Genesis Towers, a pair of sculptural high-rises in South San Francisco, are located on a prominent site where Highway 101 curves past San Bruno Mountain. Consisting of a 21-story life sciences laboratory building—the tallest of its kind on the West Coast—and an adjacent 12-story building, the two towers form the largest biotech hub in the … Continued
Establishing a new city center Historically, Hangzhou’s municipal government and cultural core was located northeast of the famous West Lake, in an area that has been continuously inhabited for over two thousand years. In the early aughts, following decades of significant growth south of the Qiantang River, the city developed a master plan for a … Continued
777 Aviation is a three-story glass and steel building in El Segundo, California, designed by modernist architect Craig Ellwood. SOM’s design repurposes the 1968 office—a former headquarters for Xerox Corporation—and transforms it into a contemporary, multi-tenant creative workplace. Originally designed with deep, vast floor plates to serve a single company, the building needed a more … Continued
In 1960, SOM designed this modernist classic as the world headquarters for the Pepsi-Cola Company. The pristine aluminum and glass structure contains approximately 142,500 gross square feet of office space that is organized against an offset core. The flexible building plan efficiently accommodates several clearly defined functions, both spatially and structurally. SOM returned to the … Continued
As the most significant development in Sydney’s central business district in more than a decade, Central Place Sydney will be the centerpiece of Tech Central. A design collaboration between SOM and Fender Katsalidis, the project will transform the western edge of Central Station with new commercial buildings and public realm improvements to enhance this southern … Continued
Redesigning New York’s front door SOM has played a central role in reimagining New York City’s Penn Station, the busiest train station in the Western Hemisphere and a hub for the Long Island Rail Road (LIRR), New Jersey Transit, Amtrak, and two subway lines. SOM’s work spans multiple blocks, from the adaptive reuse of the … Continued
To increase the organization’s outreach in Marin, the San Francisco-Marin Food Bank (SFMFB) relocated its North Bay facility to San Rafael in 2020, just as the COVID-19 pandemic began. As the crisis unfolded, SFMFB nearly doubled the number of households served, going from 48 million to 75 million pounds of food distributed annually. The new … Continued
Uniting academia and industry In 2014, the University of Connecticut sought to create a new campus that would serve as a platform to educate and inspire future generations of scientists and engineers, while bolstering the state’s economy. The institution tapped SOM to design the master plan for this campus, and out of this plan came … Continued
SOM’s City Design Practice has developed a comprehensive plan to revitalize Guangzhou’s Old Town as a priceless asset for the city. With a systematic and integrated approach balancing historic preservation, modern reinvestment, and community revitalization, the plan seeks to enrich the lives of Guangzhou residents and to maximize the potential of this area as a … Continued
In 2017, SOM completed a new office space to accommodate the growth of its Los Angeles studio. Located downtown, at the Wells Fargo Center—a complex designed by SOM and completed in 1983—the office provides a flexible workspace with room for expansion. The 16,000-square-foot office includes four conference rooms, two pantries, an architectural materials library, a … Continued