Lever House

Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP (SOM) is an American architectural and engineering firm. It was formed in Chicago in 1936 by Louis Skidmore and Nathaniel Owings; in 1939 they were joined by John O. Merrill. They opened their first branch in New York City, New York in 1937. SOM is one of the largest architectural firms in the world. Their primary expertise is in high-end commercial buildings, as it was SOM that led the way to the widespread use of the modern international-style or "glass box" skyscraper. They have built several of the tallest buildings in the world, including the John Hancock Center (1969, second tallest in the world when built), Sears Tower (1973, tallest in the world for over twenty years), and Burj Khalifa (2010, current world's tallest building). SOM provides services in Architecture, Building Services/MEP Engineering, Digital Design, Graphics, Interior Design, Structural Engineering, Civil Engineering, Sustainable Design and Urban Design & Planning.^[2]

Design[link]

Many of SOM's post-war designs have become icons of American modern architecture, including the Manhattan House (1950), designated as a New York City landmark in 2007 by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission; and the Lever House (1952), also in New York City; as well as the Air Force Academy Chapel (1958) in Colorado Springs, Colorado; and the John Hancock Center (1969) and Sears Tower (1973), both in Chicago.

Although SOM was one of the first major modern American architectural firms to promote a corporate face (i.e. not specifically crediting individual architects for their buildings), many famous architects, engineers and interior designers have been associated with the various national offices.

Due to their faithful following of Ludwig Mies Van Der Rohe’s ideas, Frank Lloyd Wright nicknamed them "The Three Blind Mies".^[3]

Architects[link]

Notable SOM architects include: Gordon Bunshaft,^[4][5] Natalie de Blois,^[6][7] Myron Goldsmith,^[8][9] Bruce Graham,^[10][11] Brigitte Peterhans,^[12][13] Gertrude Kerbis,^[14] Walter Netsch,^[15][16] Edward Charles Bassett,^[17] Adrian Smith, Larry Oltmanns,^[18] Fazlur Rahman Khan.^[19] Lucien Lagrange,^[20] and David Childs.^[21][22]

Engineers[link]

The earliest amongst the many SOM engineers was John O. Merrill.^[23] Fazlur Khan, another engineer at SOM, is considered "the greatest structural engineer of the second half of the 20th century"; he is best known for his design and construction of the Willis Tower (formerly the Sears Tower), and John Hancock Center and for his designs of structural systems that remain fundamental to all high-rise skyscrapers.^[24] Indeed, Khan is responsible for developing the algorithms that made the Hancock building and many subsequent skyscrapers possible. Another notable SOM engineer is Bill Baker, who is best known as the engineer of Burj Khalifa (Dubai, 2010), the world’s tallest manmade structure. To support the tower’s record heights and slim footprint, he developed the “buttressed core”^[25] structural system, consisting of a hexagonal core reinforced by three buttresses that form a Y shape.

Shaklee Terraces, San Francisco, completed 1979 with a flush aluminum and glass facade and rounded corners.

Interior designers[link]

Davis Allen, a pioneer in corporate interior design, had a forty-year tenure at SOM.^[26]

Awards[link]

Throughout its history, SOM has been recognized with more than 1400 awards for quality and innovation.^[27] More than 580 of these awards have been received since 1998.^[28] In 1996 and 1962, SOM received the Architecture Firm Award^[29] from the American Institute of Architects, which recognizes the design work of an entire firm. SOM is the only firm to have received this honor twice.

August 2009, SOM received four of 13 R+D Awards from Architect Magazine.^{[30][31][32][33]} In addition, a collaboration between SOM and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, The Center for Architecture, Science and Ecology, was honored with a fifth award.^[34]

Projects[link]

SOM has completed over 10,000 projects around the nation and in more than 50 countries around the world and maintains offices in Chicago, New York City, San Francisco, Washington, D.C., London, Brussels, Hong Kong, and Shanghai.

Burj Khalifa[link]

Burj Khalifa (Arabic: برج خليفة‎ "Khalifa Tower"),^[35] formerly known as Burj Dubai, is a supertall skyscraper in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and is the tallest man-made structure ever built, at 828 m (2,717 ft).^[35] Construction began on 21 September 2004, and the building officially opened on 4 January 2010.^[36][37] The tower's architect and engineer is Skidmore, Owings and Merrill.^[38] George J. Efstathiou was the Managing Partner for the project. Bill Baker, the Chief Structural Engineer for the project, invented the buttressed core structural system in order to enable the tower to achieve such heights economically. Adrian Smith, who worked with Skidmore, Owings and Merrill until 2006, was the Consulting Design Partner.^[38][39] The primary builder is a joint venture of South Korean Samsung C&T, who also built the Taipei 101 and Petronas Twin Towers,^[40] Besix and Arabtec. The total budget for the Burj Khalifa project is about US $1.5 billion; and for the entire new "Downtown Dubai", US $20 billion.^[41]

One World Trade Center[link]

One World Trade Center, formerly known as Freedom Tower, is located in New York City. After Daniel Libeskind won the competition for master-planning, SOM was awarded the architectural design contract for the Freedom Tower, despite having withdrawn their entry in the original design competition.

Planning work[link]

In addition to architectural services, Skidmore, Owings and Merrill has also competed in the field of large scale planning programs. An example of one important commission was as the lead design firm for the Boston Transportation Planning Review, a metropolitan wide re-design of Boston's entire transit and roadway infrastructure in the 1970s.

Notable SOM buildings[link]

Willis Tower in Chicago.

7 World Trade Center, New York City.

Georgia-Pacific Tower, Atlanta, Georgia.

Jin Mao Building, Shanghai, China.

Rondo ONZ, Warsaw, Poland.

One HSBC Center, Buffalo, New York.

• Individual buildings and the town plan for Oak Ridge, Tennessee, United States, 1942
• Manhattan House, 1947-51, a designated New York City Landmark.
• Lever House, New York City, New York, United States, 1952
• Manufacturers Hanover Trust Bank branch building 1954, a designated New York City Landmark and Interior, 2011.
• Inland Steel Building, Chicago, United States, 1957
• United States Air Force Academy, Colorado Springs, Colorado, United States, 1958
• Veterans Memorial Coliseum, Portland, Oregon, United States, 1960
• One Chase Manhattan Plaza, Financial District, Manhattan, New York, United States, 1961, a designated New York City Landmark.^[42]
• BMA Tower (One Park Place), Kansas City, Missouri, 1961
• Tour Telus (CIL House), Montreal, Quebec, Canada, 1962
• McMath-Pierce Solar Telescope, Kitt Peak, Arizona, 1962^[43]
• Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, United States, 1963
• Mauna Kea Beach Hotel, Kohala Coast, Hawaii, United States, 1965
• University of Illinois at Chicago's "Circle Campus", United States, 1965
• Autzen Stadium, University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon, 1967
• Louis Jefferson Long Library at Wells College, Aurora, New York, United States, 1968
• Equitable Building, Atlanta, Georgia, 1968
• 555 California Street, San Francisco, California, United States, 1969
• Grand Rapids City Hall & Kent County Administrative Building - Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1969
• City Center Square, Kansas City, Missouri, United States 1977
• John Hancock Center, Chicago, Illinois, United States, 1969
• Dan Ryan Rapid Transit Stations, Myron Goldsmith Chicago, Illinois, 1969
• Kennedy Rapid Transit Stations (Jefferson Park to Logan Square), Myron Goldsmith, Chicago, Illinois, 1970
• Regenstein Library, Chicago, Illinois, United States, 1970
• Lyndon Baines Johnson Library and Museum, Austin, Texas, 1971
• One HSBC Center, Buffalo, New York, United States, 1971
• Weyerhaeuser Headquarters, Tacoma, Washington, United States, 1971
• Hajj Terminal, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, 1972
• Willis Tower (formerly Sears Tower), Chicago, Illinois, United States, 1973
• Carlton Centre, Johannesburg, South Africa, 1973
• U.S. Bank Center, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States, 1973
• First Wisconsin Plaza, Madison, Wisconsin, United States, 1974
• 200 W Madison, Chicago, Illinois (former Hyatt Corporation headquarters)
• Enerplex, North Building, Princeton, New Jersey, United States, 1982
• Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome, Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States, 1982
• BellSouth Center, Atlanta, Georgia, United States, 1982
• Georgia-Pacific Tower, Atlanta, Georgia, United States, 1982
• US Bancorp Tower, Portland, Oregon, United States, 1983
• Trammell Crow Center, Dallas, Texas, 1984*
• Republic Plaza (Denver), Denver, Colorado, 1984
• Fort Wayne Museum of Art, Fort Wayne, Indiana, United States, 1984
• Southeast Financial Center, Miami, Florida, United States, 1984
• 63 Building, Yeouido, Seoul, South Korea, 1985
• Wachovia Tower, Birmingham, Alabama, 1986
• JPMorgan Chase Tower, Dallas, Texas, United States, 1987
• NBC Tower, Chicago, Illinois, 1989
• One Worldwide Plaza, New York City, New York, United States, 1989
• 461 Fifth Avenue, New York City, New York, United States, 1989
• Roosevelt Hospital, New York City
• Islamic Cultural Center of New York, 1991
• 100 East Pratt Street, Baltimore, 1992
• Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre (HKCEC), Hong Kong, China, 1997
• National Commercial Bank, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
• Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 3, Manila, Philippines, 1997
• Jin Mao Building, Shanghai, China, 1998
• Pavilhão Atlântico, Lisbon, Portugal, 1998
• Embassy of the United States, Ottawa, Canada, 1999
• Korea World Trade Center, Seoul, Korea, 2000
• PBCom Tower, Makati, Philippines, 2000
• O'FerrallAMERICA Industries, World Headquarters, Dundalk, Maryland, 2000
• 7 South Dearborn (unbuilt), Chicago, Illinois, United States, 2000
• Adelaide Convention Centre, Adelaide, Australia, 2001
• San Francisco International Airport International Terminal, San Francisco, California, United States, 2001
• Dallas Convention Center, Dallas, Texas, United States, 2002
• Time Warner Center, New York City, New York, United States, 2003
• Random House Tower, New York City, New York, United States, 2003
• Ben Gurion Airport Terminal 3, Tel Aviv, Israel, completed 2004 (in association with Moshe Safdie)
• Rondo ONZ, Warsaw, Poland, 2005
• 10 Exchange Square, London, United Kingdom, 2004
• Finsbury Avenue Square, London, United Kingdom, 2004
• Samsung Tower Palace 3 - Tower G, Seoul, South Korea, 2004 in partnership with Samoo Architects & Engineers
• Toronto Pearson Airport - Terminal 1, Toronto, Ontario, Canada opened April 2004 (in association with Adamson Associates Architects, and Moshe Safdie and Associates)
• Jianianhua Centre, Chongqing, China, 2005
• AIG Tower, (美國國際集團大廈), Hong Kong, PRC, completed 2005
• New Providence Wharf, London, United Kingdom, 2006
• 7 World Trade Center (second), New York City, New York, United States, 2006
• Tokyo Midtown, Tokyo, Japan, 2007
• Dublin International Airport, Dublin, Ireland, 2007
• Singapore Changi Airport Terminal 3, Changi, Singapore in partnership with CPG Corporation
• Cathedral of Christ the Light, Oakland, California, United States, 2008
• Centennial Towers, South San Francisco, California, United States, 2008
• Trump International Hotel and Tower, Chicago, Illinois, United States
• Burj Khalifa, also known as the Burj Dubai, Dubai City, UAE, 2010
• Nanjing Greenland Financial Center, Nanjing, China, 2010

Buildings under construction[link]

• 1 World Trade Center, New York City, New York, United States
• 222 South Main, Salt Lake City, Utah, United States
• Al Hamra Tower, Kuwait City, Kuwait
• Chemsunny Plaza, Beijing, China
• Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport Terminal 2, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
• China World Trade Center Tower 3, Beijing, China
• King Abdullah Economic City, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
• Lopez Centre, Makati, Philippines
• Pan Peninsula Towers, London, England, UK
• Pearl River Tower, Guangzhou, China
• Rajhi Bank Headquarters, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
• Pan Peninsula, London, United Kingdom, Due 2009
• Financial Street Chongqing Financial Centre, Chongqing, China, Due 2011
• Chongqing Rural Commercial Bank Financial Building, Chongqing, China, Due 2012
• NATO Headquarters, Brussels, Belgium, Due 2012
• Zuellig Building, Makati, Philippines, Due 2012

Destroyed Buildings[link]

• Marriott World Trade Center, Manhattan New York. (Destroyed Sep 11, 2001 in WTC attacks when it was crushed by the collapse of the Twin Towers)

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Skidmore, Owings and Merrill

• SOM website
• Review of the 1954 Manufacturer's Hanover Trust Branch Bank in NYC

Lever House, New York City

Gordon Bunshaft (May 9, 1909 – August 6, 1990) was an architect educated at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In 1988, Gordon Bunshaft nominated himself for the Pritzker Prize and eventually won it.

Career[link]

Born in Buffalo, New York to Russian immigrant parents of a Jewish decent, where he attended Lafayette High School, an architecturally significant building, Bunshaft was a modernist whose early influences included Mies van der Rohe and Le Corbusier. His best-known design is the Lever House, built as a corporate headquarters for the soap company Lever Brothers. His design for the Manufacturers Hanover Trust Branch Bank (1953), the first post-war 'transparent' bank on the east coast, is a modernist gem.

Bunshaft worked with Edward Durell Stone, worked three months for industrial designer Raymond Loewy, whom he considered a phony, and eventually became a partner in the New York office of the young firm Skidmore, Owings and Merrill.

Bunshaft's only single-family residence is the 2300 square foot (210 m²) Travertine House, built for his own family. On his death he left the house to MoMA, which sold it to Martha Stewart in 1995. Her extensive remodelling stalled amid an acrimonious planning dispute with a neighbour, and when she sold the house to textile magnate Donald Maharam in 2005 he described the house as "decrepit and largely beyond repair" and demolished it. [1] [2]

In the 1950s, Bunshaft was hired by the State Department's Office of Foreign Building Operations as a collaborator on the design for several U.S. consulates in Germany.

His minimalist approach extended beyond his architecture. Upon receiving the Pritzker Prize in 1988, for which he nominated himself,^[1] he gave the shortest speech of any winner in the award's history, stating:

In 1928, I entered the MIT School of Architecture and started my architectural trip. Today, 60 years later, I've been given the Pritzker Architecture Prize for which I thank the Pritzker family and the distinguished members of the selection committee for honoring me with this prestigious award. It is the capstone of my life in architecture. That's it.

Bunshaft's personal papers are held by the Department of Drawings & Archives in the Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library at Columbia University; his architectural drawings remain with SOM. He is buried next to his wife and parents in the Temple Beth El cemetery on Pine Ridge Road in Buffalo, New York.

Exterior of the Hirshhorn Museum, facing Independence Avenue

Buildings[link]

• 1942 - Great Lakes Naval Training Center, Hostess House - Great Lakes, IL
• 1951 - Lever House - New York, New York
• 1953 - Manufacturers Hanover Trust Branch Bank - New York, New York
• 1958 - Reynolds Metals Company International Headquarters - Richmond, Virginia
• 1961 - One Chase Manhattan Plaza - New York City
• 1962 - CIL House - Montreal
• 1962 - Albright-Knox Art Gallery addition - Buffalo, New York
• 1963 - Travertine House - East Hampton (town), New York
• 1963 - Beinecke Library - Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut
• 1965 - Banque Lambert - Brussels
• 1967 - Marine Midland Building - New York City
• 1971 - Lyndon Baines Johnson Library and Museum - Austin, Texas
• 1974 - Solow Building - 9 West 57th Street, New York, New York
• 1974 - W. R. Grace Building - New York, New York
• 1974 - Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden - Washington, D.C.
• 1983 - National Commercial Bank - Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

Gallery[link]

• 

  Beinecke Library
  Yale University, New Haven, CT 1963
  

• 

  Solow Building
  New York, 1974
  

• 

  Hirshhorn Museum
  Washington, D.C. 1974

• 

  Johnson Presidential Library
  Austin, Texas, 1971

References[link]

Further reading[link]

• Carol Herselle Krinsky, Gordon Bunshaft of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, MIT Press, 1988

External links[link]

Biography portal

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Gordon Bunshaft

• "Oral history interview with Gordon Bunshaft". Chicago Architects Oral History Project, The Art Institute of Chicago. http://www.artic.edu/aic/libraries/caohp/bunshaft.html. Retrieved October 13, 2005. 
• "Wrecking Ball". MetaFilter. http://www.metafilter.com/mefi/45778. Retrieved October 12, 2005.  Discussion and links about preservation and rebuilding of the Bunshaft Residence, aka "Travertine House.".
• "Gordon Bunshaft 1988 Laureate". The Pritzker Architecture Prize. http://www.pritzkerprize.com/laureates/1988_2/index.html. Retrieved October 12, 2005. 
• Gordon Bunshaft architectural drawings and papers, 1909-1990 (bulk 1950-1979). Held in the Dept. of Drawings & Archives, Avery Architectural & Fine Arts Library, Columbia University, New York City
• Gordon Bunshaft at Find a Grave