May 14, 2010
SOM: They’re #1
What is the top architectural firm in the United States? The friendly staff at Architect magazine established a set of criteria, surveyed the profession and crunched the numbers. After all that scientific effort, they arrived at the same answer just about any sane person would have given them with barely a second thought: Skidmore, Owings and Merrill.
Then they asked me to write the profile. (Warning: prose shading toward the hue of purple.) SOM, of course, has been the sine qua non of corporate design for three quarters of a century, “the Brooks Brothers of glass and steel,” as I write. They build, they plan, and they win awards by the cartload. The resources the firm devotes to technical research are prodigious. No one will build you a more elegant curtain wall, but that’s not where the practice ends. It’s hard to begrudge the firm its status, which seems rightfully earned, even if corporate design isn’t your cup of tea. And I suspect we’ll see them in the same spot next year.
Observed
View all
Observed
By Mark Lamster
Related Posts
Equity Observer
L’Oreal Thompson Payton|Essays
‘Misogynoir is a distraction’: Moya Bailey on why Kamala Harris (or any U.S. president) is not going to save us
Equity Observer
Ellen McGirt|Essays
I’m looking for a dad in finance
She the People
Aimee Allison|Audio
She the People with Aimee Allison, a new podcast from Design Observer
Equity Observer
Kevin Bethune|Essays
Oh My, AI
Recent Posts
Make a Plan to Vote ft. Genny Castillo, Danielle Atkinson of Mothering Justice Black balled and white walled: Interiority in Coralie Fargeat’s “The Substance”L’Oreal Thompson Payton|Essays
‘Misogynoir is a distraction’: Moya Bailey on why Kamala Harris (or any U.S. president) is not going to save us New kids on the bloc?Related Posts
Equity Observer
L’Oreal Thompson Payton|Essays
‘Misogynoir is a distraction’: Moya Bailey on why Kamala Harris (or any U.S. president) is not going to save us
Equity Observer
Ellen McGirt|Essays
I’m looking for a dad in finance
She the People
Aimee Allison|Audio
She the People with Aimee Allison, a new podcast from Design Observer
Equity Observer
Kevin Bethune|Essays