Sustainable design
SOM has a long history of innovation in sustainable architecture and design. As early as 1969, SOM founder Nathaniel Owings wrote: "Civilizations leave marks on the Earth by which they are known and judged. To a large extent, the nature of their immortality is measured by how well their builders made peace with the environment." (source: Nathaniel Owings, "The American Aesthetic", Harper & Row, 1969) This ethos has shaped the company's journey toward sustainable practices. An early example is the headquarters he designed for the 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. Another milestone in large-scale sustainable architecture was the completion of the US Census Bureau headquarters in 2007, the first federal office building to receive LEED certification. Like Weyerhaeuser, the campus design works in conjunction with its natural environment and incorporates a variety of design strategies to reduce its environmental impact.
In 2015, SOM completed the first net-zero energy school building in New York City and one of the first worldwide. The Kathleen Grimm School of Leadership and Sustainability at Sandy Ground, Staten Island,[7] has been awarded for its sustainability performance by organizations such as the American Institute of Architects, the Municipal Art Society, and the Urban Land Institute. SOM has been recognized for its research and experimentation with new energy-saving and carbon-reducing technologies, such as a timber tower[8] and a modified concrete slab design.[9].
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 the Willis Tower (formerly Sears Tower), which became the world's tallest structure upon 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, often considered the greatest structural engineer of the century. Khan invented a tubular frame 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.
Innovation in digital design
In the 1960s and 1970s, SOM was an early leader in computer-aided design, developing in-house digital tools that preceded the CAD systems widely used today. This work quickly proved valuable in generating structural analysis tools that were adopted by Fazlur Khan and his engineering team, aiding the design of projects such as the John Hancock Center.
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. During the 1970s and 1980s, members of the relatively small dedicated group pushed to integrate improved data storage and analysis capabilities into various phases of the design process. Through these initiatives, SOM was able to identify the potential of computing to not only speed up the necessary calculations, but also to introduce new ways of representing and sharing information. Just as structural engineering came to be seen early on at SOM as a means of generating, rather than simply realizing architectural ideas, with a concerted effort, computer science gained credibility in the firm, and eventually throughout the industry, as a catalyst for architectural innovation. In 1980, an internal SOM team created Architecture Engineering Systems, a computer program that was used to study complex structural systems and energy demands. This program is considered a precursor to the building information modeling (BIM) toolkit now used by the profession.[10].
Integration of art and architecture
For decades, many of SOM's projects have featured artwork by major artists. In many cases, the firm's architects and engineers played an essential role in the commissioning, engineering and installation of the artworks, such as the Chicago Picasso, a 50-foot-tall steel sculpture in the city's civic center. Joan Miró, Alexander Calder, Isamu Noguchi, Harry Bertoia, Richard Lippold and Jean Dubuffet are among the artists whose work has been an integral part of SOM's projects. More recently, SOM architects and engineers have collaborated with artists such as James Turrell, Janet Echelman, Iñigo Manglano – Ovalle, James Carpenter and Jaume Plensa.
Urban design and planning
Since the company's founding, SOM has led large-scale urban planning and design projects. Many of these projects have played a lasting role in the development of cities and urban areas in the United States and the world, including London, Chicago, New York, Washington, D.C., Baltimore, Denver, and Portland. The practice of SOM has made influential contributions to urban design approaches such as transit-oriented development, overbuilding strategies, and sustainable urbanism. In 1942, the United States Army Corps of Engineers contracted SOM for a highly confidential project: the planning of Oak Ridge (Tennessee). In 1945, the city was home to 75,000 people. The work at Oak Ridge prepared SOM to take on the large-scale architectural and planning projects that would define the postwar era.
For more than 20 years, SOM participated in the development of a master plan for the National Mall in Washington, D.C. In 1962, President John F. Kennedy appointed Nathaniel Owings as chairman of the Pennsylvania Avenue Redesign Council, and the resulting 1966 Washington Mall Master Plan laid the foundation for a dynamic, welcoming and pedestrian-friendly place. A second master plan, developed in 1973, called for the construction of major cultural facilities, including the National Air and Space Museum, the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, and the National Gallery of Art Sculpture Garden.
In Baltimore in the 1960s, SOM played a critical role in preventing the destruction of the city's historic districts and the Inner Harbor to make way for the planned construction of an elevated highway. As chairman of a team to develop an alternative plan, Nathaniel Owings convinced the Federal Highway Administration to sign off on a plan to reroute the highway. It was eventually built around the port and the historic Federal Hill district, saving these irreplaceable neighborhoods.
In the 1970s, SOM collaborated with landscape architect Lawrence Halprin to plan and design the Portland Transit Mall. The goals were to revitalize downtown Oregon, encourage the use of public transportation, and create walkable streets. The Transit Mall helped change the perception of downtown Portland. As one of the first projects of its kind in the United States, it helped usher in an era of urban landscape design that puts people first. Another important commission in the 1970s was the Boston Transportation Planning Review, a metropolitan redesign of all of Boston's road and transit infrastructure.
Starting in the 1980s, SOM planned the design and construction of Canary Wharf in London. Intended to accommodate a thriving financial sector and revitalize London's former Docklands, the plan included more than 20 building sites and a host of public spaces and amenities. The plan also envisaged a strong transport network, including a light rail station connecting to the London Underground. The massive scale of the project led to the opening of SOM's London office in 1986. The company's work in Canary Wharf continued into the new millennium, with the completion of Five Canada Square in 2002. In central London, the opportunity to build on railway lines near Liverpool Street station prompted the construction of Broadgate, a new commercial district. SOM designed the masterplan and, over three decades, designed several of the site's 14 buildings. To build high-rise structures above one of the city's busiest stations and its railway station, SOM's structural engineering team devised a platform above the tracks to allow for various building configurations on top. Exchange House, completed in 1990, is a building that acts as a bridge across the tracks. In 2008, Broadgate Tower, the tallest building in the district, was completed. SOM also designed public realm improvements for the area.