Skidmore, Owings and Merrill

Shaklee Terraces, San Francisco, designed in 1982 with a flush aluminum and glass facade and rounded corners.

Skidmore, Owings and Merrill LLP (SOM) is a Chicago-based architectural firm that was formed in 1936 by Louis Skidmore and Nathaniel Owings; in 1939 they were joined by John Merrill. They opened their first branch in New York City, New York in 1937. SOM is one of the largest architectural firms in the United States. 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.

Many of SOM's post-war designs have become icons of American modern architecture, including the Lever House (1952) in New York City; the Air Force Academy Chapel (1958) in Colorado Springs, Colorado; and the John Hancock Building (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 and engineers have been associated with the various national offices. These include: Gordon Bunshaft, Natalie de Blois, Myron Goldsmith, Bruce Graham, Gertrude Kerbis, Fazlur Khan, Walter Netsch, Pietro Belluschi, and David Childs. The company claims to have completed 10,000 projects and maintains offices in Chicago, New York City, San Francisco, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, London, Hong Kong, and Shanghai.

The firm has been recently questioned for its win of the contract to design the Freedom Tower, replacing the destroyed World Trade Center in Manhattan. After Daniel Liebeskind won the competition for master-planning, SOM was awarded the architectural design contract for the Freedom Tower, after having withdrawn their entry in the original design competition.

Notable SOM buildings

*Individual buildings and the town plan for Oak Ridge, Tennessee, 1942
*Lever House, New York City, New York, 1952
*United States Air Force Academy, Colorado Springs, Colorado, 1958
*Tour Telus (CIL House), Montreal, Quebec, 1962
*Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, 1963
*University of Illinois at Chicago's "Circle Campus", 1965
*Louis Jefferson Long Library at Wells College, Aurora, New York 1968
*Bank of America Center, San Francisco, California, 1969
*John Hancock Center, Chicago, Illinois, 1969
*Weyerhaeuser Headquarters, Tacoma, Washington, 1971
*Hajj Terminal, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, 1972
*Sears Tower, Chicago, Illinois, 1973
*Carlton Centre, Johannesburg, South Africa, 1973
*US Bank Building, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 1973
*First Wisconsin Plaza, Madison, Wisconsin, 1974
*Enerplex, North Building, Princeton, New Jersey, 1982
*Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome, Minneapolis, Minnesota, 1982
*US Bancorp Tower, Portland, Oregon, 1983
*Wachovia Financial Center, Miami, Florida, 1984
*Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 3, Manila, Philippines, 1997
*Jin Mao Building, Shanghai, 1998
*Embassy of the United States in Ottawa, Ottawa, Canada, 1999
*7 South Dearborn (unbuilt), Chicago, Illinois, 2000
*San Francisco International Airport International Terminal, San Francisco, California, 2001
*AOL Time Warner Center, New York City, New York, 2003
*Ben Gurion Airport Terminal 3, Tel Aviv, Israel, Israel, completed 2004 (in association with Moshe Safdie)
*Rondo One, Warsaw, Poland
*7 World Trade Center (second), New York, New York, 2006

Buildings under construction

*Freedom Tower, New York City, New York
*Tokyo Midtown Project, Tokyo, Japan
*Burj Dubai, Dubai City, Dubai
*Trump International Hotel and Tower, Chicago, Illinois
*Broadgate Tower, London, England

External links

* SOM corporate site
* Review of the 1954 Manufacturer's Hanover Trust Branch Bank in NYC