Skidmore Owings Merrill
History
Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) is a
global architectural, urban
planning and engineering firm.
Louis Skidmore
It was founded in Chicago in 1936
Nathaniel Alexander by Louis Skidmore and Nathaniel
Owings Owings. In 1939, they were joined by
engineer John O. Merrill.
John Ogden Merrill Sr.
History
From its earliest days, the firm was
immersed in both modernism
and skyscraper construction: The city
was, at that time, trying to build itself
bigger and taller than New York.
As early modernism trickled into the
U.S. from Europe, SOM grew its
business larger and larger, finding
success in New York, then across the
U.S., and ultimately world-wide.
LEVER HOUSE , 1952
History
The firm has nurtured the careers of
many great architects over the
decades, keeping at all times a long
roster of established names and new
talent.
By the turn of the 21st century, SOM
was synonymous with skyscrapers,
having designed many of the world’s
tallest structures, including the current
tallest, the Burj Khalifa.
BURJ KHALIFA , 2009
SOM is structured as a partnership.
Gordon Bunshaft, who thrived as a design leader at
SOM for more than 40 years, received the profession's
highest honor, the Pritzker Architecture Prize, in 1988.
Notable architects who are associated with SOM
include: T. J. Gottesdiener, Edward Charles
Bassett, Natalie de Blois, David Childs, Robert Diamant
and many more.
The firm’s longstanding leadership in design and building
technology has been honored with nearly 2,000 awards for
quality, innovation, and management. The American Institute of
Architects has recognized SOM twice with its highest honor—
the Architecture Firm Award—in 1962 and again in 1996.
Network
Chicago New York Washington Seattle San Francisco
Los Angeles London Shanghai Dubai Hong Kong
PHILOSOPHY
1.Pioneer of Modern Architecture
Many of SOM's postwar designs are recognized as icons of
American modern architecture. The firm's most influential
early project was Lever House, completed in 1952 to
become the first International Style office building in New
York City. Constructed of glass and steel at a time
when Park Avenue was lined with masonry buildings, Lever
House introduced a sleek modernist aesthetic that
embodied the spirit of the times and influenced an entire
generation of high-rise construction.
As architectural historian Reyner Banham wrote in 1962,
“It gave architectural expression to an age just as the age
was being born ... Lever House was an uncontrollable
success, imitated and sometimes understood all over the
Americanized world, and one of the sights of New York”
2. SUSTAINABLE DESIGN
SOM has a long history of innovation
in sustainable architecture and design. Already in
1969, SOM founder Nathaniel Owings wrote,
“Civilizations leave marks on the Earth by which
they are known and judged. In large measure, the
nature of their immortality is gauged by how well
their builders made peace with the environment.”
This ethos has shaped the firm's journey into
sustainable practices. An early example is the
headquarters it designed for Weyerhaeuser
Company, completed in 1971, which has been
called the “original green building” not only for its
integration into the surrounding landscape, but
also for its innovative use of efficient building
systems.
3. HIGH RISE INNOVATION
In the 1970s, SOM pioneered a new era of skyscraper design
with its work in Chicago, including the John Hancock
Center (completed 1970) and Willis Tower (formerly Sears Tower),
which became the world's tallest structure upon its completion in
1973 and remained so for more than 20 years. Both towers are
the result of collaboration between architect Bruce Graham and
engineer Fazlur Rahman Khan, who is often considered to be the
greatest structural engineer of the 20th century.
Khan invented a tubular framing system that made it possible to
build higher than ever before. This system has been adapted and
is still used today for some of the world's most recent tallest
buildings, including the 828-meter-tall Burj Khalifa, designed by
SOM and completed in 2010.
4. DIGITAL DESIGN INNOVATION
In the 1960s and 1970s, SOM was an early leader in
computer-aided design, developing in-house digital
tools that preceded the CAD systems used widely today.
The activity of an experimental research group at SOM
known as the Computer Group exemplifies a
particularly productive effort within the firm to
incorporate technological research into its practice.
In 1980, an in-house team at SOM created Architecture
Engineering Systems, a computer program that was
used to study complex structural systems and energy
demands.This program is regarded as a precursor to the
array of building information modeling (BIM) tools now
used by the profession
5.INTEGRATING ART AND ARCHITECTURE
For decades, many of SOM's
projects have featured works of
art by significant artists. In
many cases, the firm's
architects and engineers
played an essential role in
commissioning, engineering,
and installing the artworks—
such as with the Chicago
Picasso, a 50-foot-tall steel
sculpture in the city's civic
center.
A collaboration in art and engineering with Janet echelman
WORKS
1951
• SOM had ventured outside of
Chicago and entered the New
York market confidently.
• Designed by partner Gordon
Bunshaft, the Manhattan House
was the city’s first white-brick
apartment building.
• The 21-story structure’s huge
balconies, clean lines, and
impressive scale brought attention
both to the firm and to
modernism’s rise in American
architecture.
1952
• Today the tower may appear to
be just another flat glass
skyscraper, but the building, in
fact, served as the prototype for
the now classic look.
• The International Style emerged
in the 1920s and ’30s and by the
early ’50s, SOM, via the Lever
House, helped to make the
International Style the preferred
choice for big-city corporate
skyscrapers.
1961
• The slender, shiny rectangle that
rose above downtown Manhattan
in the early ’60s was a statement
of the alluring efficiency of 20th-
century American capitalism.
• Bunshaft set the building’s steel
beams on its exterior, clad with
glass and aluminum.
1973
• The 110-story tower was
designed as a bundled tube
building: Nine massive tubes are
bundled in a tight square,
topping off at various heights.
1987
• Architect Richard Keating,
working for SOM, delivered
postmodernism in his 1987
Dallas skyscraper.
• The curved roof and keyhole
opening, however clean, were a
major departure from the
International Style.
1999
• Certainly a far cry from SOM’s
International Style towers, the
ornate, pagoda-like structure was
built as China’s tallest building.
2004
• The Time Warner Center on New
York’s Columbus Circle was a
huge commission, as the twin
glass buildings were built atop a
ground-level luxury shopping
mall.
• The glass façade plays
interestingly on angles and light
reflection, something that can be
seen in many recently built
skyscrapers.
2005
• Today the tower may appear to
be just another flat glass
skyscraper, but the building, in
fact, served as the prototype for
the now classic look.
• The International Style emerged
in the 1920s and ’30s and by the
early ’50s, SOM, via the Lever
House, helped to make the
International Style the preferred
choice for big-city corporate
skyscrapers.
2009
• The Burj Khalifa is quintessentially
SOM.
• By far the world’s tallest building,
the skyscraper has 154 usable
floors
2013
One World Trade Center, 2013,
New York SOM was again at the
heart of international skyscraper
design during the much-watched
rebuilding of the World Trade Center
in New York City.
2014
• Adding to its portfolio of
transportation hubs, SOM
expanded Denver’s Beaux Arts
train station into a massive
complex, converting some 20
acres of old rail yards.
2019
• Skidmore, Owings & Merrill
(SOM), in partnership with the
European Space Agency (ESA)
and faculty of Aerospace and
Architecture at the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology (MIT), is
working on space architecture
and master planning strategies
for the first full-time human
settlement on the Moon
The SOM FOUNDATION was first
established in 1979 with the mission
to support and cultivate emerging
design leaders by granting awards
to outstanding students of
architecture, design, urban design,
and engineering.
Many winners of SOM Foundation
awards have gone on to distinguish
themselves in professional and
academic careers.
Notable past winners include Marion
Weiss, Werner Sobek (1983),
Himanshu Parikh (1985), Santiago
Calatrava (1988) and Joshua
Ramus (1995)
1. BURJ KHALIFA
DUBAI
BURJ
KHALIFA
FROM THE EARTH TO THE SKY
INTRODUCTION
•Official Name: Burj Khalifa Bin Zayed
•Also Known As: Burj Dubai
•Also Known As: Tower Of Khalifa
•Formerly: Burj Dubai
•Built: 2004-2010
•Cost: $4,100,000,000
•Designed By: Skidmore, Owings & Merrill
•Stories: 206
•Maximum Height: 2,717 Feet / 828 Meters
•Location: No. 1, Burj Dubai Boulevard, Dubai, United Arab
GENERAL INFORMATION
•Construction Type: Skyscraper
•Current Status: Existing [Completed]
•Structural System: Buttressed Core
•Structural Material: Concrete, Steel
•Facade Material: Stainless Steel
•Facade System: Curtain Wall
•Architectural style: Modernism
•Floor Plan: 517,240m2
Built Around The Burj
Downtown Burj Dubai Is A Mixed Development Including 30,000
Homes, Nine Hotels, 2.4 Hectares Of Parkland, 9 Residential Tower And
the 12-hectare Burj Dubai Lake
•8 Boulevard Walk
•Boulevard Crescents
•Boulevard Plaza: 36-storey Commercial Offices
•Burj Dubai Boulevard
•Dubai Mall: World’s Largest Shopping Centre
•Emaar Square Business Hub
•Lake Park
•Old Town
•Old Town Island
Location of burj dubai
1) Burj
Khalifa,
tallest
tower in
the world.
2) the new
residential
district of
Burj, which
will seat
20,000
people.
3) Dubai
Mall,
largest
commerci
a center in
the world
Site plan
Design inspiration
The architecture features a triple-lobed
footprint, an abstraction of a desert flower
named Hymenocallis.
The tower is composed of three elements
arranged around a central core.
Twenty-six helical levels decrease the cross
section of the tower incrementally as it spirals
skyward.
A Y-shaped floor plan maximizes views of
the Arabian Gulf. Viewed from the base or the
air.
This design not only reduces the wind forces
on the building but also allows each tenant to
have an incredible view to the surrounds
The Y-shaped plan is ideal for residential and
hotel usage, with the wings allowing
maximum outward views and inward natural
light
The advantages of the tower shape design The advantages :
Foundation : The modular, Y-shaped structure, with setbacks along each of
its three wings provides an inherently stable configuration for the structure
and provides good floor plates for residential.
Usage : The Y-shaped plan is ideal for residential and hotel usage, with
the wings allowing maximum outward views and inward natural light.
Nature : Gradient spiral design hinders the swirling wind
VERTICAL
ZONING
OF THE
TOWER
Ground level plan
Composite
ground floor
plan
Foundation
•The superstructure is supported by a large reinforced
concrete mat, which is in turn supported by bored
reinforced concrete piles.
•The design was based on extensive geotechnical and
seismic studies.
•The mat is 3.7 meters thick, and was constructed in four
separate pours totaling 12,500 cubic meters of concrete.
•The minimum centre-to-centre spacing of the piles for
the tower is 2.5 times the pile diameter
•The 1.5 meter diameter x 43 meter long piles represent
the largest and longest piles conventionally available in the
region.
Podium
•The Podium provides a base anchoring the tower to the ground, allowing on grade access from three different
sides to three different levels of the building.
•Fully glazed entry pavilions constructed with a suspended cable-net structure provide separate entries for the
corporate suites at B1 and Concourse levels, the Burj Khalifa residences at ground level and the Armani Hotel
at Level 1
Structural System
• The structure is modular in nature with a central hexagonal shaft or core and three branches that spread out at
120 degrees from each other.
• Attached to these branches are wall like columns at 9 meter spacing that simply drop off as each leg sets back,
avoiding complex and costly structural transfers.
• In addition to its aesthetic and functional advantages, the spiraling “Y” shaped plan was utilized to shape the
structural core of Burj Khalifa.
• This design helps to reduce the wind forces on the tower, as well as to keep the structure simple and foster
constructability.
• The structural system can be described as a “buttressed core”, and consists of high performance concrete wall
construction.
• Each of the wings buttress the others via a six-sided central core, or hexagonal hub. This central core provides
the torsional resistance of the structure, similar to a closed pipe or axle.
• Corridor walls extend from the central core to near the end of each wing, terminating in thickened hammer head
walls. These corridor walls and hammerhead walls behave similar to the webs and flanges of a beam to resist
the wind shears and moments.
• At mechanical floors, outrigger walls are provided to link the perimeter columns to the interior wall system,
allowing the perimeter columns to participate in the lateral load resistance of the structure; hence, all of the
vertical concrete is utilized to support both gravity and lateral loads.
STRUCTURAL DETAIL OF THE CORE AND FLOOR PLATES
Construction process of the tower in tiers
Spire
• the crowning touch of Burj Khalifa is its telescopic spire comprised of
more than 4,000 tons of structural steel.
•The spire was constructed from inside the building and jacked to its full
height of over 200 metres (700 feet) using a hydraulic pump.
•In addition to securing Burj Khalifa’s place as the world’s tallest structure,
the spire is integral to the overall design, creating a sense of completion for
the landmark.
•The spire also houses communications equipment.
Exterior Cladding
•The exterior cladding is comprised of reflective glazing with
aluminum and textured stainless steel spandrel panels and
stainless steel vertical tubular fins.
•Close to 26,000 glass panels, each individually hand-cut,
were used in the exterior cladding of Burj Khalifa
•Over 300 cladding specialists from China were brought in for
the cladding work on the tower.
•The cladding system is designed to withstand Dubai’s extreme
summer heat, and to further ensure its integrity, a World War II
airplane engine was used for dynamic wind and water testing..
FAÇADE DETAIL
Elevators
The diagram explaining the express
and speed elevators with sky lobby
Corperate suite entry
pavilion interior
Residential entry pavilion
interior
Hotel entry pavilion interior
The Park
•Inspired by Burj Khalifa’s unique triple-lobed shape, the
park’s 11 hectares of greenery and water features serve as
both entry to Burj Khalifa and outdoor living space.
•The landscape design includes three distinct areas to serve
each of tower’s three uses: hotel, residential and office space.
These exquisite grounds include a promenade along the
dubai lake, outdoor spaces, outdoor dining, prow lookout,
leisure forest grove, playing area, water features and much
more.
•The three spaces are located at the hotel entry, residential
entry and the grand terrace. The tower and pedestrian
pathways link the three areas.
•Spectacular stone paving patterns welcome visitors at each
entry
2. SHEIK KHALIFA MEDICAL CITY
ABU DHABI
SHEIKH KHALIFA
MEDICAL CENTER
ABU DUBAI, UAE
SHEIKH KHALIFA MEDICAL
CENTER
LOCATION – ABHU DHABI , UAE
PROJECT TYPE -HEALTHCARE
SIZE - 3,000,00SQ.FT
AWARDS - 2013 AIA
NATIONAL AWARD
BED - 838 BED MEDICAL
COMPLEX
Envisioned as a city within acity,
the design creates a bustling
campus-like environment of
distinct character and is based
on the notion of patients as
guests.
SKMC Contains 3 hospital
under one roof
1. General hospital
2. Teritary womens hospital
3. Pediatric hospital
▪ The design of the medical city is based on the belief that
patients are guests and everything about the facility supports
that notion of hospitality.
DESIGN ▪ The patient and visitor experience is carefully controlled to
minimize exposure to the back-of-house components of the
facility.
▪ Lobbies and other public spaces convey a sense of serenity
through spaciousness, natural materials and diffused natural
light, while courtyards and terraces engage building interiors
with the outdoors.
“is conceived as a very large oasis garden.” Access to the green space from above and
below allows hospital employees, as well as patients (and their guests and extended families)
to take advantage of the open-air spaces. But dealing with exterior conditions in the harsh
weather of Abu Dhabi presents its own challenges:
ARCHITECT , SOM -
▪ “One has to be very careful in how
one shades these outdoor spaces
because the climate is very hot and
dry, and sometimes windy,”
▪ “Therefore, more covered, shaded,
and somewhat internalized spaces
mediate these climatic issues.”
▪ orientation-dependent shading
devices over the gardens, including
fabric scrims with patterns drawn
from culturally inspired motifs.
“The new Sheikh Khalifa Medical City balances the technical demands
of a world-class medical center with the psychological well being of its
visitors.
The design allows for the flexible integration of next generation
medical technologies, while the incorporation of amenities, such as
trees and hanging gardens coupled with restaurants and retail,
provides tranquility, relief and a sense of normalcy for patients and their
families.”
the design endeavors to create a new paradigm for a medical
center, one that is more like a bustling campus, with vibrant public
spaces and a sense of community. Informed by historical regional
precedents, the design seeks to strike a balance as a state-of-the-
art vision rooted in local heritage. The design responds to, and is
respectful of, the unique culture of the UAE and its demanding
desert climate.
PLANS
GROUND FLOORPLAN
Architectural challenge of the project was to balance the client’s
desire to create distinct identities for each of the three hospitals,
while maintaining an overall unified expression for the medical city.
This was achieved by developing a series of unifying and
differentiating components.
The medical city’s heavy stone plinth – a reference to the ancient
architecture of the region – serves as a common pedestrian-scaled
expression, within which the most intense medical functions will be
found along with shared amenity spaces and light-filled courtyards.
The roof of the plinth is home to a network of gardens that also
serves to unify the bed towers that rise above.
The architecture of the bed towers communicates the identity of
each hospital within a common vocabulary. The exterior sun
screens, which characterize the bed tower facades, will vary from
the simple rhythm of the general hospital to playful colors and
patterns of the children’s hospital to the intricate mashrabiya-
inspired geometries of the women’s hospital.
SOM created a centralized, orthogonal plan that
establishes a clearly defined sense of place. The facility’s
base – a two-story plinth – houses a comprehensive array
of medical functions, shared among the three hospitals.
The ground floor will hold the adult and pediatric
emergency departments, the women´s urgent care center,
and all outpatient departments.
At the heart of this floor, the diagnostic and treatment
center serves all departments in the complex.
The second floor houses inpatient and day surgery,
intensive care units and related functions. On the main
garden level above, the LDR, NICU and C-section ORs
are located along with rehab and infusion.
Rising above this shared plinth, the nursing areas give
identity to the individual hospitals and address the specific
needs of each patient population. Below grade, an
extensive network of spaces is vertically integrated to
support the medical functions above. Staff and visitor
parking are located in a sub-cellar.
Embedded in the plinth and at the heart of the medical
campus is a vibrant “town center” comprised of lobbies
cafes, retail and education spaces. This lively and
interactive multi-level space connects to a network of open
spaces above the plinth.
Located at the convergence of the two entry drives that
connect the campus to the city, this town center perhaps
best exemplifies how this project re-visions the building type
and serves to define and distinguish this medical campus
as a true center within the urban fabric.
▪ Like the exterior architecture, which expresses distinct
identities developed from a common language, the
interiors will be unified yet uniquely branded.
▪ The shared public spaces within the plinth will serve as
connective tissue,
▪ while the lobbies and bed tower interiors of General,
INTERIOR Women’s and Pediatric hospitals will express their own
similar yet distinct identities.
▪ As a whole, the interiors will be comfortable, tranquil
and reassuring – creating a sense of calm for patients
while instilling confidence that they are within the
confines of a world-class health care institution.
▪ From the landscaped entry drives to the main garden level and the light-filled courtyards that perforate the
plinth, the medical city’s gardens will create a calm and healing environment.
▪ The diverse network of open spaces is considered essential in establishing a tranquil atmosphere and in crafting
the campus-like environment that will help to distinguish this medical campus.
GARDEN SPACE AND COURTYARD
▪ The green space strategy begins with the two tree-lined entry
boulevards which transition into a grand garden oasis at the
center of medical city.
▪ This shaded garden, on the roof of the building’s plinth, is
accessed from below by gracious interior and exterior stairs and
activated by adjacent cafes, conference areas, and family waiting
areas.
▪ Within the plinth, itself, a series of courtyards serves to bring
light and nature into these large floor plates, thereby mitigating
the sense of distance, assisting in way-finding and creating a
more tranquil atmosphere in this medically intense setting.
▪ Above the plinth, the bed towers will be woven with a series of
sunlit terraces, hanging gardens and adjacent family lounges.
▪ The medical city will utilize state-of-art, high-efficiency systems
as well as age-old regional concepts to mitigate the extreme
desert climate of Abu Dhabi.
▪ From roof-top solar collectors to the simple fabric scrims that
will shade the main garden level, a comprehensive climate
CLIMATIC strategy is designed to achieve a Two Pearl certified
sustainability rating within the local Estidama guidelines (Abu
STATEGIES Dhabi’s equivalent of LEED).
▪ The medical city will embrace the future sustainable growth by
incorporating systems that harness, amplify and support the
natural environment.
FAÇADE REFLECTS THE DETAIL OF
MOTIFS
3.HANZHOU WANGCHAO CENTER
CHINA
Height: 280 m / 919 ft
Architectural
Height: To Tip 280 m / 919 ft
Floors Above 54
Ground
Floors Below 4
Ground
Tower GFA 125,000 m² / 1,345,489 ft²
▪ The form is driven by a balance of
architectural vision and structural clarity. A
The form primary structure of eight outward-sloping
mega-columns lends fluidity to the glazed
façade.
The hangzhou wangchao center’s distinctive
silhouette derives its form from an integrated
design process that solves programmatic,
structural, and environmental criteria. Located
at the intersection of several major
transportation networks, the tower is a
Quote beacon of performance-driven design and is
emblematic of hangzhou’s future as a new
global destination.
-Gary haney, design partner, som
The city of Hangzhou, in eastern China, is undergoing incredible growth. As
the host of the Asian Games in 2022, it is poised to become a new global
destination—a city that will be appreciated as much for its rich historical
character as for its bustling new urban centers of commerce. The Hangzhou
Wangchao Center will contribute to this transformation. It will provide
125,000 square meters of office, hotel and retail space, while marking a
gateway into the Qianjiang Century Town development. Adjacent to one of
the city’s new subway stations, the project exemplifies smart, transit-oriented
development.
The tower's expressive silhouette is the result of an integrated architectural
and engineering solution.
An efficient structural system minimizes wind loads, while creating highly
flexible floor plates that accommodate the office and hotel program
requirements.
A central concrete core and sloping perimeter columns support composite
steel floor framing and truss deck slabs.
About Eight corner mega-columns slope outward to open up large, flexible floor
plates.
As the corner columns move further apart, secondary perimeter columns
branch out to maintain equal column bays.
Above the lobby, a Vierendeel transfer truss transfers the secondary columns
to the corner columns, creating an open lobby space below.
At the tower's crown, the primary corner
columns extend upward to a truss at the top
level. The crown consists of hangers and
spandrels braced back to the central concrete
Structure core with a series of struts. These work in
tandem to support MEP equipment, along with
concealed building maintenance systems.
As the corner columns move further apart, secondary perimeter
columns branch out to maintain equal column bays,’ explains
SOM. ‘above the lobby, a Vierendeel transfer truss links the
secondary columns to the corner columns, creating an open
lobby space below. the undulating façade is highly rationalized,
allowing the entire cladding to consist of planar glass panels.’
▪ In addition to the large sloping corner columns, architects
designed secondary columns that branch out in order to keep
the column bays equal. A Vierendeel transfer truss above the
lobby serves as the connection between the outer and inner
columns. This structure allows for the use of planar glass
panels as cladding material.
▪ The tower is slated for completion in 2021. SOM said,
“Located at the intersection of several major transportation
networks, the tower is a beacon of performance-driven
design and is emblematic of Hangzhou’s future as a new
global destination.”
▪ The tower’s efficient structural system enables reduced wind
loads, while creating flexible floor plates which would
accommodate the office and hotel program requirements,
the company said.
▪ It will act as a gateway to the newly planned Qianjang
Century Town in Hangzhou city.
▪ Hangzhou Wangchao Center is expected to contribute to the
city’s growth to become a new global destination. The city
will be hosting the Asian Games in 2022.
▪ The tower would be balancing a striking architectural vision
and structural clarity, the firm noted.
