Dramatically framed by Morphosis’s glassy Federal Building looming behind it, the revived Strand theater, a gleaming red experimental performance space and education center for the American Conservatory Theater (A.C.T.) designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, clicks into its site on San Francisco’s Market Street like one of the final pieces of a complex puzzle. An … Continued
When Chicago’s newest public library branch opened on August 29, neighbors poured through the door like they were carrying overdue books. More than 6,500 people attended the opening day of the new Chicago Public Library building at 2100 South Wentworth Avenue in the city’s Chinatown neighborhood—a new record. Crowds have kept up since, attracting about … Continued
Architect John O. Merrill Jr., FAIA, the son of a founder of SOM, died on April 25, 2014, at his home in Tiburon, California. He was 90 years old. Merrill was the Partner in Charge of many of SOM’s widely regarded projects including the Mauna Kea Beach Hotel in Hawaii; the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum in … Continued
Marc Evan Goldstein, an architect who shaped San Francisco’s skyline as few of his peers has done, died this fall in San Francisco. He was 80. For almost 30 years, Mr. Goldstein was a top designer in the San Francisco office of Skidmore Owings & Merrill — going from part of the design team for … Continued
Los Angeles: Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP (SOM) has been chosen to design the new Long Beach Civic Center in California. Scheduled to open in 2019, the development of the 22-acre site, located in Long Beach’s downtown core along Ocean Boulevard, will include a new City Hall, Main Library, city park, and headquarters for the … Continued
Thanks to relatively recent advances in building materials and architectural design, today’s towers are leaps and bounds more advanced when it comes to floor plans that maximize usable space — about 30 to 40 percent more efficient than mid-century designs… Kenneth Lewis, a partner at the New York office of Skidmore, Owings & Merril, said … Continued
Last year, the Rudin family tapped architecture firm Skidmore, Owings & Merrill to give their 22-story office tower at 560 Lexington Avenue, between 50th and 51st streets, a makeover. As a part of that renovation, the firm updated the 6 train station entrance at the tower, transforming it into a sleek and curvy portal. “After … Continued
The American Institute of Architects (AIA) Committee on the Environment has chosen Luke Leung, SOM Director of Sustainable Engineering, to serve on the jury for the upcoming 2016 AIA COTE Top Ten/Top Ten + Awards. Leung has experience working on over 40 LEED buildings, as well as three of the current top 10 tallest buildings in the … Continued
For her biggest public art project yet, a commission-in-progress for the new federal courthouse in downtown Los Angeles, the artist Catherine Opie has chosen one of the most romantic images of the American West—Yosemite Falls—as the subject of grandly scaled work that will bring some natural majesty to the interior of the steel-and-glass building due … Continued
The subway entrance at 560 Lexington Avenue in New York has received a complete redesign, courtesy of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, as part of a larger renovation of the office tower’s lobby and plaza. A prominent part of the new design is an impressively large glass door that swings open and nests in the curvilinear, concave form … Continued