SOM, previously Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP, is a Chicago-based architectural, urban planning, and engineering firm. It was founded in 1936 by Louis Skidmore and Nathaniel Owings. In 1939, they were joined by engineer John O. Merrill. The firm opened its second office, in New York City, in 1937 and has since expanded, with offices in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., London, Melbourne, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Seattle, and Dubai.
The Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH) is an international body in the field of tall buildings, including skyscrapers, and sustainable urban design. A non-profit organization based at the Monroe Building in Chicago, Illinois, United States, the CTBUH announces the title of "The World's Tallest Building" and is widely considered to be an authority on the official height of tall buildings. Its stated mission is to study and report "on all aspects of the planning, design, and construction of tall buildings."
The Burj Khalifa is a skyscraper in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. It is the world's tallest structure. With a total height of 829.8 m and a roof height of 828 m (2,717 ft), the Burj Khalifa has been the tallest structure and building in the world since its topping out in 2009, surpassing Taipei 101, the holder of that status since 2004.
Fazlur Rahman Khan was a Bangladeshi-American structural engineer and architect, who initiated important structural systems for skyscrapers. Considered the "father of tubular designs" for high-rises, Khan was also a pioneer in computer-aided design (CAD). He was the designer of the Sears Tower, since renamed Willis Tower, the tallest building in the world from 1973 until 1998, and the 100-story John Hancock Center.
César Pelli was an Argentine-American architect who designed some of the world's tallest buildings and other major urban landmarks. Three of his most notable buildings are the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur, the World Financial Center in New York City, and the Salesforce Tower in San Francisco. The American Institute of Architects named him one of the ten most influential living American architects in 1991 and awarded him the AIA Gold Medal in 1995. In 2008, the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat presented him with The Lynn S. Beedle Lifetime Achievement Award.
Adrian Devaun Smith is an American architect. He designed the world's tallest structure, Burj Khalifa, as well as the building projected to surpass it, the Jeddah Tower. A long-time principal of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, he founded his own architectural partnership firm Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture in Chicago in 2006. Among his other projects, he was the senior architect for Central Park Tower in New York City, Trump International Hotel & Tower in Chicago, the Jin Mao Tower in Shanghai, and Zifeng Tower in Nanjing.
Gerald Douglas Hines was an American real estate developer based in Houston. He was the founder and chairman of Hines, a privately held real estate firm with its headquarters in that city. At the time of his death, the company had assets in 25 countries.
William Frazier Baker is an American structural engineer known for engineering the Burj Khalifa, the world's tallest building/man-made structure and a number of other well known buildings. He is currently a structural engineering partner in the Chicago office of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, LLP (SOM).
The tallest building in the world, as of 2025, is the Burj Khalifa in Dubai. The title of "world's tallest building" has been held by various buildings in modern times, including Lincoln Cathedral in Lincoln, England, and the Empire State Building and the original World Trade Center, both in New York City.
Alan Garnett Davenport was a professor at the University of Western Ontario and founder of its Boundary Layer Wind Tunnel Laboratory. He analyzed the wind's effect on a significant portion of the world's tallest buildings including the building formerly known as the CN Tower, Sears Tower, Citicorp Center, and the World Trade Center. He was a Member of the Order of Canada, Canada's highest civilian honor.
The year 2010 in architecture involved some significant architectural events and new buildings.
Boulevard Plaza is a complex contains Boulevard Plaza 1 and Boulevard Plaza 2 located in Downtown Dubai in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. The towers were proposed for construction on 2005, with the commencement of construction in 2007 and ended in 2010. The Boulevard Plaza 1 rises 168.45 m (552.7 ft) and Boulevard Plaza 2 rises 141.13 m (463.0 ft), while the complex have 37 and 30 floors respectively. Boulevard Plaza are located in Downtown Dubai, adjacent to the world's tallest building Burj Khalifa.
Dr. Lynn S. Beedle was an American structural engineer, the founder and the director of the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat, and known for his design and building of skyscrapers. The New York Times has called him "an expert on tall buildings".
Doha Tower, also known as Burj Doha, and previously named as Burj Qatar and Doha High Rise Office Building, is a high rise tower in West Bay, Doha, Qatar. On October 18, 2012, the building received the CTBUH Skyscraper Award for the Best Tall Building Worldwide from the CTBUH. The $125-million office building, designed by French architect Jean Nouvel, has a height of 238 metres (781 ft), with 46 stories.
Vanity height is defined by the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH) as the height difference between a skyscraper's pinnacle and the highest usable floor. Because the CTBUH ranks the world's tallest buildings by height to pinnacle, a number of buildings appear higher in the rankings than they otherwise would due to extremely long spires.
The Silo is a 65-meter apartment building converted from a former grain silo located in Nordhavn, Copenhagen, Denmark. The 17-storey structure was completed in May 2017 and houses 39 apartments, a restaurant and lookout platform. The building was designed by the Copenhagen-based Cobe architectural firm, and was completed in 2017.
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