Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM)

Good news: The U.S. DOT Volpe National Transportation Systems Center has been recognized with a LEED Platinum certification! It’s the highest mark of excellence for sustainability awarded by the U.S. Green Building Council. In collaboration with Atelier Ten, we engineered a structure with an orientation that fully maximizes daylighting and a glass and aluminum facade that minimizes glare, all with triple glazing and an overall window-wall ratio of 48 percent that further contributes to the building’s energy performance. Through our built projects, research initiatives, and our role as advocates in our industry and beyond, we are working to advance a net-zero carbon built environment, and this is yet another demonstration of our commitment to environmental stewardship. MORE → bit.ly/3z1wEvH 📷 : Dave Burk © SOM

Coming to Hanoi: The Smart City Financial Tower is set to be the tallest building in Vietnam—a 108-story, mixed-use skyscraper surrounded by a vast public park. BRG Group and Sumitomo Corporation, working with a committee of Vietnamese and international experts in construction, urban planning, and architecture, selected SOM to design and engineer the North Hanoi centerpiece. Said SOM Design Partner Olin McKenzie, “The design is driven by smart technology and sustainability, leveraging passive strategies to allow the building to breathe, giving inhabitants access to natural gardens hundreds of feet in the air, and catering to a dense mix of uses that will bring thousands of people through the building every day.” Learn about the project below. MORE → bit.ly/3WVsCgc 📷: © SOM | ATCHAIN

Please vote! Mulva Cultural Center is a finalist in the AIA Chicago Lerch Bates People's Choice Awards, which celebrate “buildings that contribute not just to our iconic skyline, but to the quality of life for its citizens.” Mulva Cultural Center stands as a premier destination for the creative arts and cultural programming in the midwest, envisioned as a vibrant hub for creativity, education, and entertainment in the greater Green Bay area. Writes AIA Chicago, “With its bright, soaring volumes and seamless integration of architecture, structure, and interiors, the Mulva Cultural Center offers a world-class design and cultural experience.” Please join us in recognizing this new project by casting your vote below! Vote → bit.ly/3T2pBK3 More about the project → bit.ly/46XqOIo 📷: Dave Burk © SOM

Find out more about why SOM joined the World Green Building Council's Net Zero Carbon Buildings Commitment in a new interview with SOM Sustainability Director Mina Hasman. SOM was one of the first design and engineering firms to join the Commitment, which recognizes leadership action by businesses, organizations, cities, and subnational governments in tackling operational and embodied carbon emissions from the building and construction sector. In the article, Hasman writes about our firm's approach to decarbonizing our global studio spaces and how we contribute to decarbonization at large.

Crain's Chicago Business has recognized SOM Design Partner Scott Duncan in its monthly column, “A Chicagoan to Know,” where they get to know a noteworthy Chicagoan in business, nonprofits, or government. This feature comes after a recent article about the design of Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport Satellite Concourse 1, which Duncan is leading. In this profile, he describes his upbringing and what pushed him to fall in love with big cities. He discusses everything from his dream project to his favorite building and most hair-raising experience. Read on for more. Read the article → bit.ly/4cwexf3 Learn about O’Hare’s Satellite Concourse 1 → bit.ly/3yQe49n 📷: SOM and NORVISKA © City of Chicago

Kempegowda International Airport Terminal 2 won ARCHITECT Magazine’s Honor Award in the Government and Civic Building category of the annual Architecture & Interiors Awards program. “There’s something sort of joyful and fantastical about it,” said Brooke Horan, juror for Architect Magazine’s 2024 Architecture & Interior Award and associate Vice President and Interior Design Director at HDR. “It feels warm and welcoming and comfortable, bringing respite to the potentially stressful situation of travel.” Architect Magazine recognizes a diverse range of design projects showcasing innovation and ingenuity in all its forms. See the winners below. MORE → bit.ly/4cscd8T 📽: Ar. ekansh goel © Studio Recall

“With a distinguished history, Skidmore, Owings & Merrill is keen to continue pioneering the construction and engineering industry,” reports the latest issue of APAC Outlook Magazine. In this multi-page feature, Design Principal Nicolas Medrano, AIA shares insights on the transformative impact of SOM’s work on cities and communities, from Lever House, the first modernist office building in New York City, to Dubai’s Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest building.  “SOM has set new standards for quality, sustainability, and innovation, from Urban Sequoia, a carbon sequestering concept, to 8 Shenton Way (pictured), the tallest tower in Singapore,” writes Tom Arnold and Rachel Carr for APAC Outlook. Read the full story below. MORE → bit.ly/3WPWt9S Image: 8 Shenton Way, Singapore, © SOM | Bezier

The Chicago Tribune has introduced a new weekly architecture column and highlights our 400 Lake Shore project for its debut. Architect and columnist Edward Keegan writes that the new project “offers a pair of appealing metal and glass-clad residential towers that feature stepped facades in what the architects have called a waterfall motif.” With the first tower now under construction, 400 Lake Shore is set to transform Chicago’s skyline with two towers reaching nearly 900 feet at the intersection of Lake Michigan and the Chicago River. This dual-tower design will not only redefine the city’s silhouette, but also bring substantial enhancements to the public realm, including a plaza and a revitalized experience along the Chicago Riverwalk with new open spaces and pedestrian pathways. We share Keegan’s excitement for this project's completion and look forward to continuing our collaboration with Related Midwest on the second tower. MORE → bit.ly/4dJxJqF 📷: TMRW © SOM / Related Midwest

One of the missing pieces to achieving net-zero emissions by 2050 is grid-scale energy storage, which is precisely what we are tackling in our partnership with Energy Vault. As CNN reports, tall buildings are SOM’s specialty, which creates “an opportunity to take this expertise … and use it for energy storage, enabling us to wean ourselves [off] fossil fuels," said Bill Baker, SOM consulting partner and structural engineer of the Burj Khalifa. Our design stores renewable energy, such as excess solar energy, and converts it into electricity when demand is high. Unlike a traditional battery, this gravity energy storage system is designed as a building that could last for many decades without risk of fire or need for offsite storage. Read more about it in the CNN article below. MORE → bit.ly/3WunFuM 📷: Pictury © Energy Vault Holdings, Inc.

Congratulations to the winners of the 2024 SOM Foundation China Fellowship, Zhangxiang Dai, Wenxiao Xiang, and Xiangqing Zheng. The China Fellowship is awarded annually to three students to conduct independent travel and research that contributes to the SOM Foundation’s current topic, which this year is "Adapting Housing Strategies to Respond to New Realities." It seeks to explore affordable, equitable, and innovative modes of multifamily housing that respond to current and future needs. Learn more about the Fellowship and winners below. MORE → bit.ly/4db3MA2 📷: Xinmin Road Community Experiment, © Wenxiao Xiang