Women have played a pivotal role in leading SOM’s projects and practice for several generations, starting in the 1950s. Their contributions are all the more notable in a profession that has continued to struggle with gender equity. Much progress has been made since our firm rose to prominence in the mid-century era, when design leaders such as Natalie de Blois never received the recognition they deserved. Today, women make up nearly half of our global staff, and three women partners lead our all-female executive committee. But more work remains to be done.

To learn about the challenges women in architecture have faced and how we can continue making progress toward gender equity, Marti Gottsch, chair of the SOM Women’s Initiative, brought together three remarkable leaders from our firm’s past and present: Diane Legge, who in 1982 was the first woman to become a partner; Marilyn Jordan Taylor, who in 1985 became lead partner for the urban design and transportation practices, as well as the firm’s chairperson in the early 2000s; and Julia Murphy, a current partner who continues to champion equity at SOM and throughout the profession.

Marti Gottsch: Your careers span from the 1970s to the present, and I’m curious to know about your early years at SOM. There were very few women in leadership positions when each of you started. What challenges did that present?

Marilyn Taylor: I was lucky. I walked into SOM’s Washington, D.C., office, straight out of school, to ask for an interview. It was a small office that was supporting Nat Owings’ work with the White House to make the National Mall more inviting. That project was a great lesson in the value of the public realm, a lesson that has always stayed with me.

The office was congenial. There was one woman who was in charge of the construction documents, but the team was 90 percent men.

Diane Legge: Even in college, we were always with the guys. I went to Stanford’s engineering school, where I graduated in 1972 as one of two women in a class of about 200.

Julia Murphy: When I started at SOM in 2008, all the leaders were men. There was definitely a feeling of underrepresentation. Architecture schools had moved closer to a 50–50 split between men and women, and I remember others saying that we just had to wait for that wave of women to come. But architecture was still dominated by men — especially in design roles — so it was going to take some work.

Marilyn: Shortly after I became the firm’s chairperson, I had the chance to meet Natalie de Blois, who designed some of SOM’s most important projects in the 1950s and 1960s but was never made a partner. We were both invited to speak at Columbia University. I was nervous as could be. Here was this remarkable woman who never was allowed to advance herself, and yet she spoke with such a sense of fulfillment about her career. It was extraordinary. I was practically ready to cry. She told me, “Now it’s your turn. You have to take the lead.”

Marti: Diane, you were the first woman to become a partner at SOM, in 1982, and Marilyn became a partner four years later. In our Women’s Initiative meetings, we often discuss how to chart a pathway toward a leadership role. What were the key factors that brought you both to that role?

Diane: I learned early that you had to be a rainmaker. You had to get new clients and find new work with old ones. But to do that, you needed men to help.

The first big project I was in charge of was the Chicago Tribune printing plant. The client group was all men, of course. Once, we were getting ready for a big presentation to the chairman of the board, and one of the guys took me aside and said, “Are you going to wear a cocktail dress tomorrow?” I was taken aback. But the chairman later went to Bruce Graham, who was a partner in Chicago, and told him how happy he was to work with me.

Marilyn: You needed support from outside the firm before you could grow within it, especially as a design leader. That’s just how it was. For me, a turning point came when one of our clients went to the partners and said, “You better make her a partner, or she’s going to leave and have a better practice than you do.” That was a compliment I’ll never forget. It changed the trajectory of my career.

There was definitely a cultural shift from the 1960s to the 1980s. The “Mad Men” era was a struggle for women like Natalie, but by the 1980s, nobody was saying, “Oh, well, she’s just a girl.” You might’ve been thrown out of a job for saying something like that.

Diane: There was a big change when I became partner, because I was the first partner in SOM’s history to get pregnant! The guys didn’t know what to do. They huddled and decided I could take six weeks off with no pay. Two weeks later, there was a celebration for the firm’s 50th anniversary in Chicago. It was a big deal, so I showed up. One of the partners came to me and said that if I could be there that night, then I could be back in the office for the Monday morning partners’ meeting. So, that was it. I was off for two weeks and returned to work.

Julia: We’ve made a lot of really big changes. Now everyone is entitled to at least three months of parental leave.

Diane: I’m so glad to hear that. I decided to leave SOM when I was in my late 30s and had a little one in diapers. I wanted to have more kids and the flexibility to raise them.

I also wanted to take on different types of projects. I loved working on newspaper plants, learning about the equipment and the production process, but there wasn’t much desire at SOM to do that type of work. I had the opportunity to design the new Arlington International Thoroughbred Racecourse in Chicago, and I remember the partners saying that they didn’t want us working on a racecourse. But what a project! I made a tough decision to leave, and that was really hard after working my way up. The partners were disappointed. But when I left, I was able to go after those different kinds of buildings.

Julia: I think that’s a great lesson for not only architects, but really anyone in any profession — to understand your own ambitions, and if the framework you’re working in doesn’t serve you, to find another path. I think that’s all the more courageous, because in the end, you have to follow your own compass.

The culture at SOM has also changed so much, even in just the past few years. Diane and Marilyn, you would be shocked to walk around our office at 7 p.m., because there’s practically no one here. People might still be working from home, but the culture of staying late in the office has shifted tremendously.

Marti: About a decade later, Marilyn, you became the first woman chairperson of SOM and you created the SOM Women’s Initiative. Today, the Women’s Initiative works to advance women at all levels of the firm, and we do that through a focus on mentorship and providing opportunities for professional development. I’m curious to know what form the Women’s’ Initiative took in its early days.

Marilyn: It started one day when I saw a woman in our office get up at 5:30 to go home, make dinner, and spend the evening with her kids — which was really going against the grain. This was around 2000, when architects routinely stayed late. A day or two later, I was sitting with another partner, and I asked him how many women in his studio were above the associate level. He didn’t know. I asked him to identify four women who can lead a team for an upcoming project, and he just stared at me. It wasn’t until months later that he came back and said, “I’m glad you did that,” and he identified the women he believed could grow toward those roles.

Julia: You directly challenged him to bring women into leadership positions?

Marilyn: Right, and that was the inspiration for the Women’s Initiative. We needed a platform. It was small — there still weren’t many of us — so my goal was to keep all our women enthusiastic about their work, while also giving them the chance to spend more time at home. Some of the younger partners rallied around that idea, too. I’d sneak out of the office to attend my daughter’s basketball games, and simply find time elsewhere to make up that work. You have to be there for those moments with your family. It’s good karma.

Marti: Julia, you started at SOM shortly after Marilyn decided to take on a new role as the dean of the University of Pennsylvania School of Design. The Women’s Initiative had gone dormant by then. What inspired you to revive it?

Julia: When I joined, I remember feeling that some of the more progressive parts of SOM’s history as a workplace that included women had fallen away. I knew there had been women in leadership, with four partners at one point, but suddenly there were none at that level. So I worked with a group of younger architects to learn about what Marilyn started and we brought it back. We engaged all the women in the office and all the men leading the firm, and they were very receptive to the issues we raised, like expanding parental leave and creating a pipeline for equitable growth. They understood that the old way of doing things was not sustainable. We had conversations about which women could take on new roles, lead projects, and have opportunities to demonstrate their skill and creativity.

Having the Women’s Initiative as a platform is helpful when, as an organization, we’ve needed to make a change or take a stand on an issue. Younger people, especially, want to work at places that share their values. When Roe v. Wade was reversed, it was the Women’s Initiative that came to the partnership and said that this is a health issue, and we need to make sure everyone feels supported.

Marilyn: Amazing. It’s great to see how far you’ve come!

Julia: You got us started, Marilyn! And we’re still working at this. Almost half of our staff are women, but only five of our 21 partners are women — we still have progress ahead.

I also think that when women have a voice, we can open the door for other underrepresented groups. The Women’s Initiative became the blueprint for other employee resource groups — SOM Pride, NOMA, Arquitectos, and the Asian Alliance. These groups have become so important, especially for our junior staff, to have a sounding board. They raise issues to the partners and present ideas for improvement, and that led to us publishing an annual DEI report — which clients, especially in higher education, now ask to see.

Marti: That is such a great point, Julia, and being able to have that kind of ripple effect on other underrepresented groups is something I have found inspirational. That leads me to the next question: What have you found most inspirational in your careers?

Marilyn: I think what got me through these years in architecture is the work and the teams around me. You grow together over the course of a project. We were creating beautiful, welcoming places, and that is such a satisfying feeling.

I spent many years working on Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor. I remember, one weekend at Penn Station in Baltimore, seeing a woman walking through the main concourse with her children. She didn’t have any baggage. She simply brought her kids to the station to admire the building. I didn’t say anything. I just stepped back and watched these kids look around. Those are things that you carry with you.

Diane: After we completed The Boston Globe’s printing plant in 1984, I came in one day to see the facility. A bunch of workers came out of the press room, and they told me, “We love it here.” They were so proud to be working in that building. That is the greatest thing anyone can tell an architect.

Julia: It’s really inspiring to talk to both of you about your paths — how you made an impact at SOM and what you have done in the years since working here. There is a tremendous lesson in your resiliency and ability to continue finding new and creative outlets as architects.

Diane: Architecture is a tough profession — you have to approach it with a sense of gratitude. Be joyful when you get a great project. Be happier still when it’s successful and people love it. It doesn’t matter whether you’re a woman or not. What’s important is to be the best architect you can possibly be.

As the new year begins, we are excited to showcase a selection of our work in progress — including several projects unveiled here for the first time. While this work ranges widely in location and scale, it reflects a design approach that is firmly rooted in a sense of place. From a residential tower on Mexico’s Pacific coast to an oceanarium on the Red Sea, each design responds to the local culture and climate. Equally apparent is a commitment to enhancing the public realm; a number of these projects involve transforming waterfront sites into accessible places for people to enjoy.

Across the board, our design teams are delivering on our commitment to reduce the carbon impact of building construction and operations. As scaffolding comes down, these new buildings show what is possible when architects and engineers collaborate to deliver sophisticated technical solutions — from the innovative engineering of a Los Angeles art museum’s dramatic new building, to the sensitive retrofit of a modernist building in Milan that repurposes and reuses existing materials. These are just a few of the highlights; we’re excited for all of the progress that 2024 will bring.

An innovative structure merges architecture and landscape

Sany IROOTECH Headquarters
Guangzhou, China

For the headquarters of its new cloud technology company, the construction equipment manufacturer Sany engaged SOM to make a bold architectural statement. The two towers of the complex are united by a striking structural design — an external system of five-story steel columns rising in a diamond grid pattern. As beautiful as it is efficient, this design allows the floors to be suspended from the structure, eliminating the need for cumbersome interior columns, while also creating space for outdoor garden terraces. With construction well underway, the new Sany headquarters is slated for completion in late 2024.

The design team gave just as much attention to the space surrounding the towers, located at the center of Guangzhou’s Pazhou business district. Rather than a typical solid podium base, an elevated podium bridges the two buildings, allowing the ground between them to become an inviting public plaza and gardens. Sensitive to Pazhou’s climate, landscape, and context, the design integrates nature in order to create a more inviting and connected workplace.

A major new development reconnects Nashville with its riverfront

Nashville Riverside
Nashville, Tennessee

First announced in 2021, a highly anticipated development in Nashville will soon break ground along the banks of the Cumberland River. Continuing a decades-long effort to reconnect the city with its riverfront, SOM’s master plan for Nashville Riverside interweaves residential and commercial buildings with new parks and recreation areas, including large outdoor spaces to host events and festivals. The project is designed to catalyze further development along the length of the Cumberland, emphasizing access, amenities, and ecological stewardship. The entitlements process with the City of Nashville is now complete, allowing construction to begin in early 2024.

Landscape design is the key to the new development; it is connected by three new parks spanning more than 25 acres. Along the river’s edge, the native riparian habitat will be restored and enhanced, preventing erosion and improving resilience during major storm events. A series of transportation improvements, including pedestrian and bike pathways, will further improve public access to the riverfront.

An office complex is renewed through an innovative approach to conservation

Corso Italia 23
Milan, Italy

In central Milan, an office complex designed in the 1960s by a team of influential modernist architects is being reimagined through an innovative approach to conservation and adaptive reuse. The transformed Corso Italia 23 sees the introduction of advanced environmental, well-being, and smart building features, while respecting the original architecture by the studio Ponti Fornaroli Rosselli with Piero Portaluppi. The renovation project is slated for completion in 2024.

To transform a formerly insular headquarters into an open campus, integrated with the city and designed to accommodate the needs of future tenants for years to come, the facade of each of the three buildings within the 46,500-square-meter complex has been carefully redesigned, taking into consideration environmental performance, heritage value, and the surrounding urban context. Portions of an existing red granite facade, severely damaged due to previous building interventions, have been reused to create a crushed aggregate for a new facade made of glass fiber reinforced concrete. By repurposing existing materials, rather than replacing them, the project demonstrates a circular economy approach to reducing the carbon impact of construction.

A museum’s metamorphosis is on display

LACMA, David Geffen Galleries
Los Angeles

Like a butterfly emerging from its cocoon, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art’s new building for the permanent collection is being unveiled as temporary shoring starts to come down. Designed by Atelier Peter Zumthor in collaboration with SOM, the David Geffen Galleries building transforms the LACMA campus. When it is completed in 2024, the David Geffen Galleries will become one of LA’s defining cultural monuments. The elevated structure spans across Wilshire Boulevard to create a seamless, single-level gallery experience. It features approximately 110,000 square feet of galleries, a new theater, education and event spaces, restaurants, a museum shop, and ancillary facilities. New parks and open spaces complete the reimagined campus.

As collaborative architects and structural engineers, our goal has been to bring sophisticated resource management, structural solutions, and seismic protection for LACMA’s prized art collection. SOM’s team of engineers and architects devised a suite of 56 state-of-the-art seismic base isolators, each weighing up to 40,000 pounds, to protect the building and the art inside from earthquakes — an innovative solution for the largest art museum in the West.

A new university campus combines tradition and modernity

Kuwait University Administration Facilities
Shadadiya, Kuwait

In 2024, students and faculty will move into the new Administration Facilities at Kuwait University’s Sabah Al-Salem University City, one of the world’s largest educational campuses. Forming a gateway to the new campus, the six interconnected buildings — a library, cultural center, visitor’s center, conference facility, central administration building, and a landmark convocation hall — will serve the varied needs of 40,000 students, faculty, staff, and visitors.

While each building serves distinct programmatic needs, they share a common architectural identity that draws from Kuwait’s rich architectural heritage while countering its harsh desert climate. These include a unique system of shading screens, designed to be lightweight and elegant, that enwraps each building and casts dramatic light and shadow. Inspired by elements found in traditional Middle Eastern Islamic architecture, the screen system features intricate patterns — born from a collaboration with a Kuwaiti poet and artist — that echo abstracted calligraphy of Kufic scripts and verses from Arabic poetry.

A waterfront destination takes shape in Shanghai

South Bund Financial Center
Shanghai, China

SOM’s design for the South Bund Financial Center envisions a dynamic renewal of one of the last remaining areas along the South Bund that has not yet been redeveloped. In contrast to other projects in Shanghai, our masterplan strikes a careful and intentional balance between historic preservation and new construction. The plan retains and preserves historic buildings, while floating new office buildings above them — creating a dynamic mix of uses that will transform the site into a commercial and cultural destination. In this way, the project offers a compelling model for how to preserve and redevelop historic industrial sites throughout China.

The design adds to the existing promenade with a series of new platform parks. Perched above the seawall, these terraces offer magnificent views above the riverfront. Elevated walkways, reminiscent of maritime gangways once found along the waterfront, connect the terraces to create a network of shaded public spaces. Groundbreaking will take place before the Chinese New Year, in February 2024.

An extroverted campus enhances the public realm on the San Francisco Bay

Genesis Marina
Brisbane, California

The world’s largest cluster of biotech companies can be found between San Francisco and Silicon Valley, and soon, a new, multi-tenant life sciences campus will open here that is unlike any other in the region. Spanning a nine-acre waterfront site, SOM’s design for Genesis Marina creates a uniquely public-facing campus. The three-building complex is oriented toward the San Francisco Bay, with a series of cascading steps and grassy terraces for visitors to enjoy.

Notably, Genesis Marina extends and enriches the San Francisco Bay Trail, augmenting the 500-mile waterfront walking and cycling path by a quarter mile. The project demonstrates a commitment to resilience against sea level rise through its design and landscape strategy.

Developed by Phase 3 Real Estate Partners, a firm that specializes in life sciences facilities, Genesis Marina offers world-class laboratory and office spaces. An innovative, modular design allows tenants to tailor their spaces by selecting equipment and components to support their research and discoveries. With amenity spaces including a restaurant and an indoor-outdoor gym — shared by tenants and also welcoming the broader community — Genesis Marina aspires to become a meeting place for the Bay Area’s brightest minds.

A new residential landmark provides vibrant public space

Horizon (Castle Quay Phase II)
Jersey, Channel Islands

Located on the largest of the Channel Islands — an archipelago in the English Channel, off the French coast of Normandy — SOM’s design for Horizon (Castle Quay Phase II) connects the waterfront of the capital, St. Helier, with its town center and sensitively complements the existing architectural character of the island. Already, the development has begun to welcome its first residents, and new public spaces surrounding the complex are due to open in early 2024.

The new residential complex overlooks the historic Elizabeth Castle, named after Queen Elizabeth I by Sir Walter Raleigh, Governor of Jersey between 1600 and 1603. The complex — comprising three geometric blocks — provides residents with stunning views overlooking the castle and surrounding area with each of the total 280 one, two and three-bedroom apartments designed to maximize natural light with floor-to-ceiling windows.

Strengthening public routes and connections between the town center and waterfront, over 50 percent of the site is dedicated to public space with specially commissioned art, including a monumental 7-meter-tall sculpture resembling a ship’s sail by internationally-acclaimed Chinese artist, Zheng Lu.

A new home for research to advance the conservation of the Red Sea’s coral reefs

Oceanarium and Coral Farm
Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

Construction is set to begin soon on an oceanarium and coral farm in Jeddah that will showcase, cultivate and conserve marine life in the Red Sea. Once complete, the research laboratory and visitor attraction will house approximately 500 marine species and set a new benchmark for marine conservation, including the preservation of coral reefs — an integral part of marine ecosystems that help to absorb and store carbon from the atmosphere and mitigate the effects of climate change.

Tuned to the local climate, the design includes interpretations of traditional architectural elements including rawasheen, a style of bay window that maximizes natural light and airflow to provide a cooling effect in Jeddah’s climate. Floating roshan timber screens serve as canopies and partitions throughout. Calibrated to balance passive solar shading and daylighting to promote coral growth in the Coral Farm, the screens reduce temperatures inside the space and maximize energy savings.

Embracing local materials in Mexico

Alisia Residential Tower
Puerto Vallarta, Mexico

At the edge of a marina known as Iguana Island, Alisia, a new residential tower in Puerto Vallarta, is set to break ground later this year. Our design for the 27-floor tower celebrates locally crafted materials and finishes that reflect Mexico’s rich architectural heritage. To create the tower’s distinctive presence, we collaborated with a local cement manufacturer to create a custom low-carbon concrete cast with a soft, reddish sandstone pigment native to the region.

Set back from the edges of the marina and fishermen’s wharf, the tower is surrounded by a terraced landscape carefully blended with the natural habitat to preserve existing wildlife and local fishing practices. The tower’s deep cantilevered balconies evoke natural coral formations eroded over time, perforated with large, round openings which enable natural cross-ventilation to mitigate humidity and reduce sun exposure. The structural system is designed with the high-seismic and high-wind conditions of Puerto Vallarta in mind.

A 1970s SOM classic gets a contemporary update

9 West 57th Street
New York City

In 1971, the Solow Development Corporation tasked SOM with designing an office tower that defied all conventions of a skyscraper. The building had to maximize interior capacity, attract pedestrian attention, and satisfy New York City zoning rules, which mandated that sufficient space remain between buildings to allow sunlight to reach the street. The result — 9 West 57th Street — is still today one of the most prominent and distinctive office buildings along the threshold of Central Park. The 49-story tower is distinguished by north and south elevations that, rather than recess with setbacks, gradually slope inward and narrow as they rise.

SOM is now leading a comprehensive interior renovation of the Solow Building. In the original travertine lobby, artwork and new lighting is introduced to brighten the previously dark space, while a new vestibule leads to the lower level. Underground, a former storage space is being transformed into a fitness center, the core of which will be visible from the street through a new skylight installed within the tower’s glass-enclosed rotunda.

The fitness center will open in April 2024, and in January, the new 27th-floor amenity level will begin serving all tower tenants. Meeting rooms will be situated along the northern side of the building, set against expansive views of Central Park’s tree canopies. A central lounge, with abundant seating, tables, greenery, and coffee bars clad in blue marble, will provide a relaxing setting to convene. These private spaces in the sky will be complemented by an outdoor public gathering place at street level, set within a revamped western plaza with new trees and cafe-style seating — all of which will renew 9 West 57th Street as a fresh yet familiar landmark.

New York City’s aging office buildings from the 1950s and 60s pose a conundrum. Falling short of today’s sustainability standards and in dire need of renovations, many of these buildings have seen increasing vacancy rates in the wake of the pandemic, to the point of becoming financially unviable for building owners.

In stark contrast, the commercial real estate market has seen a faster recovery in newer, premium office leases. Citing the effects of this “flight to quality,” a study published by commercial real estate brokerage Cushman & Wakefield indicates that more than 20 percent of total office inventory in the U.S. — over one billion square feet — is now considered “competitively obsolete,” meaning those buildings will either need to be upgraded or repurposed.

Unlocking the hidden potential in aging buildings requires imagination and creativity. How can we make them attractive to new tenants, economically viable for owners, and responsive to the city’s climate goals? Frank Mahan, leader of SOM’s adaptive reuse practice, and Nico Kienzl, a director at the environmental design and engineering consultancy Atelier Ten, discuss the enormous potential — and the urgent need — to find solutions for the city’s less-distinguished office buildings.

Frank, what are the goals of adaptive reuse at SOM?

Frank Mahan: It’s relatively unique to have a practice within an architectural office that is focused on adaptive reuse. For us, this includes anything having to do with existing buildings: changing use, repositioning for longevity, or retrofitting for improved energy performance.

Figuring out what to do with our existing buildings is crucial to addressing climate change, and we see it as a unique expertise within architecture, one that requires technical knowledge that is distinct from designing new buildings, as well as regulatory expertise — working with the Department of Buildings or the Landmarks Preservation Commission, for instance, or navigating city and federal policies. And there is conceptual expertise, a way of approaching these projects with a great degree of flexibility with regard to the outcome. The very existence of this practice says a lot about our firm’s values. We believe in being stewards of our built environment — utilizing our expertise to ensure the vibrancy of our communities and the health of our planet.

Nico, tell us about your role and how you connected with SOM.

Nico Kienzl: I’m a director with Atelier Ten in New York City. Our firm started as a mechanical engineering firm in the UK but has expanded our expertise in sustainability by filling the gap between architects and engineers. We have expanded our focus on things like environmental design, climate impact, thermal comfort, lighting design, and wellness.

I actually connected with SOM before I joined Atelier Ten. I was out of graduate school, looking for my first job, and I interviewed for a position at SOM. I’ve been in touch with the firm for a long time and we’ve done many, many projects together in the 20 years since.

Some of your recent work is focused on retrofitting midcentury commercial buildings. What are the unique challenges and opportunities for this building type?

Frank: Particularly in New York, the midcentury decades — roughly the 1950s through 1970s — represented the largest building boom in the modern era, and therefore the largest investment in embodied carbon in the built environment. These buildings employed technologies that were innovative at the time, but which today have often proven energy-inefficient and in need of retrofit.

Some of these are landmarked buildings, such as our own Lever House. These will always be well cared for because of their cultural and architectural significance. In fact, the current stewards of Lever House, WatermanClark and Brookfield Properties, are investing in a comprehensive renovation and modernization of the property and have brought on SOM to lead the project. But there are many, many more buildings that are not necessarily culturally significant; these are the ones which we — architects and engineers — must work with owners to figure out what to do with.

Nico: Just as a qualifier, in New York, there were two big waves: the first wave was residential construction post-World War I. The big wave in commercial construction happened in the 50s and 60s, and that’s the building stock that is now in dire need of intervention.

It’s also important to note that elements of a building age and get replaced at different rates. Lighting systems often get updated every ten years, because that’s when the lease turns over and there’s a new interior fit-out. The mechanical system changes every 25 to 30 years, typically due to technology updates. And the building enclosure and more substantial components change maybe every 50 years, so many of these buildings haven’t even had that yet.

We’re now at this point where a lot of midcentury buildings had their last major upgrade in the 80s, and at that point people weren’t really thinking about energy in the same way that we are now. Some of those interventions actually made things worse, because they introduced heavy air conditioning. This was really the first generation of buildings that had air conditioning; before that, people were used to different comfort criteria. Today that equipment from the 80s is now reaching its end-of-life, and the building envelopes need replacement, too. So we have an opportunity to rethink this building stock in a holistic way.

Together with advances in technology, I think that design creativity is going to be one of the keys to unlocking the viability of retrofitting, as opposed to tearing these buildings down in the future.

One of the limiting factors for many midcentury buildings is the perception that you’re stuck with a relatively low floor-to-floor height, in part due to retrofits that happened in the 80s, when ceilings were dropped to add more air conditioning. However, with the current technology, we can integrate thinner systems and raise the ceiling back up, without giving up on occupant comfort. That is a very recent shift, and it makes retrofitting a lot of these buildings much more viable than it was 10 or 15 years ago.

SOM’s trajectory aligns with this history. Your firm designed a lot of these buildings in the 50s and 60s. Your heritage is in these buildings. So there’s a deep historic knowledge about why these buildings were designed the way they were, but also how and why we moved on.

Frank: There’s a common misconception when we talk about reusing buildings or retrofitting buildings. What we’re really interested in is saving embodied carbon, and that means, largely, the structure. We can do so many things to improve the building without touching the structure. We can upgrade the envelope, mechanical systems, vertical circulation, and end up with what is — for all intents and purposes — a brand new building.

SOM did this with Citi’s new global headquarters in Tribeca. Citi had two existing buildings right next to each other, both originally constructed in the 1980s — a 39-story office tower and a 9-story former printing plant. Our client made the bold decision to merge and transform these two buildings into a singular global headquarters, rather than build anew. We did work on the facade, the mechanical systems, and vertical transportation. All the interiors are new. We created an occupiable roof terrace where you previously only had mechanical systems. When you experience the new Citi headquarters, it feels like a brand new building.

Nico and I worked together on a concept for how to create economic value — not just climate value — for an owner of a class-B 1960s office building. We used 63 Madison as a case study, a Midtown office building that has some of the challenges that are typical of the commercial buildings that need retrofitting today. The building has a relatively large footprint, so not a lot of daylight reaches deep into the floor plate. It has very small windows and low ceiling heights.

We took a very aggressive retrofit approach: carving away at the building, taking out floor area, reapportioning it to different areas at the top, creating outdoor terraces. All of these moves were intended to create new value, allowing the owner to lease it at much higher rates in the future. We saved all of the embodied carbon associated with not only the structure, but also the envelope. Together with advances in technology, I think that design creativity is going to be one of the keys to unlocking the viability of retrofitting, as opposed to tearing these buildings down in the future.

Nico: In practice, we find that you cannot make a strong argument for a deep retrofit on the energy or carbon savings alone; you also need to understand the added value for the owner to do something much bigger and much bolder. There’s a beauty to the economics of this approach. Because we’re not rebuilding the entire building, we don’t need to spend all that money on a new structure, or spend the time tearing down the existing building and excavating the site and rebuilding. That opens up other opportunities in terms of where you want to spend money on the project to make it more desirable.

63 Madison shows what is possible today to reimagine commercial buildings with new technologies and with the right design approach. It’s different, of course, from what you would do on a reuse of the Farley Post Office building, which is another project that we’ve done together. There we had a different structure to work with, a different envelope, and we responded to it in a different way.

The important thing is to start conversations with a client before they make the decision to replace the building, to show them what’s possible.

Frank: This requires a totally different way of thinking and expertise. Schedule, timing, logistics, capital plans, how you switch over mechanical systems, where people move during a retrofit — these are conversations that nobody is used to having when they tear down and build new. It’s a new world for so many owners, and it requires dedicated thought and advice from experts.

Nico: Having grown up in Europe, where we’ve dealt with existing buildings in a different context for a long time, I’m always amazed how much of the development mindset here in the U.S. is focused on new-build.

How does policy play a role in this conversation about retrofitting and reuse? New York City has passed significant legislation in recent years which sets targets for building energy performance and is kicking off a new wave of retrofits.

Nico: New York is unique because of its scale. That allowed it to track climate impact data at scale, especially under Mayor Bloomberg, who prioritized this. So, we have a more informed understanding of where energy flows, what the main drivers are, how you start building policy around that, than many other cities.

The most significant change that also happened during the Bloomberg years is that local laws were signed that affect existing building stock. For the first time, existing buildings, constructed to code without major changes, had to report energy data and required recommission every 10 years.

Now, policies are coming into place that have an even deeper impact. The biggest one in New York is Local Law 97, which is starting to levy a penalty on existing buildings if they exceed allowed carbon emissions. The allowed amount will step down over time towards the goal that the city has articulated: an 80 percent reduction in citywide greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.

Frank: It’s great that Local Law 97 is finally addressing operational carbon of existing buildings, but embodied carbon is still a huge blind spot in regulations. For example, consider what has happened since the East Midtown rezoning in 2017, which permitted greater building heights in the area surrounding Grand Central Terminal and along Park Avenue. This kicked off a wave of demolition of older commercial buildings, which are being replaced by new, taller ones. This is the right place to redevelop, for sure — it’s the commercial core of the city and well-served by transit. However, the rezoning has only incentivized new-build and not also redevelopment of existing buildings.

Zoning in New York City supports external planning priorities all the time. The East Midtown rezoning supports transit by requiring owners to rebuild transit stations or entrances. Couldn’t there be a way for zoning to support how we’re addressing climate change by encouraging the retrofit and maintenance of existing buildings, in tandem with new development?

How can we find the right balance between those two strategies?

Nico: I think adaptive reuse will need to become a much bigger proportion of redevelopment, and at a much faster pace. We need a combination of policy levers to penalize owners who don’t upgrade their buildings, as well as incentives to adapt and reuse rather than build new.

Frank: It’s important to remember that we’re not saying we should maintain and retrofit our buildings just because that’s the right thing to do, and it’s going to be painful. We think that this can be economically viable and even attractive for the owner. It’s the right thing to do to fight climate change, but also it’s the right thing to do from a civic perspective. These buildings shouldn’t fall into disrepair; they should be given a new life. All of these things that we’re talking about — preserving cultural legacy, retrofitting to create outdoor spaces and increase access to natural light — all of these things are good for people, too. So this is really a win-win proposition.

Nico: The pandemic has also highlighted the need to transform single-use buildings to make our neighborhoods and cities more resilient. In commercial areas, once all the white-collar workers were working from home, the local retail shriveled and died almost immediately. This gets at bigger questions of what we want out of our cities, and how we could adapt some of our existing single-use buildings to support a more varied mix of uses.

Another point to consider: how can we build in that kind of long-term flexibility for new construction as well? It’s interesting to see that some of the buildings that have the most staying power are old warehouses, spaces that have ample floor-to-ceiling heights and flexible plans that have allowed them to be reused. With so many unknowns in the future, we should be asking bigger questions with every new project.

Frank: Right, and it’s what we talked about earlier, that this is a different way of thinking from start to finish — it’s different for the owners, it’s different for regulators, it’s different for designers, and we’re starting to address it now. This way of thinking will permeate new building design, new zoning and regulations, and the way that building codes are written to allow for changes to egress or fire ratings. These are all things that are very complicated to address now, when we retrofit, because they’re not explicitly addressed in the building code.

Does this lead to a future where adaptive reuse is no longer a specialized practice, but part of the mainstream in architecture?

Nico: I think that adaptive reuse probably still has a place as a specialized practice, because you need a certain know-how about the way buildings were built 20, 50, 100 years ago and why. When you start with an existing building, knowing how you survey it, how to do the forensics, how to deconstruct it — that is very different from starting from a blank slate and designing a new building. But in terms of design philosophy and generating new ideas, I think there’s a rich feedback loop between the two sides of a practice that does both, like SOM.

Learn more about SOM’s adaptive reuse practice.

2023 will bring major milestones to celebrate around the globe, from a groundbreaking in Berkeley to an airport opening in Bengaluru. This year’s list is characteristically varied, yet it highlights some of the values and threads of inquiry that underpin our work: a commitment to strengthening cities and communities through equitable urban design; developing new design and engineering strategies to reduce the carbon impact of construction; and prioritizing human health and well-being.

The coming year will see completions big and small — including a superlative tower in Gothenburg that anchors a broader urban regeneration, and the deployment of public bus shelters across high-need neighborhoods in Los Angeles. In India, a uniquely verdant airport terminal will welcome its first commercial passengers. Other exciting work is just beginning to be visible, with groundbreaking scheduled for the adaptive reuse and expansion of a historic hotel in Melbourne, among others.

All of these projects demonstrate solutions to reduce both operational and embodied carbon emissions, from a new civic building in California that serves as a model for mass timber construction, to a community-driven project in Chicago designed to achieve net-zero whole-life carbon. A focus on health and well-being is likewise a common thread , linking such diverse designs as a singular workplace in Shenzhen and a hospital in Atlanta that introduces a new model for patient care.

These, of course, are just the highlights. We are excited about all that the year ahead will bring!

A pair of elevated bridges will link new Manhattan developments

High Line — Moynihan Train Hall Connector | New York, New York

Over the past decade, SOM has played a major role in reshaping Manhattan’s West Side: With the recent completion of of Moynihan Train Hall and the new developments at Manhattan West and Hudson Yards, the district has emerged as a mixed-use destination, connected with transportation infrastructure and a series of civic spaces. Next year, a pair of elevated pedestrian bridges will bring this work together, connecting the district to the High Line park.

Designed with James Corner Field Operations, this new connector creates a linear park in two segments, each with their own distinctive design. The Timber Bridge, a truss made of sustainably sourced glulam wood, demonstrates the structural possibilities of this low-carbon material. Linked to this bridge at a right angle, the Woodland Bridge offers a tree-lined pathway into the immersive landscaped environment of the High Line. The Moynihan Connector is a public-private partnership between Empire State Development, Brookfield Properties, and the High Line.

A record-setting tower heralds the revitalization of a city’s waterfront

Karlatornet | Gothenburg, Sweden

Last year, this striking new high-rise in the Swedish seaport city of Gothenburg became the city’s tallest structure, and it continues to climb. Karlatornet’s signature mid-rise twist has begun to emerge, with each new floor rotated slightly from the one below to produce varied views above the riverfront — the result of close collaboration between our architecture and structural engineering teams. When the tower reaches its full height of 246 meters next year, it will set a new record for Scandinavia, and a public observation deck at the top will offer the highest vantage point in the region.

Rising in a formerly industrial area that was once home to thriving shipyards, the building is part of a larger regeneration scheme that will see the creation of a mixed-use district, signaling a new chapter for sustainable urban development in Gothenburg. Residents will begin moving in to Karlatornet next year, while the tower is scheduled to be fully complete in 2024.

A historic hotel gains a striking contemporary addition

189 Toorak Road | Melbourne, Australia

We are reimagining Melbourne’s historic Hotel Claremont as a mixed-use anchor for a thriving retail corridor. Sensitively integrating old and new elements, the project involves a careful restoration of the building’s 19th-century facade and an 11-story addition that will introduce contemporary workspaces.

Designed as a series of cascading terraces, the addition provides outdoor areas that integrate nature into the work environment. The expressive design of the facade, an efficient structure that minimizes materials, reflects a holistic approach to reducing the carbon impact of construction. Work is due to begin in late 2023.

A new model for healthcare makes its debut

Winship at Emory Midtown | Atlanta, Georgia

In May of next year, a leading hospital campus will inaugurate a new facility with a design as revolutionary as the medical breakthroughs that are transforming the field. The new Winship at Emory Midtown is arranged not around equipment and departments, but instead broken down into two-story “care communities,” each focused on a specific treatment. While this may seem like a simple change, it’s a complete reinvention of the building type. Each of these communities will function like a hospital-within-a-hospital, making care more efficient and uniting patients and visitors with similar experiences.

The layout of the 18-story building is innovative as well: it turns much of the typical hospital floor plan inside out. With light-filled corridors along the perimeter, and exam rooms and clinical space in the center of the floor, Winship provides daylit and spacious common areas, while clinicians benefit from an efficient, centralized layout that encourages collaboration.

A prominent campus building is transformed for a new era of learning

UC Berkeley Bechtel Engineering Center | Berkeley, California

Located on UC Berkeley’s Central Glade, the renovation and expansion of Bechtel Engineering Center will create a new “front door” for the College of Engineering community. The design addresses the challenges of building on top of an existing structure in a way that speaks to the importance of engineering in our lives, while honoring the surrounding Beaux-Arts-style buildings that form the campus core.

Our design and engineering solution leverages existing structural and infrastructure systems as a basis for the renovation and addition, optimizing both for sustainability and cost considerations. A new lightweight pavilion structure mediates between the existing 80s-era Brutalist building and its neoclassical neighbors, while also expanding the Center’s current role as a community hub with study areas, an auditorium, library, and student services offices by adding 35,500 gross square feet of new program space. The groundbreaking ceremony will take place in April 2023.

A new arts destination emerges in the Midwest

Mulva Cultural Center | De Pere, Wisconsin

Philanthropists James J. and Miriam B. Mulva are transforming their hometown of De Pere, Wisconsin — five miles upriver from Green Bay — into a regional arts destination. Our design for the Mulva Cultural Center is at once contemporary and context-specific, taking advantage of a site on the eastern banks of the Fox River, at the foot of the Claude Allouez Bridge, where it will bring new energy to the city’s walkable downtown district when it opens next fall.

The new arts and community hub will host traveling shows from leading institutions worldwide alongside cultural programming and educational opportunities for people of all ages. The elegant glass building brings the outside in and vice versa, featuring a triple-height atrium, a 200-seat auditorium, an event space, flexible permanent and temporary exhibition galleries, classrooms, common areas, a café, and an outdoor terrace.

The Mulva Cultural Center also showcases our signature integration of architecture and engineering: the building’s cantilevered canopy is designed to maximize daylight with a minimum of materials, while the material palette of limestone, timber, and triple-insulated glass takes inspiration from the river and Wisconsin prairies.

A timber building sets the benchmark for sustainable civic architecture

San Mateo County Office Building 3 | Redwood City, California

An ambitious construction project in the heart of Silicon Valley may very well set the pace for a new generation of low-carbon buildings. San Mateo County’s new office building (called COB3) is the first net-zero-energy civic building in the United States that is constructed with mass timber.

Timber has become an emblem for sustainable architecture for its low carbon footprint, and new legislation has facilitated its deployment in California in recent years. San Mateo County aimed to set an example with its own building project, in terms of both the building’s operational energy use and the carbon impact of its construction.

By using timber, a renewable material that can be sourced domestically, the design of the new County Office Building achieves an 85 percent reduction in structural embodied carbon relative to conventional concrete or steel construction. The use of prefabricated timber components has made the construction process faster and more precise than conventional building processes.

Civic architecture is built to endure for generations, and when purposefully designed, helps to define a municipality’s identity. Due to open in the fall of 2023, the new County Office Building will become the new centerpiece of a revitalized downtown.

A cutting-edge building tackles public health issues on multiple fronts

SMOOTH House | St. Louis, Missouri

Public health and sustainability present challenges at many scales, and a new project shows how thoughtful design solutions can intersect within a single building. Over the last two years, SOM has collaborated with architecture students and faculty from Washington University’s Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts to design a new Smart Home for Occupational Therapy Healing, a.k.a. SMOOTH House.

Working closely with medical faculty and professionals from WashU’s School of Medicine, who will be the end users alongside their patients, the student-led team has designed a practice-based educational facility to deliver pro bono community-based care to underserved residents in north St. Louis. With roof-mounted solar panels and energy-efficient materials, the SMOOTH House is designed to achieve net zero carbon not only in its operations, but also in terms of embodied carbon — emissions from its materials and construction — within three years of its completion.

As a contender in the Solar Decathlon 2023 Build Challenge, SMOOTH House is one of 20 projects selected to be built, having broken ground in St. Louis’ burgeoning Delmar Maker District in November. It is slated for completion in March 2023, when it will be exhibited to the public and presented to the Solar Decathlon jury.

Bringing shade to LA’s bus stops

Los Angeles Sidewalk and Transit Amenities Program | Los Angeles, California

Often synonymous with car culture in the popular imagination, Los Angeles in fact has an extensive public transportation network with the third-highest ridership in the nation. However, many places in the city lack adequate bus shelters, which is not only an equity issue but also poses an urgent challenge in the context of a warming climate. A new program led by StreetsLA, a division of the city’s Department of Public Works, will improve the transit experience for the hundreds of thousands of Angelenos who rely on city buses every day.

SOM has designed a new system of bus infrastructure that will be installed across Los Angeles over the next ten years. The new shelters will be deployed in the communities that have the highest need — based on the city’s equity index, heat index, and ridership data. Designed with a kit-of-parts approach, the new shelters can be scaled up or down to meet specific site conditions, and customized with different colors, graphics, and configurations to reflect their surrounding neighborhoods. The first prototypes will hit the streets in the coming year.

A workplace where sustainability and well-being go hand-in-hand

WeBank Headquarters | Shenzhen, China

Construction is well underway on a tower in Shenzhen that puts forward a model for a healthy, sustainable workplace. The new headquarters for WeBank, the first privately-owned and digital-only bank in China, features planted terraces and gardens, indoor-outdoor spaces, and a range of high performance design strategies designed to boost both the building’s energy performance and the experience of the people who use it.

Tuned to the local climate, the design includes solar-responsive facades that minimize indoor heat gain. The terraces bring daylight as well as natural ventilation into the building, while a rooftop garden will harvest rainwater for the irrigation of indoor plants. Providing a connection to nature, these spaces, together with amenities including a gym and a sky pool, promote a culture focused on employee health and wellness. Flexible workspaces will promote interaction and knowledge sharing between departments, while allowing for future adaptability. Merging digital enterprise with the natural environment, the project embodies the company’s vision of finance and technology in an increasingly connected world.

India’s new “terminal in a garden” turns an airport into an oasis

Kempegowda International Airport — Terminal 2 | Bengaluru, India

For years, SOM has designed airports that transcend functional requirements to create a travel experience that conveys an unmistakable sense of place. Nearly a decade since the opening of Terminal 2 at Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport — acclaimed for its design that is deeply resonant with Indian heritage and culture — work is nearly complete on our second major airport terminal in India.

The new terminal at Kempegowda International Airport, Bengaluru, will create a radically different experience for passengers departing and arriving in India’s third largest metropolis. Conceived as a “terminal in a garden” — a reference to Bengaluru’s reputation as the “garden city” — the complex consists of a set of interconnected buildings tied together by a continuous band of verdant outdoor spaces. This lush “forest belt” landscape is replete with indigenous flora, multilevel meandering paths, and two-story pavilions that are clad in bamboo. A network of bridges and outdoor walkways will provide departing passengers with a reflective, calming oasis within the bustle of an international airport. Inside, the terminal will be suffused with light filtered through bamboo lattices, while a variety of hanging plantings contribute to a rich sensory environment. Scheduled for an early 2023 opening, the new terminal will soon welcome its first international travelers.

One cannot visualize Chicago’s skyline without the gargantuan contributions of Bruce Graham (1925–2010), nor can one imagine the architect’s career without the power brokers of the American Midwest who counted on him to articulate their ambitions in structural form. But when working on a much smaller scale than a John Hancock or Sears Tower, Graham was able to tap into his roots.

Born in La Cumbre, Colombia, Graham and his family relocated to Arequipa, Peru, shortly after his birth, then to San Juan, Puerto Rico, when he was five. There, he developed a love for drawing and cities, wandering around and enthusiastically mapping the barrios of San Juan for fun. Spanish was Graham’s first language, and through his mother, who was Peruvian, he also maintained a deep appreciation for Peru’s culture and lifelong connections with his many relatives there.

During his time at SOM, from 1951 to 1989, Graham connected the firm to the Spanish-speaking world through his relationships with artists like Joan Miró and Josep Lloren Artigas, and with clients who had no presence in the U.S. — including one that led to an unrealized collaboration with Luis Barragán. Some of his built works, from a bank headquarters in Guatemala City, to a corporate campus in Kalamazoo, drew heavily from his appreciation for the pre-colonial architectural traditions of Latin America. For Hispanic Heritage Month, we’ve compiled five projects that demonstrate Graham’s enthusiasm for and personal connection to the Spanish-speaking world.

Upjohn Corporate Headquarters (1961)

Kalamazoo, Michigan

A total design approach from landscaping to ashtrays — much in the spirit of the Connecticut General Life Insurance headquarters — this suburban campus, set into a gradual incline on a 100-acre meadowland, contains a series of eight courtyards with pools, trees, terraces, and sculptures. Its locally-sourced rough stone walls were inspired by the Incan masonry found in Cusco, a UNESCO World Heritage site in southeastern Peru. When asked during his interview for the Art Institute of Chicago’s oral history project why such an inspiration would be appropriate for Kalamazoo, Graham replied, “Because I’m Peruvian.” He compared the landscape’s progression from the rough stone walls on the edge of the property to the smooth stone of the actual building to the transition from the rough walls on Peru’s potato terraces to the smooth and polished exteriors of its palaces.

Grupo Industrial Alfa (1981)

Monterrey, Mexico

A corporate headquarters for the Monterrey-based company was originally conceived as a collaboration between a Graham-led SOM team, Luis Barragán, and Ricardo Legorreta. Graham had planned a landscaped outdoor courtyard one would walk through to enter the building. After the company’s restructuring, Barragán instead designed a building for one part of the company, and Graham for another. Situated at the foot of the Sierra Madre Oriental Mountains on a 25-acre wooded site, SOM’s realized contribution includes offices, a large auditorium, and an em­ployee cafeteria, all united by a barrel-vaulted galleria. Its use of planted courtyards, formal open courts, and a garden court shaded by a high trellis over the cafeteria recalls traditional Mexican landscape design. The open trellis reinforces the visual continuity between the garden and the vaulted structure of the galleria. The use of terra cotta pavers, stuccoed concrete, and wood creates an overall sense of warmth and texture in the spaces.

Banco de Occidente (1978)

Guatemala City, Guatemala

For Guatemala’s Banco de Occidente, Graham and his team designed an urban headquarters in central Guatemala City and two suburban branch banks that establish architectural continuity through the use of vivid colors, textures, materials, and the manipulation of light and shadow. Local architectural concepts of open courtyards, terraces, gardens, fountains, and trellises were integrated into each building, creating a functional and economic design through the studied adaptation of traditional approaches within the context of contemporary architecture. Even the furniture and fabrics designed by SOM for these buildings were locally manufactured.

Graham loved working within Guatemala’s climate as a change of pace from what he was used to in the American midwest. “There isn’t a better climate,” he later recalled. “In Chicago when it gets so hot, you have nowhere for the heat to go. On a cool day, you have the heat from the people going out the window and the sun is coming in. You need a balance and to think of the orientation of the building. You can never make it perfect, except in Guatemala.”

“The Sun, The Moon, and One Star” (1981)

Chicago, Illinois

After William Hartmann led SOM’s successful effort to bring a Pablo Picasso sculpture to Chicago’s Daley Plaza, Graham courted Joan Miró for another installation across the street. “The Sun, the Moon and One Star,” the Spanish artist’s 36-foot-high steel, wire mesh, concrete, bronze, and ceramic tile creation, was commissioned in 1965 for SOM’s Brunswick Building.

At Graham’s invitation, Miró visited Chicago, approved the site selection, and made a maquette upon his return to Majorca. Plans for the sculpture were shelved, but Graham kept the maquette in SOM’s Chicago office and stayed in touch with the artist. Finally in 1981, with the cost to build and maintain it split between the city of Chicago and private fundraising, Miró’s sculpture would be installed.

To perfect the final design of the sculpture, SOM put the maquette into its computers to generate various sections and perspective views. Later, a second process involved passing the maquette through a CAT body-scanner for greater accuracy. Cross sectional x-rays of each section were stacked vertically for visual verification. Joan Gardy Artigas, the son of Miró’s longtime collaborator Josep Llorens Artigas, and who had worked as a sculptor for Miró since childhood, used SOM’s computerized plans to bring “The Sun, The Moon, and One Star” to life.

Artigas Foundation Studios (1989)

Galifa, Spain

Joan Gardy Artigas set up a foundation in honor of his father in 1989. It was then that he asked Graham to design the foundation’s studios for visiting artists in Galifa, Spain, where the senior Artigas and Miró worked together dating back to the 1940s. Adjacent to a medieval chapel and an ancient mill, and set into the sloped and terraced countryside of old vineyards and scattered woods north of Barce­lona, the studios provide work and living spaces for visiting artists. Linked by a series of stone walk­ways and landscaped court­yards, two-level buildings rest on sepa­rate terrace levels in a manner that complements both the Spanish vil­lage tradition and the local land­scape.

Read more about our history:

• A New Lens On Our Chicago Legacy
• Walter Netsch’s Message to Grads
• A Brief History of Technology at SOM

Even in construction, the new County Office Building (COB3) in downtown Redwood City is turning heads. Planks and beams of mass timber, rather than steel or concrete, form the five-story building’s structure, visible to all who pass by the building site.

Mass timber has become an emblem for sustainable architecture for its low carbon footprint, and new legislation has facilitated its deployment in California in recent years. San Mateo County, which includes the northwestern portion of Silicon Valley, aimed to set a benchmark with its latest building project — not only in terms of the building’s energy use, but also the carbon impact associated with its construction.

By using timber, a renewable material that can be sourced domestically, the design of COB3 achieves an impressive 85 percent reduction in structural embodied carbon, relative to conventional concrete or steel construction. The result: COB3 is the first net-zero-energy mass timber civic building in the United States.

Involved in every aspect of the design and construction process, SOM’s integrated team of architects and engineers showed that timber can be a cost-competitive choice, even for publicly-funded projects. In this interview, three project leaders — structural engineer Eric Long, technical architect Francesca Oliveira, and timber specialist Benton Johnson — tell the story behind the design of California’s greenest new civic building and share their thoughts on the future of timber construction.

How was the decision made to use timber as the structural material for the new County Office Building?

Francesca Oliveira: San Mateo County is already seeing the impact of climate change — from sea level rise to wildfires, severe drought, and extreme heat. The County is asking its citizens to build more sustainably, and for their own new government building, County officials saw this as an opportunity to lead by example.

Net-zero energy was a project requirement from the beginning, but we challenged our client to be even more ambitious. In addition to targeting net-zero operational energy, we proposed to also reduce embodied carbon — the up-front carbon cost related to building materials and construction. We wanted to treat reducing carbon impact as a holistic goal, examining not just operational practices, but also finding opportunities to use the latest advances in low-carbon materials and construction processes.

Eric Long: We arrived at the solution of a timber structure after a careful study of several different options. We laid out concepts, designing the building as steel, concrete, and timber structures. Because of the way we work at SOM — with engineers and architects collaborating from the outset of a project — we were able to understand in real time how each structural concept would pair with the shape and massing of the building. Then, looking at each of those options, we were able to measure the structural materials required and the associated embodied carbon. The timber option showed an 85 percent reduction in structural embodied carbon relative to the steel and concrete options that we had designed.

The contractor was already on board when we first started, and that was a benefit to our process. With our three options of concrete, steel, and timber, we knew the material quantities and we knew the carbon impact. Now, thanks to the contractor, we also knew the cost. We were able to lay out for the client what the choices were, and we were able to show that timber was within budget. When reducing embodied carbon is the priority, the choice becomes obvious.

Francesca: A common critique of mass timber is that it’s more expensive, and we disproved that by optimizing our design to reduce both the amount of wood and the number of pieces that were required. We measured everything, down to the pick counts — how many times you have to lift planks and beams with a crane.

When you account for all of these details, the speed with which a mass timber structure can be installed is incredible. It was exciting to watch the mass timber installers literally chasing the steel core framers. The mass timber was going up so fast, they’d have to stop and wait to just fasten screws while the steel cores were still being welded. It was really fun to see this friendly competition in the field, and this shows us an enormous opportunity for construction when one considers the time value of that installation. That’s another reason that timber will gain momentum in the market.

Benton Johnson: If you want to reduce the embodied carbon footprint of a building, you want to start with the structure — that’s the biggest contributor. Once you get down to hardware or door handles, it’s a much smaller piece of the carbon footprint. We want to focus our efforts on where we can make the greatest impact. SOM’s design approach is based on integrating architecture and engineering, and that puts us in a unique position to find high-impact solutions.

For a building of this scale, in a high seismic zone, you would expect 50 or 60 percent of the embodied carbon to be in the structural frame and foundations. And because timber is very lightweight, it also requires less structural material to support it. So, we were able to pair the timber structure with a very ductile steel core and thereby further reduce the material required for the foundations. It’s a kind of domino effect in material efficiencies and carbon savings.

Demonstrating that timber construction can be cost-competitive sounds like a breakthrough. Tell us about how you optimized the timber design to make it more efficient.

Eric: Optimization starts with the bay size — the typical spacing between structural columns. We started by asking, what is the bay size that works best for this building? We considered the module of the office spaces, among many other factors, and sketched a multitude of possible bay configurations. Then we looked at how many glulam beams and what thickness of cross-laminated timber (CLT) panels were required for those different bay configurations.

Working closely with our contractor, we were able to price the pieces and connections in real time as we were studying the bay-sizing options. Our solution was ultimately to reduce the number of beams and have them run in only one direction, which in turn reduces the number of pieces and connections and creates an efficient bay size that works well with the office layouts.

By running the beams in only one direction, it created a more efficient ceiling/floor structure by integrating the MEP distribution parallel with the beam direction, which allowed us to reduce the typical floor-to-floor height and the overall building height. This contributed to further savings in cost and carbon.

Francesca: Our interdisciplinary team approach was key to the success of this project. Eric, as our structural engineer, worked very closely with our architects and interior designers to holistically develop each design decision for the systems, the structure, and the people who will use the building. This was intricate work, and together we found opportunities for these decisions to build off each other; for example, shifting to beams going only in one direction enabled us to optimize our MEP system distribution. Through close collaboration, we were able to design a systematic framework for all of the building engineering that was married together with the interiors and architecture. It speaks to SOM’s philosophy: every team member contributes to the design solution — not only the architecture and engineering team, but the client and the contractor as well.

Benton, you’ve led years of research at SOM on timber construction. What have we learned through these efforts, and how did we apply it in San Mateo County?

Benton: A big focus of our research has been on finding ways to make timber buildings compatible with the market. When you’re talking about a mass timber structure, that means looking carefully at how the members are spaced in three dimensions — bay sizes and ceiling heights. So for this building, one of the first questions we asked was: how do we create open floor plans with the least bulky structure? The bay size that we have for this project, at 20 by 35 feet, is pushing the limits on a timber structure.

We were able to make this work by making the main girders continuous over the center supporting columns. The weight of the bays on each side is balanced, which lets the structure support itself more easily. We were able to achieve those 35-foot-long spans with relatively shallow beam depths (just over two feet), which reduces structural cost and floor-to-floor height.

It’s also interesting to look at how we connected the CLT planks to each other. They’re spliced at their ends, so that they are continuous throughout the entire floor. We used tension splices on the top sides of the planks — this technique makes the decks stronger and more resilient against seismic events. Again, that draws from the ideas behind our research: figuring out how to maximize the benefits of a timber structure without breaking the bank.

Francesca: There are additional benefits to the way we have designed the structure: a 60- or 65-foot bay is great for occupants because it allows for natural light and ventilation from both sides. It’s a win-win. Our San Mateo County Office Building proves that using mass timber can be an elegant design solution, and that it can create beautiful architecture within a tight schedule and an even tighter budget.

Benton: Knowing that this building will be used by county employees and members of the public, often for long hours, we also want to make spaces that boost well-being. Biophilia — the principle that humans are innately attracted to nature — is a really important positive aspect of timber buildings. Wood adds warmth, and it will feel good to spend time in these spaces.

What were some of the challenges you encountered along the way?

Eric: A project like this requires an incredible amount of coordination — with acoustics, lighting, mechanical, electrical, plumbing, you name it. Every electrical outlet, light fixture, and fire sprinkler is pre-manufactured into the wood in the shop. There’s no ceiling to cover mistakes; it’s all exposed. For our subcontractors, this may have been their first time working on a heavy timber building, so we were also helping the MEP trades with pre-planning for all of those details. Every one of these projects helps the next one get built more smoothly — it’s a relatively new field and we’re improving the process each time.

Francesca: That’s a really important point: we were able to remove 70 percent of the ceilings in this building, which is a lot for an office! That saved almost 500 tons of CO2eq, which in most building projects would have been spent just to hide MEP infrastructure. When you remove that ceiling, every component has to be designed; it’s finished work that you’re seeing on the underside of the structural slab. Now, all the engineering trades are part of the design expression.

We took this a step further to ask, what happens in the future, if the County needs to adjust the floor plate because office sizes have changed, or workstations have shrunk? The structural bays that we designed can be configured in different ways: there could be four closed offices, or two closed offices and four workstations. Those four workstations could become six workstations. The County can create any combination, with minimal changes to the infrastructure and its carbon impact. We want this building to serve for 100 years and to be adaptable over time, so that flexibility is designed and built in from day one.

What are the challenges and opportunities ahead for timber construction being adopted more widely?

Benton: If you’d asked me that six years ago, I would have given you a long list. But today we’re reaching a tipping point. Ramping up the scale of the manufacturing is important because the lead times can be long, but we are lucky to be working in a part of the country where timber is available and sustainably sourced.

Francesca: There is still a lot of myth-busting that needs to be done. As architects, we advocate for mass timber by partnering closely with fire marshals and authorities having jurisdiction to build a broader understanding of the performance characteristics of this low-carbon construction type. As this awareness grows, it will become easier for clients to choose timber.

Benton: We’re also finding new, efficient ways to standardize construction. For example, we’ve been advocating for long-span and continuous systems — moving away from stacked post-and-beam construction, and getting to slim construction with tight floor-to-floors — and we’re starting to see others adopting that now, too. As things become more standardized, there will be smaller barriers to entry for contractors and clients who want to pursue timber. We’re excited to be at the cutting edge of this field that we expect will grow significantly in the near future.

Eric: On the client side, there’s still a hurdle in terms of perceived cost. A common perception is that the premium on timber is prohibitive.

Benton: This is somewhat regional. On the West Coast, generally the cost of construction is a bit higher than in the rest of the U.S. Part of the challenge with adoption on a larger scale is getting to cost parity throughout North America. Another part of it is regional supply. We’ve been seeing more manufacturers start to open up in the southeast, and that’s going to shift things a lot as they create access to those lower-cost markets.

With timber gaining momentum, how often are you proposing this option when you’re starting a new project?

Eric: Frequently. When we start working with a client, straight away we ask questions to understand their sustainability goals and, if appropriate, if they are interested in looking at mass timber as an approach to reduce embodied carbon. Usually the answer is a resounding yes. In very early design stages, we can conceptually design the architecture and structure in a variety of materials, develop a quick rendering, see what the space feels like, look at the quantities and carbon savings, and get cost information. We aim to provide our clients with the information to make an educated decision; that’s our responsibility as architects and engineers.

Benton: Mass timber is a solution that can work for just about any building type, in any climate. Compared to building with concrete and steel, timber construction is incredibly efficient. It doesn’t matter if it’s hot, cold, raining, or snowing. Steel construction can be difficult in extreme temperatures, because things don’t align when the members expand and contract. With concrete construction, when it’s in the middle of winter and freezing, you have to tent it and heat it. When it’s really hot out, you’ve got to put ice chips in the concrete mix. With timber construction, if it gets wet, you just squeegee it off and keep going. It’s faster than anything else to start with, and there’s nothing that slows it down.

Read more on strategies to decarbonize the built environment:

• How Living Materials Could Shape the Future of Architecture
• How a Growing Campus Reached Carbon Neutrality in Record Time

In 2003, San Francisco’s Asian Art Museum (AAM) moved into its new home, a more than century-old Beaux-Arts style building designed to be a public library. Since its opening in 1966, the museum had occupied a wing of the de Young Memorial Museum in Golden Gate Park, but a city hall plan to revitalize Civic Center envisioned AAM as the ideal tenant to replace the relocated Main Library. A renovation for the landmarked building, conceived by the Italian architect Gae Aulenti, made for improved circulation, but left the museum in need of a comprehensive wayfinding program.

In 2016, AAM asked SOM’s Graphics + Brand studio to develop a new graphics and wayfinding program to correspond with AAM’s new round of expansion and renovation — led by the architecture firm wHY — which included a 9,000 square foot exhibition gallery along with an updated museum entrance lobby, classrooms, and collection galleries. Fresh off of a similar project for SFMOMA and their Snøhetta-designed expansion, SOM’s San Francisco-based studio was ready to help find creative solutions for another local museum’s needs.

Originally planned for May 2020, AAM’s reopening was delayed until July 2021 due to challenges related to the COVID-19 pandemic. After a close collaboration with AAM, a new system of signage and wayfinding now reinforces the institution’s brand while also visually clarifying and unifying its original building with its expanded space. “The new wayfinding and graphics are very elegant, consistent, and easy to spot,” says AAM director and CEO Jay Xu. “It feels very fresh and I believe it will stand the test of time.”

Lonny Israel, who leads the Graphics + Brand studio, sat down to discuss his team’s work at AAM — from developing a way for visitors to find each gallery and functional space, to designing a unique set of pictograms.

How did SOM’s Graphics + Brand studio get connected with the museum?

The museum world in San Francisco is a close community. We had completed our work for SFMOMA and our client there had been talking with the director of the Asian Art Museum, Jay Xu. Coincidentally, he had been through the SOM office before, so we had already met and he was familiar with our work.

What were the issues with the existing graphics and wayfinding?

Circulation had been improved from its days as a library, but there were still navigational challenges. As a visitor, it was difficult to understand where you were supposed to go, or where the museum experience even begins.

The museum had a signage program as part of the initial move-in, but it was developed in a time when less importance was placed on the visitor experience.The desire had been to have the least amount and most discreet signage possible. As AAM evolved and their programming changed, well-intentioned homemade signage began to proliferate and visually clutter the museum. So once they had a rebrand, the signage was not only a mixed bag but it also had the wrong logo. That’s where we came in to help translate the brand and identity into a new graphics and wayfinding program that would meet the needs of the expanded museum and better serve all of its visitors.

Often we strive to integrate the wayfinding program with the architecture, but in this case the architectural context is constantly in flux, from the historic library to the previous addition to the collection galleries. So the wayfinding program was designed to be a constant voice throughout and is seen as a layer that floats (sometimes literally) on top of the architectural surfaces, regardless of their era.

What was the level of collaboration between SOM and AAM in developing that identity?

We collaborated closely with a core working group from the museum. We tested our ideas with the architects at wHY, and then with larger museum stakeholders, including curatorial, visitor experience, facilities, communications, and development groups. The process involved balancing the various stakeholder perspectives. We held numerous meetings to build consensus at each key milestone.

What did your team identify that the museum hadn’t picked up on before?

When you’re so used to something, you might not see what someone just visiting instinctively sees. I think the museum hadn’t realized how many visitors didn’t know how to take in the collection. We noticed people would go up to where the permanent collection is located and walk right past the entries to the galleries, thinking they were closed. That’s because there wasn’t any signage clearly identifying these thresholds.

How much is site observation part of the design process?

We were in the museum for a substantial amount of time because we had to take inventory of all the types of signs that they had. We were taking photographs and documenting existing conditions and then developing journey paths for different types of visitors (for instance, someone who just wants to go to the cafe, or someone who just wants to see the current exhibition). There was a fair amount of diagramming and then going back on site and retracing steps to make sure our proposed solutions were the right ones.

You mentioned that AAM already had a new logo. How much of the design process involved making sure that everything felt like it was in harmony with elements you weren’t designing?

We thought it was important to reference the ideas behind the new identity to establish a consistent institutional visual tone from marketing and communication materials to a new signage and wayfinding program. Their logo is an upside down “A,” which, according to its designers, is a mathematical symbol that means “for all.” Because it’s upside down, there’s a diagonal leg of the “A” that nods forward to the future. We used that same angle of the diagonal leg to create folds in some of the signage forms, a subtle nod to the logo.

The typeface used throughout the signage program is also consistent with the identity standards. And we learned from the past — the complete logo is only used to identify the building and on digital media, not on every sign. With our approach, even if the museum changes their logo for whatever reason, they’re not in a position where all of their signs have to be replaced. Gold is the main color used throughout the signage program. Gold is often thought of as illuminating, sacred and precious; it’s also reminiscent of the gilding on many of the museum’s treasures. The timeless quality of gold seemed appropriate for a signage program that leads visitors through a collection that spans 6,000 years.

Pictograms always look so simple, but there must have been a back-and-forth on at least one of the symbols your team came up with.

We went through a few iterations on the pictogram for the café. The new operator was going to be offering contemporary Asian street food. We had initially drawn a bowl with chopsticks placed inside, but chopsticks are never left inside a bowl; they rest on top or preferably beside it. Ultimately the design evolved into a bowl with steam. That sounds like a simple fix but even with something as small as that, it’s all part of learning from our clients and getting the input we needed from across all the various groups that we met with.

What was needed for the signage and display text for exhibited works?

It was a matter of developing a family of interpretive elements that included everything from gallery introductions to the labels for each artwork. The designs needed to allow for varying lengths of text, translations, and diagrams, so we needed to design a system that met all of the criteria while still appearing simple and straightforward. We wanted that content to be approachable and legible, not to feel like you were studying.

What are the lessons or innovations that came out of this project that you’re eager to put to use in upcoming work?

We wanted the signage program to have a crafted feel. We have the identity on the exterior of the building in a hammered metal. And then the wayfinding signs are metal but with a layered quality to the gold color. It was intended to complement and defer to the artworks you’re seeing. This approach was our way of making a distinct system for AAM. With every client, we strive to develop a unique solution that could only ever be for them, something that feels almost inevitable when it’s completed.

What were some of the bigger challenges in seeing the project through?

Collaborating with the museum was the best part of this commission. They allowed us to explore myriad design ideas and supported our process at each step. But when the pandemic hit during the beginning of the construction phase, its impact almost doubled the planned duration. With the construction of the expansion and renovation of the galleries delayed, the client (and really everyone involved) at different times took on the role of project spirit leader, keeping the team focused on the reopening and the museum once again sharing its ancient and contemporary treasures to all who visit.

Read more about our work:

• Coming Soon: 9 Projects to Watch in 2022
• How Living Materials Could Shape the Future of Architecture
• Designing a More Inclusive Airport

On May 6, 1979, architect Walter Netsch received an honorary doctorate of humanities and gave a commencement address to the graduating class at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. The site was a familiar one. The Miami University Art Museum, which Netsch designed, had opened one year prior. He spoke to the class of ’79 about the experiences that led to the final design for the United States Air Force Academy Cadet Chapel, and, upon its completion, an inward recognition that one “cannot return again to old ideas or old ways.” Indeed, Netsch’s buildings display his constant search for new, even radical, aesthetic expressions, and the art museum — one of his final works — was a result of this continued desire for reinvention.

Your Royal Highnesses, Your Excellencies, Reverend Clergy, President Shriver, members of the Board of Trustees, faculty, faculty friends, students and parents, and especially the graduating class of 1979.

Commencement addresses are an essential ingredient to a graduation ceremony, yet for the speaker there is always the ultimate concern that these moments will be only an interlude to the purpose of the day.

I recall watching Governor Adlai Stevenson battle a Lake Michigan wind, a noisy microphone, and a cold spring day at another graduation ceremony. Adlai’s words, always beautifully said whether one agreed or not, faded in and out with the weather when suddenly several pages escaped his grasp and disappeared in the wind. With usual aplomb, Governor Stevenson cheerily reminded everyone that the words — though golden and important — were secondary to the advice of the wind to speed the event.

At another commencement, I know the speaker conscientiously sent an extra copy and instructions to an alternate speaker. True to his premonition, the speaker did not arrive, and his alternate gave the speech and received an ovation which the author always thought more responsive to the delivery than the content.

What is required as much as the event of the threshold, is an inward recognition that you cannot return again to old ideas or old ways.

Well, we have no wind and my alternate is secure in my arrival, so the issue is mine. Though no humorist, I do have an academic story to tell.

Once upon a time there was a proctor at a long true-or-false exam who was amazed to discover a student diligently tossing a coin. Asking the reason, the student replied, “It’s either true or false.” As the exam progressed to the final minutes the proctor found the same student frantically tossing his coin. His reply this time was to the proctor’s repeated question — “I’m checking my answers.”

The words which follow require no quiz, but hopefully offer another alternative to coin tossing. This day and these honors are indeed a privilege and an event I shall cherish.

I am an architect, not a philosopher, though my work expresses a specific aesthetic; nor am I an entrepreneur or businessman. Therefore these words, though personal and built of my experience, attempt to use freedom, artistic freedom as a metaphor for our larger personal freedoms recognizing that each of us finds that freedom through search and dedication, and never without the support and help of our friends.

To begin, I have chosen the title “Thresholds and Celebrations” for many reasons, the most obvious in honor of this your day, your hour, your graduation. Some of you are aware that during your matriculation at Miami, I too was in my way sharing these past four Miami years with you. The selection of the architect, the design development with the building committee, the preparation of the construction drawings and the actual construction and dedication of the Miami University Art Museum, and all that transpired during your regime on campus, even including a special opportunity to work with the graduate students in architecture. Now, all of these years both for you and me have not been a continuous celebration, nor has each step in the design and construction outlined the kind of threshold I had in mind. A threshold, when realized, is not truly effective for me until I can quietly, personally recognize that an event changed my life and direction. What is required as much as the event of the threshold, is an inward recognition that you cannot return again to old ideas or old ways. Celebrations are more spontaneous, events of joy and cheer, useful for our equanimity and health though not critical to the mind and soul.

So we share today in celebration of your years consumed in books and study, play and interaction. Person to person we may feel we have earned the day, but rather we have fulfilled obligations and privately, we hope, some dreams.

Today is hardly my graduation day in 1943, a cold January in Cambridge, Massachusetts, with a world war going full tilt and with full recognition that as we graduated from college and speeded up our studies by going to school all year we hastened our time for military service. Fortunate to complete schooling, unhappy that the use of our skills and hopes and dreams would have to wait, we rather perfunctorily received our diplomas in Symphony Hall in Boston. This day was neither a threshold nor a true celebration.

Thresholds are essentially private — for me most often from my work. Many years ago when I was responsible for the design team for the Air Force Academy, I worked and struggled to create a new campus that would out of necessity be a national institution. Our client was the military, only a semi-fond memory in the past; the site was “beautiful infinity” situated in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains, the pressures were intense for starting even with the freshman class we were to provide an academy complete so that the first class could graduate in their new permanent home.

For my world in architecture, controversy is the most often the conflict of aesthetics, the arguments for and against the tradition of the new in form, materials, and technology. Many could accept a contemporary Air Force Academy but insisted upon a traditional church. This I could not do, and a fresh beginning was necessary. The academy was ready for that graduation, but not the chapel, for the initial design was not approved and it was necessary for me to begin again a new design. For three reasons, I took an intense, lonely trip of six weeks from England through France and Italy to look at Gothic, Romanesque, and Renaissance churches.

The first reason was pragmatic. Nat Owings, the senior partner in the firm, concluded that no matter how beautiful a church I could redesign — if it would be controversial and I had not seen Notre Dame — all was lost politically. The second reason, still pragmatic, was fundamental. I had been living the design and construction of the Air Force Academy. Program, design, detail technique — all my life intensified to that schedule. We used all of our available current knowledge, we pushed edges in technology, we conquered time, we were fulfilling the time and the dream, but it was a consuming passion. The third reason was the personal opportunity to discover the past.

Suddenly in Europe I came face to face with other times, with architecture of beauty often, but more an architecture of pain and variety. There in the cathedrals was the work of centuries built with the faith and effort of unknown workers. The trip was a personal celebration with these workers in architecture. I could rise in the morning in Italy and say to myself, “Mike,” (for I was beginning to feel on personal terms with Michelangelo) “what of yours shall I see today?” I was consumed by the sense many times of a special place and the days were days of architectural beauty and celebration. Only dimly did I recognize that the beginnings of my future were starting — that the seeds of threshold were being planted.

The new chapel was designed out of the private discoveries of that trip, and it was contemporary yet to me full of tradition in the new, and it was controversial, and there was a congressional investigation. I owe much to the testimony of not experts but people who felt keenly of their own experiences and their concept not of controversy but of beauty and design, and appropriateness that made the building possible.

The chapel, for me then, was a threshold. I could not return again to the way I created buildings. Now almost 20 years later, the museum here at Miami is a result of that threshold.

Most of you are not involved with the arts, yet the creativity in which your life evolves is a design in itself.

True, many things haven’t changed. For many of you, perhaps the design of the museum appeared to you as radical and foreign to this campus as the chapel; the faith of the administration was again tested; and the final test now for the museum is in its use and enjoyment. This year, this spring, begins the 50th year of the School of Fine Arts at Miami University. To celebrate, some events have already occurred, many will follow — at the museum, on the campus. Whether these events will be for those students following you a personal celebration or a threshold will depend upon those private secret quiet moments when the arts and beauty and creativity can speak — softly with the quiet confidence of appreciation and enjoyment.

Most of you are not involved with the arts, yet the creativity in which your life evolves is a design in itself. In a world fast changing, patterns of change will influence your normal desire for stability and order. To evolve within these conflicting patterns will require your personal recognition of thresholds when they occur. Sometimes days and events in one’s life, like this day for you (and for me), seem natural when the event occurs — sometimes the day truly becomes special — a real celebration. So I hope that most of you will remember this day and your memories will be less concerned than mine were in 1943 for me — for some of you even this day may be more than a casual celebration.

Today, as happened many years ago, the design of a building — the new museum — has directed my life by opening vistas, creating new events, and through care and controversy reaffirmed these values which have directed my life. Now I wish for each of you that in crisis as a person, you can be fortunate enough to reach a threshold that sets forth the special journey so that all that was accomplished in school as rule or right, that all that was learned in experience through work and anguish, that all that was made known through love and friendship reaches more than a plateau, but a threshold for each of you and your hopes and dreams.

Read more about SOM’s legacy:

• Bidding on Architectural History
• The Experiment Continues
• Miami Virtue: Working With Florence Knoll Bassett in the ‘80s

With these goals in common, Dr. Wil V. Srubar, director of the Living Materials Laboratory, and Yasemin Kologlu, design principal at SOM, have become close collaborators. Here they share their big ideas on how biomaterials could spark a revolution in the building industry. This is the first interview in a series focused on strategies to decarbonize the built environment.

Wil and Yasemin, how did you connect?

Wil Srubar: In early 2020, my lab group, together with other colleagues at the University of Colorado Boulder, published our first study on engineered living building materials. We got a lot of press coverage — a New York Times article, an interview on NPR. I was pleasantly surprised to get an email from Yasemin and others at SOM who wanted to know more about our work.

Yasemin Kologlu: I didn’t even know about the New York Times or NPR articles, to be honest! I was leading a research initiative at SOM focused on finding solutions to reach zero carbon across all of our projects, and even push beyond. We wanted to look outside of the building industry for ideas — to academia, research institutes, manufacturers, and thinkers. We narrowed down different systems and methods that we could use, and Wil’s work on biological materials was among those.

Why are building materials such an important focus right now?

Yasemin: We have a responsibility to address climate change, as designers and design professionals. We all know by now that 40 percent of global carbon equivalent emissions come from the building industry and from buildings themselves.

In our work we always try to reduce energy demand, energy use, operational carbon, operational energy, and another big piece of the puzzle is embodied carbon — both for up-front and end-of-life carbon. When we look at the whole life-cycle of a building, we cannot ignore the carbon emissions of materials in this equation. And when we consider the impact across the entire industry, we simply cannot continue building the way we’ve been used to. It’s about time for us to look at alternatives, new ways of thinking, new materials that help us change the norm.

Wil, you’ve been developing some of these alternatives. Tell us about your work and what you envision building materials could be in the future.

Wil: It was influential for me to learn that more than 11 percent of global CO2 emissions are attributed directly to construction material manufacturing. As structural engineers, that’s our responsibility, that 11 percent.

In my research group, the Living Materials Lab, we believe that biology has figured out a lot of things for us — we just need to pay closer attention. We started to look at how we can produce materials for buildings by leveraging two mechanisms that nature uses to store and sequester CO2 in material form. One of these is photosynthesis. We all learned this in third-grade biology — that every plant, seed, tree, even algae, as it grows and replicates, sucks up CO2 from the atmosphere and stores it in the sugars, proteins, and carbohydrates of those organisms. That is physical materiality produced by drawing down CO2 from the atmosphere.

The second mechanism is carbonate mineralization, a process very similar to how seashells are formed. You take CO2 and react it with a metal, and it can form a mineral. In nature that mineral is predominantly calcium carbonate, or limestone. We take a lot of inspiration from these processes and we ask ourselves, what can we make that has similar properties to materials that we already use in construction? This is the whole premise of our lab: to use biology along with traditional material science to make biomimetic, responsive, even living material technologies for the built environment.

What is the potential for these materials to absorb carbon?

Yasemin: It’s fundamental. Eleven percent of the global emissions come from the materials we use, so there is an opportunity to change this. Until not long ago, the standard in our industry was to consider building emissions in terms of yearly performance. Even our policies looked at emissions and energy use yearly. We need a total shift — we need to look at the whole-life carbon cycle of a building, just like in nature. We don’t look at the impact and health of a forest in one year; we look at this over its entire lifespan. So for the built environment, we also need to embrace a whole life-cycle way of thinking. When we adopt this mindset, a new generation of carbon-sequestering materials will help us absorb carbon over the lifespan of a building. In essence, buildings can act more like a forest and clean the air that surrounds them.

Wil: A lot of my inspiration comes from where I grew up, on a cotton farm and cattle ranch. I was surrounded by nature. When I moved to larger cities, I realized that I was the generation of my family that urbanized. When I go back home for the holidays, I go back to the farm.

For years I’ve asked myself, why is the built environment so sterile and static and non-living? The best image that evokes this is Central Park in New York City. When you look at the park from above, you see this sharp line between what is human-made and what is natural. But what if we could blur the boundaries? Could we go so far as to say that we can engineer life into our buildings? In fact, a building is a lot like the human body. It has a skeleton, the structure. It has a skin that regulates temperature and humidity. It’s a wired neural system. It consumes energy and produces waste.

The work that’s coming out of my lab is the very first step toward bringing building materials to life. And then we can start thinking about how to engineer buildings to continue to sequester carbon throughout their lifespan. Yasemin and I talk about this every time we meet. And that’s what’s behind the concept of Urban Sequoia. Why can’t buildings be like trees in a forest? Can they be mechanisms for carbon uptake, storage, and utilization? These little breakthroughs are getting us closer and closer to that reality.

What does biological concrete look and feel like? How is it different from the concrete that we’re familiar with?

Wil: The research we’ve been doing here spans a wide range. Some of these materials are more plug-and-play, like alternative cements, alkali-activated cements, and geopolymer cements that have low embodied carbon. We also work a lot with cellulosic materials. We’re doing some work with bacterial cellulose — which is what you get in the process of making kombucha, for instance. This is a carbon-storing material that grows really quickly, faster than trees, faster even than some grasses. We engineer that to produce materials that look and feel like traditional materials and have similar properties.

For the engineered living building material project, it was not important for us to have a product that looks exactly like portland cement concrete, or even behaves like it. We made something that is bioinspired and biologically produced. Because it is “grown,” it has its own unique properties and its own advantages. We’ve been very focused on making sure that we could meet the performance standards that would allow engineers and architects to specify our products — that really is the way that you enter the market — but the unique performance characteristics are what make it really exciting for architects and engineers.

Biological concrete can have a very different aesthetic and tactile experience, depending on what kind of aggregate you use. Unlike traditional concrete, you can change the color and the texture. Like concrete, it can be molded in any shape. And we’ve found that it has compressive strength properties that are approaching that of traditional concrete, while its tensile properties and fracture resistance are radically different. This enables us to make brand new shapes and different morphologies that we haven’t been able to produce before.

“We’re seeing such an interest in clean materials, and people are very eager to do good with that momentum.”

Yasemin: This is very exciting for us as designers. It pushes us to think differently. We know how to design with concrete. We know how to design with timber. But now we’re working with a type of new material which has its own strengths and unique qualities. For example, perhaps we can design a structure that has less volume and more surface, to enable it to breathe more. This could lead to a whole new generation of buildings that adopt entirely new design strategies.

Wil: This speaks to why I’m so excited about our partnership. We’re a team of scientists and engineers; we think it’s really cool to be able to produce something and measure its properties. But the vision of how it can be applied in buildings, what new opportunities it can unlock — we’re a little short-sighted there. SOM is helping to bring that vision more into focus for us. They are showing us the design possibilities, and it’s kind of a perpetual motion machine — because every time I meet with SOM, I’m energized to go back to the lab and to try to create something even more incredible.

Yasemin: That’s exactly how things advance, right? When scientists and creatives come together, amazing things can happen. This is potentially one of those moments.

What are the challenges ahead in getting to the point where these solutions can be widely adopted?

Yasemin: Just like any new material or developing technology, it will require investment and applications. It requires education and sharing knowledge as well. It’s a great opportunity and all of the dials are moving in the right direction: we’re seeing an increase in investment; we’re seeing an increase in interest; we’re seeing an increase in policies and incentives, as well as individuals and professionals like us who are interested to make this happen and are working to implement it as quickly as possible.

Wil: We’re living in a really exciting time. There is beginning to be a pull from the AEC industry for new materials and other building technologies that address the global climate crisis. There’s a massive momentum in building, and we know that this will continue. When you think about construction on a global scale, that could be a mechanism to heal the planet, or further harm it. I think we’re seeing such an interest in clean materials, and people are very eager to do good with that momentum.

“This is a huge wave and we’re just at the beginning. We’re going to see so much more in terms of new materials, new technologies, new policies, new ways of designing, building, and thinking.”

Along with this come the challenges. Construction is definitely a commodity industry. Economics typically reign supreme. We always have to be cognizant of cost. We have to be aware of perception as well, so talking about living materials, a global pandemic was probably not the best time to launch a new biological material and suggest that we put it in our buildings, even though our algae-based concrete is completely non-toxic and harmless — it’s basically akin to having a plant inside of your building blocks. Despite minor perception challenges, we are seeing a lot of champions for clean material technologies — and for the solutions that we’ve been developing, we’re seeing much lower barriers in terms of perception because we’re demonstrating performance and economic viability. This isn’t just some ivory-tower idea. We are transitioning this into the commercial space, and we have incredible partners to help us do that.

So, when are we likely to see the first living concrete building?

Wil: It may happen sooner than you think. We’ve founded a company, Prometheus Materials, and we have licensed the IP to begin manufacturing these materials. And our teams — SOM, the University of Colorado, and Prometheus — have been collaborating on product design ideas and prototyping projects.

In the short term, it’s really important to manufacture a product that has the performance attributes to be able to meet the current building code, so we can enter the market. We want to ensure that architects, engineers, even building owners become familiar with it and they understand how to design with it.

But just look at what’s happened with mass timber, and how quickly the building code has responded to allow for the increased use of timber — that’s a biological material, as well. Yes, the design tools needed to be engineered and the code needed to be revised, but we’ve seen that happen at unprecedented speeds. That has paved the way for other new material technologies.

Yasemin: We’re also seeing legislation that is actively pushing for the use of low-carbon materials, and eventually toward carbon-sequestering materials. As we see more and more of this all over the world, I’m not sure that these things are going to be optional.

Wil: I really expect that in the next 5 to 10 years we’re also going to see tremendous innovations in the realm of carbon storage and carbon negativity — and together with that, a change in the design philosophy that architects and engineers use to design buildings. So if we’re really striving toward absolute zero carbon — and by absolute zero, I mean zero embodied and operational carbon, or, better yet, it’s net carbon-negative, and we transform buildings into net carbon sinks — we have to understand and use these emerging carbon-storing materials in sufficient quantities to counteract the carbon-emitting materials. So, be on the lookout for a lot of additional innovations related to building materials and carbon storage.

Yasemin: This is a huge wave and we’re just at the beginning. We’re going to see so much more in terms of new materials, new technologies, new policies, new ways of designing, building, and thinking. We are living a historic shift in real time. And our collaborations and collective efforts are helping to shape that future.

Read more stories on climate solutions for the built environment:

• How a Growing Campus Reached Carbon Neutrality in Record Time
• 50 Years of Environmental Activism Through Design

“Women Take Charge at SOM”: This May 2020 article in Architectural Record, a profile on the three women partners who lead SOM’s Executive Committee, describes a milestone in the journey toward gender equity in our firm and in our profession. Women’s History Month is an occasion to celebrate influential women in SOM’s long history — including Natalie de Blois and Norma Merrick Sklarek — and also those who are making an impact today. In recent years, the SOM Women’s Initiative, a group founded in 2010, has worked to build a pipeline for talent and to promote the visibility of women in architecture, engineering, and construction.

To celebrate International Women’s Day, we asked four women at SOM — in different cities, disciplines, and stages in their careers — to introduce themselves and to tell us what inspires them.

Makenna Kesterson

Product Designer, Los Angeles

Which woman in design do you admire the most?

I am inspired by Ivy Ross because of her multidisciplinary career path, and for her work at Google on neuroaesthetics. The form language that she and her team have been developing for Google Home and other products over the years is beautiful.

What is your favorite building?

The Dymaxion House by Buckminster Fuller. It’s an early example of architecture as a product as well as a statement on ecological design.

What is your secret talent?

Putting things in perspective — seeing the big picture as well as seeing things from others’ perspectives and empathizing with their point of view.

What is the best advice you’ve received?

Take what you can from every challenge and learn from failures — don’t dwell on what went wrong, but use it as data to inform your next move! As someone who cares about the final product, I have to remember to trust that failure can be part of the process toward a positive outcome.

What is the most surprising or overlooked thing about being a product designer?

It’s easy to overlook the intensive process that goes into product design: first learning about people and their needs, finding the right problem to solve, and then iteratively addressing the problem with many concepts before landing on the final product. Jumping to a solution too soon or not creating space for divergent ideas can leave you with little room for change.

Tomi Laja

Junior Architectural Designer, Chicago

Which woman in architecture do you admire the most?

Lesley Lokko is a stellar woman in architecture that I greatly admire: her poetic use of language, commitment to creating nurturing educational spaces through her pedagogy, and emphasis on exploration and futuring are just some frameworks that have impacted me as a Nigerian-American designer, writer, and curator.

What is your favorite building and why?

Favorites are difficult, but two works that I find myself musing over, time and time again, are Maison de Verre — for its beautiful collaboration between the craftsman, architect, and interior designer (Louis Dalbet, Bernard Bijvoet, Pierre Chareau) — and the Floating University by raumlabor Berlin — which is one of the most radical and sustainable architectures I have come across.

What is your secret talent?

People who I work and collaborate closely with notice my eye for composition. I adore finding aesthetic balance, whether in photography, editing a page within a publication, or forms within a space.

What is the best advice you’ve received?

The best advice I have received is the importance of confidence and really believing in yourself. People must take their desires and goals seriously, by questioning and understanding them and then implementing action towards those dreams.

What is the most surprising thing about your job?

The opportunities to use our skills learned through architectural education and practice in new and subversive ways lends to endless positive possibilities of what a designer can do.

Katie Stott

Associate Principal and Senior Marketing Manager, Chicago

Which woman in architecture do you admire the most?

Tatiana Bilbao. She has produced interesting, socially conscious designs with an attention to modular, expandable low-cost single-family housing. Also, her collages are beautiful. Instead of renderings, she uses an artistic style that allows for more of a creative dialogue with her clients — it leaves things open to the imagination. I’d like to hang some of them in my home!

What is your favorite building and why?

Villa VPRO by MVRDV because of its transparency, simplicity of materials, variety of interesting work spaces, and fluidity of space through sectional connections. It just seems like a fun place to work! It is located on a suburban site on top of a parking lot, but from the inside, with the level changes and connections, green roof and landscaping, it feels really connected to nature. Also, the chaos of the workstations inside reminds me of my days and nights in the architecture studio at college.

What is your secret talent?

I’d say it is two-part — first, being able to quickly identify what is most important and realizing the key message that needs to be conveyed. And second, being able to stay clear-headed in every situation, and always listening and getting the full picture before taking a step back and strategizing on a solution.

What is the best advice you’ve received?

To remember that just like everyone else, you bring a unique perspective and experiences that people will appreciate hearing.

What is the most surprising thing about your job?

Joining SOM’s marketing team after having worked in the architecture studio opened my eyes to the importance of the business operations teams in the success of an architecture firm. This type of marketing is so specialized, and yet we have such a diverse, talented group of people on our team, collaborating alongside our designers in pursuit of new clients and work for the firm. This has really inspired me over the years!

Sukriye (Rae) Robinson

Architect, London

Which woman in architecture do you admire the most?

Lina Bo Bardi is an inspiration for me. Her creativity transcended more than the realms of architecture, with her passion for arts and culture shining through in all her works.

What is your favorite building and why?

This changes regularly, but a favorite of mine is the Church of Cristo Obrero by Eladio Dieste. I was able to visit this building in Uruguay whilst studying for my master’s. I’ve always been passionate about building materials, and it’s a great example of how clever design and engineering can take a simple brick and use it to create truly captivating architecture.

What is your secret talent?

Not many people know that I’m a really great tiler. If I wasn’t an architect, I would probably be a builder of some kind!

What is the best advice you’ve received?

I was once told that if you want to excel in your career, it’s not enough to be great at your job — you must bring more to the table. This has always stuck with me. I always find myself looking for opportunities to do more and learn more, not just in my career but also for personal development. This has further ignited my enthusiasm for getting involved with material research, both at SOM and in the wider industry.

What is the most surprising or overlooked thing about being an architect?

One of the most overlooked skills you develop as an architect is spatial conception. This means being able to walk into IKEA and know if a piece of furniture is going to fit into a space just by looking at it — and winning that bet with my boyfriend every single time.

Read more stories from SOM:

• Graduating in a Pandemic? Don’t Panic.
• Trailblazing Architects Inspire Future Design Leaders
• Cracking the Glass Ceiling