Architecture of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill

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Bibliographic Information

Architecture of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill

introduction by Henry-Russell Hitchcock ; text by Ernst Danz

Monacelli Press, [2009]-

1st Monacelli Press ed

  • 1950-1962
  • 1963-1973
  • 1973-1983
  • 1984-1996
  • 1997-2008

Other Title

SOM

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Note

Description based on 1950-1962

Originally published: 1950-1962, bilingual ed.: Stuttgart : G. Hatje, 1962 & New York : F.A. Praeger, 1963; 1963-1973, bilingual ed.: Stuttgart : G. Hatje & New York : Architectural Book, 1974; 1973-1983, bilingual ed.: Stuttgart : G. Hatje & New York : V.N. Reinhold, 1983

Commentaries: 1963-1973: Axel Menges

Introduction: 1963-1973: Arthur Drexler; 1973-1983: Albert Bush-Brown (introduction and regional prefaces); 1984-1996: Detlef Mertins; 1997-2008: Kenneth Frampton

Copyright: 1950-1962: 1962; 1963-1973: 1974; 1973-1983: 2009; 1984-1996: 2009; 1997-2008: 2009

Description and Table of Contents

Volume

1950-1962 ISBN 9781580932202

Description

Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, founded in 1936, is one of the largest and most influential architecture firms in the world. SOM has long been known for innovation, experimentation, design excellence, and technical mastery, for an abiding interest in the contributions that buildings can make to the life of cities, and for a collaborative approach that extends to all aspects of the design and construction processes. This volume, which presents work from the 1950's and early 1960's, reproduces a monograph first published in 1962. In an age dominated by a few great architect-designers noted for their intensely personal art, the firm of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill for twenty-five years has been a unique force in the building of the modern city. This book is the first study of SOM's unified but far-flung operations, of the architecture created by its remarkable complex of designers and engineers working in all corners of the world. Containing photographs, site and building plans, elevation drawings, and accompanying explanatory text, it shows clearly the integrated and pioneering work of a great American firm. From Lever House to the Chase Manhattan Bank, from Oak Ridge to the Inland Steel Headquarters, from a school for the deaf to a rare-book library at Yale, SOM has achieved a high perfection in standards of structural design, continually refined excellence of finish, and vitality and elegance of experimentation. But it has done more than that. Eschewing convenient routine solutions, SOM has demonstrated that a large organization need not be uniform, conservative, or schematized. In every aspect of the building process, in every detail of design and execution, it has shown imaginative and experimental brilliance. The curtain walls of Lever House, the exposed reinforced concrete ribs of other skyscrapers, the spatial organization and lighting in their offices, the steel tetrahedrons of the Air Force Academy Chapel: these technological innovations have virtually opened up a new esthetic and technique of modern architectural design. SOM architects are not, however, only interested in the individual building. Persuading its clients of responsibilities beyond the mere maintenance of structures they will occupy and use, SOM is itself dedicated to solving the major architectural problem of our day: the re-creation of old, and creation of new, cities - well planned, imaginative, and of innate and lasting distinction. The substance of this book illuminates the manner in which Skidmore, Owings & Merrill has achieved that goal.
Volume

1963-1973 ISBN 9781580932219

Description

Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, founded in 1936, is one of the largest and most influential architecture firms in the world. SOM has long been known for innovation, experimentation, design excellence, and technical mastery, for an abiding interest in the contributions that buildings can make to the life of cities, and for a collaborative approach that extends to all aspects of the design and construction processes. This volume, which presents work from the 1960's and early 1970's, reproduces a monograph first published in 1974. Since the early 1950's, SOM has ranked among the leading architectural offices in the United States. Buildings such as the office skyscraper of the Lever Brothers Company or the administrative building of the Connecticut General Life Insurance Company have exerted a decisive influence on the history of postwar architecture and have, both by their form and their construction, pointed the way in new directions. SOM has proved that even an enterprise which at present comprises about 1,000 members is able, by teamwork and dedication, to produce results which are equal to those of the great individualists of modern architecture. This book is dedicated to SOM's most recent work. The gradual move away from the ideas of the 1950's, a period which was entirely characterized by the International Style, has not, as was sometimes feared, resulted in a decrease but rather in an increase in architectural quality. To the continued almost unsurpassable technical and organizational discipline has now been added an astonishingly varied form-language. Of those who are moving in completely new directions we should mention, above all, Walter Netsch in Chicago and Edward Bassett in San Francisco. Netsch developed a multi-axial ground-plan geometry which makes it possible to use identical elements which are easy to mass-produce in the construction of extremely complex buildings which can be extended on the principle of cellular structures; Bassett is especially concerned with overcoming the isolation of individual buildings which is a heritage of the International Style period. But even those who have carried on along the principles of the 1950's have not been simply marking time. On the contrary, they subject these principles to new interpretations and continue to develop them consequentially, either toward an intensification of the architectural expression (Gordon Bunshaft, Roy Allen) or toward a refinement of the construction methods (Bruce Graham, Fazlur Khan). Bunshaft has, in recent years, distinguished himself above all in his response to the challenge of an increased desire for symbolism in architecture; the names Graham and Khan are synonymous with the process of forming the external framework of a building as a self-supporting tube, a development which has opened up completely new perspectives in the field of skyscraper construction. The building and projects included in this book combine to produce an impressive survey of the activity of the past ten years. All the examples are provided with comprehensive commentaries and, where necessary, documented with attention to details. In his extensive introduction, Arthur Drexler explains the social and architectural relevance of SOM's work and subjects it to a critical appraisal.
Volume

1973-1983 ISBN 9781580932226

Description

Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, founded in 1936, is one of the largest and most influential architecture firms in the world. SOM has long been known for innovation, experimentation, design excellence, and technical mastery, for an abiding interest in the contributions that buildings can make to the life of cities, and for a collaborative approach that extends to all aspects of the design and construction processes. This volume, which presents work from the 1970s and early 1980s, reproduces a monograph first published in 1983. SOM's growth as a large architectural firm began almost fifty years ago. By 1981 there were nine offices in the United States with a total of more than 2,100 members. The decade 1973-1983 brought retirement to a number of well-known founding partners. Nevertheless, SOM's reputation for design leadership has been maintained through "creative dissidence," as one of the younger partners describes it. The firm moves with distinction into a third and fourth generation. This book, organized by region, reveals the firm's architectural response to a decade that greatly changed American society. The firm's work of the past decade belonged to the city, and especially the urban office tower. Architectural restraints, new technology and programs created opportunity for a new generation of distinctive towers that have become important additions to the skylines of major American cities. The tall building has evolved to new purposes, and the result has been expanding variations on tower architecture. The late Chicago partner Fazlur Khan, who led the way by creating the flexible, economical tube structure, was enthusiastic about the tall building, claiming "it permits work and residential space to locate where and when most needed." The tall building, for him, was a remarkable economical and symbolic success which also performed an admirable social service. The decade was also defined by wide public interest in preservation of historic buildings and contexts. To this movement, SOM's designers did not react with historical quotation or eclectic reference, but rather by accepting the contextual obligation as part of their more urgent quest for a strong architecture that is both modern and compatible with its setting. SOM addressed important urban problems with seminal studies for San Antonio, Chicago, and Washington, as well as with designs for large urban transportation facilities on the East Coast. At the same time, the firm sought work abroad in the face of a barren domestic economy, designing universities, new towns, airport terminals, and commercial buildings on several continents. Whereas regret surrounds plans for Iranian cities halted by political revolt, planning projects of this kind introduced the firm's teams to social urgency and primary research into indigenous form. The energy crisis brought still other challenges. Its special requirements created new architectural opportunities that have been demonstrated by buildings in a variety of locations. SOM early recognized the potential of computer analysis and pioneered its adoption in dealing with structural and architectural problems. This capability dramatically extended SOM's capacity for the creative study of energy efficiency and performance calculations.
Volume

1984-1996 ISBN 9781580932233

Description

Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, founded in 1936, is one of the largest and most influential architecture firms in the world. SOM has long been known for innovation, experimentation, design excellence, and technical mastery, for an abiding interest in the contributions that buildings can make to the life of cities, and for a collaborative approach that extends to all aspects of the design and construction processes. This volume presents work from the 1980s and 1990s. Since its founding in the 1930s, SOM has pioneered an architectural practice that is equally attentive to the currents of modern design and the demands of the marketplace. The early years were devoted to developing the International Style in the United States; the middle of the century to collaborations with legendary patrons such as Lever Brothers, John Hancock, Sears Roebuck, and Yale University; and the later years to charting a course for architecture at a time when modernism was beginning to embrace contextualism and local cultures. In the years 1984-1996, SOM continued to develop the skills for which it had become known - high standards of design, imaginative structural solutions, exceptional detailing, city making on a grand scale, expertise in managing large and complex sites - and also addressed new areas of design and practice. A contextual modernism - one attentive to climate, topography, and the regional vernacular - a focus on restoration and reuse, and an expansion of international work came to the fore in a time of great social and economic change. In his introduction, Detlef Mertins traces the firm's history in parallel with this restructuring, a growth in real estate development and financial markets that fundamentally changed how buildings were commissioned and built. Rowes Wharf in Boston, the USG and AT&T Buildings in Chicago, and Worldwide Plaza and the Islamic Cultural Center in New York are among the buildings that represent the firm's contextualism and inventive interpretation of historic precedents. At the same time, Exchange House in London demonstrates SOM's continued commitment to modernism and technological expression. Many projects, such as Enerplex in Plainsboro, New Jersey, and the Pacific Bell Administrative Complex in San Ramon, California, broke new ground in strategies for long-term energy conservation. Among the firm's important restorations of this era are the Civic Opera House in Chicago and the U.S. Court of Appeals in San Francisco, as well as a series of historic train stations along the Northeast Corridor. International works - the National Commercial Bank in Saudi Arabia, Ayala Tower One/Philippine Stock Exchange, the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Center, and especially Canary Wharf in London, an entire district based on a new model of urban planning - demonstrate SOM's coordinated expertise in planning, transportation and civil engineering, and landscape design in an era of globalization. Finally, the most recent works, especially the landmark Jin Mao Tower in China, point the way to SOM's work of the twenty-first century: diverse, contextual, urbane, and populist.
Volume

1997-2008 ISBN 9781580932240

Description

Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, founded in 1936, is one of the largest and most influential architecture firms in the world. SOM has long been known for innovation, experimentation, design excellence, and technical mastery, for an abiding interest in the contributions that buildings can make to the life of cities, and for a collaborative approach that extends to all aspects of the design and construction processes. This volume presents work from the late 1990s and 2000s. In an era of true globalization in design and commerce, SOM has come to occupy a unique place in American and international architecture. Recognized for the exceptional quality of its architectural design and urban planning, the firm is also renowned for its clients, an eminent group of businesses and institutions. In the years 1997-2008, the period represented in this monograph, SOM's steadfast dedication to a modern expression has produced an important series of works at all scales, in a variety of typologies, in countries around the world. From the diminutive Skyscraper Museum in New York City to the radiant Cathedral of Christ the Light in Oakland, California, to the master plan and two buildings for the University of California Merced, the newest U.C. campus, the works shown here illustrate the remarkable range of SOM's current practice. Perhaps no work exemplifies the firm's creative, multifaceted approach as much as 7 World Trade Center, the first structure built at the World Trade Center after September 11, 2001. On a site claimed by commerce but also subject to the demands of memory, SOM created an elegant stainless-steel and glass tower that restores the New York City street grid and begins the process of remaking this part of the city. A suggestive combination of artistic and structural expertise, dedication to finding sustainable design solutions, collaborations with preeminent artists and designers, and commitment to urbanism characterize not only 7 World Trade Center but SOM's recent body of work. Among the projects shown is the massive U.S. Census Bureau Headquarters in Suitland, Maryland, the first federal office building to receive a LEED rating. The U.S. Embassy in Beijing elegantly responds to the local culture and site. An abundance of airport projects - in New York, San Francisco, Boston, Israel, and Singapore - shows SOM's mastery of this complex project type. The firm's commitment to urbanism and its ability to work at a large scale on sites of great visibility are evident in the designs for the Time Warner Center in New York and Tokyo Midtown, as well as in a series of grand master plans: Chongming Island in Shanghai, the redevelopment of the waterfront in Alexandria, Egypt, and Treasure Island in the San Francisco Bay. At the same time, the firm often works at a fine scale, as in the Burr Street School in Connecticut, the retail prototype for Charles Schwab, and the Conde Nast Cafeteria in New York. Kenneth Frampton brings a historian's perspective to SOM's recent work, tracing its evolution back to the Miesian modernism dominant at the time of the firm's founding and forward to the cutting-edge technical advances to which the firm has devoted itself. Large-span structures, high-rise towers, low-rise topographic forms, compositions that incorporate media, and constructivist essays: all contribute to the development of contemporary architecture and contemporary urbanism alike. Well into its eighth decade of practice, SOM continues on a course of twenty-first century modernism, a modernism that is diverse and inclusive, contextual, urbane, and populist.

by "Nielsen BookData"

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