Cranespotting

Every crane on every corner tells a story, and the two dozen-plus steel jibs currently soaring overhead have this to say about San Francisco: We’re not messing around. With the economy booming and the cork finally popped on mega-projects that have been bottled up in the pipeline since the Newsom era, there are nearly 150 … Continued

SOM Buildings Spotlighted by New York Academy of Sciences

Several SOM buildings are featured on the cover of “New York: A Science State of Mind,” a special publication from The New York Academy of Sciences. The cover captures the organization’s new home at 7 World Trade Center, designed by SOM, and also shows three other neighboring SOM buildings: One World Trade Center, Bank of … Continued

The Artistry of the Cayan Tower

The world’s tallest twisting tower — the 75-story, 1,010-foot-tall Cayan Tower in Dubai, which rotates a full 90 degrees from base to top — is a monument to rational thought in the service of art and commerce. Rational thought, because the architects and engineers at Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) worked systematically to construct the … Continued

Union Station Project Right on Track

7NEWS gives viewers a glimpse of the construction at Denver’s historic Union Station on the ground and from the air. When completed, Denver Union Station will combine commuter rail, regional rail, light rail, along with commuter bus service, making the station the hub for downtown. Construction is on track for its 2014 reopening and the multi-billion dollar … Continued

One World Trade Center Crowned Tallest Building in U.S.

The Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH) has official ruled Skidmore, Owings & Merrill’s One World Trade Center (1WTC) as the tallest building in the United States. The decision comes after a long debate questioned whether or not the tower’s 408 foot spire should count towards its overall height. As CTBUH explained: “Due … Continued

2012 Annual Design Review: John Jay College of Criminal Justice

New York’s John Jay College of Criminal Justice has been faced with fortunate pressures: surging enrollment and the changing technologies of criminal justice and education. Yet, for years, students and staff continued to work out of several disjointed buildings in Midtown Manhattan. That changed in 2007, when the school broke ground on a new Skidmore, … Continued

In Progress: The New School University Center

Quickly rising on the corner of 14th Street and 5th Avenue in Manhattan, this new, multipurpose facility will soon become the “heart” of The New School – an avant-garde university in New York City. The University Center, designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM), combines all aspects of a traditional campus into a single, 16-story … Continued

World Trade Center Back on Top

The World Trade Center is back on top. The Lower Manhattan site’s signature tower on Tuesday secured the designation as the country’s tallest building at 1,776 feet, as the nonprofit Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat ruled its 408-foot mast was considered part of the building’s architecture. The ruling by the Chicago-based group — … Continued

Spiritual Buildings with Amazing Architecture

Architects often aim to infuse their creations with meaning, but one type of structure demands something particularly moving—a spiritual building. The most successful churches, chapels, temples, synagogues, and mosques have at least one thing in common: architecture that transforms raw, earthly materials into compositions so powerful they evoke something beyond our world. No wonder sanctuaries … Continued

Breaking Ground on P.S. 62

Ground has been broken on what will be the first net-zero public school east of the Mississippi. Situated on a modest L-shaped site in the quiet residential stretches of southern Staten Island, P.S. 62 will offer students and local residents a glimpse of what the architecture of the future may resemble. Designed by SOM in … Continued