOM engineers traveled to Mexico City to contribute to post-disaster recovery efforts. Shortly after the 7.1-magnitude earthquake struck, structural engineers based in our San Francisco and Los Angeles offices set out to document building damage and … Continued
Rethinking concrete Stereoform Slab is a prototype for a future building system designed using advanced robotic fabrication techniques. As an alternative to the ubiquitous concrete slab, it demonstrates an innovative method to dramatically reduce the carbon impact of construction. SOM debuted the concept with a full-scale prototype at the 2019 Chicago Architecture Biennial. Research shows … Continued
New possibilities through collaboration Working with industry and university partners, SOM is developing new techniques and applications for construction aided by robots. “Anatomy of Structure: The Future of Art and Architecture,” at Ambika P3 Gallery in London, presented several results of this collaboration. The show’s dramatic centerpiece is a vault structure, built of glass bricks, … Continued