The American studio, SOM (Skidmore, Owings & Merrill) expanded and transformed the old train station in Denver (Colorado), built in 1881, whose historic façade is shown in this photo between the sinuous curves of a modern structure. The most attractive element of the project, which opened in 2012, is precisely the great outdoor space to … Continued
Later this year Baccarat, the French crystal and glass company founded by Louis XV, opens its first hotel, again in Midtown, this time opposite the Museum of Modern Art on 53rd and Fifth in a 45-storey tower designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill. Patrick Gilles and Dorothée Boissier, the Parisian husband-and-wife design team, are keeping … Continued
When the new Chinatown branch of the Chicago Public Library opens next year, it will be unlike any other facility in the city, library officials said. Among the features touted by Mayor Rahm Emanuel and library commissioner Brian Bannon at Tuesday’s groundbreaking ceremony were a YOUmedia center for teens, state-of-the-art technology and an unprecedented early … Continued
SOM Associate Director Meredith Bostwick-Lorenzo Eiroa will join colleagues from Learning Spaces Collaboratory and other experts to facilitate a webinar on September 16th. The webinar, titled “Transforming, Sandboxing, Repurposing Learning Spaces for Nurturing Creative Learning, Creative Learners: Lessons Learned from the LSC Experience,” will explore how spaces can be designed to create engaging learning environments that inspire … Continued
Photographer Christoph Morlinghaus takes us on a grand tour of the very best Modernist religious architecture in Form/Faith. From Eliel and Eero Saarinen’s Midwest churches to Marcel Breuer’s austere concrete to the far-out experiments of Pietro Belluschi, the series is a beautiful study of how religion has long spawned many of the world’s most beautiful … Continued
With the academic year fast approaching, AD takes a look at the best in new university architecture around the world Bands of windows snake up the brass-paneled exterior of SOM’s design for the New School’s University Center, revealing a staircase that broadens and narrows as it climbs to create flexible meeting spaces in this … Continued
Today’s world is shaped by the Internet as much as the architecture that surrounds us. But how is the Internet shaping the discipline of architecture itself? That question was explored on July 31 during the panel discussion, “Now Trending: Architecture in the Digital Media Age.” Employees and guests crowded SOM’s New York office to hear … Continued
SOM Senior Specifications Writer and Associate Ben Caldwell has been appointed to the National Fire Protection Association Technical Committee on Structures, Construction, and Materials (BLD-SCM). The committee is responsible for specifying documents concerning building materials and assemblies, as well as construction techniques and methodologies to protect human life, structures, and property against fire damage. Caldwell … Continued
The Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Architecture and Design and The European Centre for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies have honored five SOM projects with their prestigious International Architecture Awards. The winners were announced on August 25, 2014. In the Healthcare category, awards went to Sheikh Khalifa Medical City, the largest hospital project in the … Continued
In July, the SOM Women’s Initiative (SOMWI) hosted its annual summer outing in New York. Employees from various studios came together at The Golf Club at Chelsea Piers to mingle with colleagues and to celebrate recent accomplishments, including the launch of SOMWI’s publication, FORUM. Distributed to staff throughout the firm, FORUM focuses on the people, … Continued