“The Edgeless School: Design for Learning” presents 19 contemporary school buildings from across the United States that blur distinctions between learning needs, approaches, and environments. The exhibition features key figures in the evolution of 20th-century progressive education and also focuses on the effect of technological innovation on current generations of students. SOM’s design for St. … Continued
“Design by New York,” an annual exhibition presented by the New York chapter of the American Institute of Architects (AIA), is on view in Manhattan’s West 4th Street subway station. The exhibition showcases projects of all scales and types, highlighting the scope and quality of work being done around the world by members of the … Continued
Under the best of circumstances, large-scale, urban, mixed-use projects are among the most complex building types to design and build. To create such a project over an active rail yard complicates the process exponentially. Architect David Childs and Pulitzer Prize-winning architecture critic Justin Davidson discuss the opportunities and complexities of designing a one-million-square-foot tower — … Continued
The SOM Women’s Initiative (SOMWI) hosted its third annual winter internship from January 7-10 for outstanding female students of architecture, engineering, and related fields. Intended to offer critical office exposure and mentorship to women who plan to pursue a career in the design profession, the program gives students the opportunity to spend a week in … Continued
For a dozen years, World Trade Center watchers have grown accustomed to a steady drip of disappointments. The list of delays, petty grievances, bastardized designs, exploding budgets, and truncated ambitions is too lengthy to rehash. Finally, though, as buildings have started to rear up, shining, from the mire, the surprise is how much optimism the … Continued
For four decades, Chicagoans have been able to one-up New Yorkers on at least one measure: The City of the Big Shoulders had the tallest building in the United States. But as of Tuesday, that crown is moving east. One World Trade Center in Lower Manhattan has officially been ruled to be taller than the … Continued
The Height Committee of the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat had deliberated whether the spire was part of the actual building or merely the equivalent of a broadcast antenna, which it doesn’t consider as the top of a building. The official ranking goes into effect when 1 World Trade opens, expected to be … Continued
One World Trade Center will be the nation’s tallest building when it opens next year, a Chicago-based tall buildings council announced Tuesday, a decision that drew a quick rebuke from Mayor Rahm Emanuel. The decision by the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH) hinged on whether the tower’s mast was a spire, which … Continued
American firm SOM has revealed designs for a skyscraper in Jakarta that will be over 500 meters high and will harvest wind energy through an opening at its peak. With a proposed height of approximately 530 meters, the Pertamina Energy Tower will be twice as high as Wisma 46, currently the tallest building in Indonesia, … Continued
In an age when design problems are literally planet-wide in their scope and scale, new ways of thinking need to be developed to produce critical — holistic — answers. A partnership between Virginia Tech’s College of Architecture & Urban Studies and SOM Chicago has over a decade of practical application. We believe in a close … Continued