Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP (SOM) is an American architectural, urban planning and engineering firm. It was founded in 1936 by Louis Skidmore and Nathaniel Owings in Chicago. In 1939, they were joined by engineer John Merrill. The firm opened its second office, in New York City, in 1937 and has since expanded, with additional offices in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., London, Melbourne, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Seattle, and Dubai.
Gyo Obata was an American architect, the son of painter Chiura Obata and his wife, Haruko Obata, a floral designer. In 1955, he co-founded the global architectural firm HOK. He lived in St. Louis, Missouri, and still worked in HOK's St. Louis office. He designed several notable buildings, including the McDonnell Planetarium and GROW Pavilion at the Saint Louis Science Center, the Independence Temple of the Community of Christ church, the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C., and the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum in Springfield, Illinois.
The year 2006 in architecture involved some significant architectural events and new buildings.
The architecture of the Kansas City Metropolitan Area, especially Kansas City, Missouri, includes major works by some of the world's most distinguished architects and firms, including McKim, Mead and White; Jarvis Hunt; Wight and Wight; Graham, Anderson, Probst and White; Hoit, Price & Barnes; Frank Lloyd Wright; the Office of Mies van der Rohe; Barry Byrne; Edward Larrabee Barnes; Harry Weese; and Skidmore, Owings & Merrill.
Contemporary architecture is the architecture of the 21st century. No single style is dominant. Contemporary architects work in several different styles, from postmodernism, high-tech architecture and new references and interpretations of traditional architecture to highly conceptual forms and designs, resembling sculpture on an enormous scale. Some of these styles and approaches make use of very advanced technology and modern building materials, such as tube structures which allow construction of buildings that are taller, lighter and stronger than those in the 20th century, while others prioritize the use of natural and ecological materials like stone, wood and lime. One technology that is common to all forms of contemporary architecture is the use of new techniques of computer-aided design, which allow buildings to be designed and modeled on computers in three dimensions, and constructed with more precision and speed.
Kivett & Myers was a Kansas City, Missouri architecture firm that pioneered the design of modern professional sports stadiums.
HNTB Corporation is an American infrastructure design firm. Founded in 1914 in Kansas City, Missouri, HNTB began with the partnership made by Ernest Emmanuel Howard with the firm Waddell & Harrington, founded in 1907.
360 Architecture was an American architectural practice acquired by HOK in 2015. The firm provided services for a range of project types including corporate headquarters and commercial office buildings, sports arenas, stadiums and ballparks, municipal facilities, single- and multi-family residential, and mixed-use entertainment districts. The firm was headquartered in Kansas City, Missouri, with offices in Columbus Ohio; and San Francisco, California. As of 2014, the firm had a staff of 200 professionals.
Thornton Tomasetti is a global, 1,500-plus person scientific and engineering consulting firm.
Yamasaki Associates, Inc. was an architectural firm based in Troy, Michigan. Its founder, Minoru Yamasaki, was well known for his design of the twin towers of the World Trade Center.
BNIM is an architecture and design firm founded in 1970 in Kansas City, Missouri.
Fentress Architects is an international design firm known for large-scale public architecture such as airports, museums, university buildings, convention centers, laboratories, and high-rise office towers. Some of the buildings for which the firm is best known include Denver International Airport (1995), the modernized Tom Bradley International Terminal at LAX (2013), the National Museum of the Marine Corps near Quantico, Virginia (2005), and the Green Square Complex in Raleigh, North Carolina (2012).
DLR Group is an employee-owned integrated design firm providing architecture, engineering, planning, and interior design. Their brand promise is to elevate the human experience through design. A self-described advocate for sustainable design, the firm was an early adopter of the Architecture 2030 Challenge, and an initial signatory to the AIA 2030 Commitment and the China Accord.
Bill Hellmuth was an American architect who designed several notable projects worldwide. Since 2005, he had been president of HOK, a global architecture, engineering and planning firm, while also heading its Washington, D.C., office.
William Valentine, FAIA, is an American architect who has practiced at HOK since beginning his career in the St. Louis office in 1962. In 1970, he moved to California to help open HOK's San Francisco office. In 2000, he was named president and design principal of HOK and in 2005 he assumed the role of chairman. Valentine retired from HOK in 2012, after 50 years with the firm. He remains HOK chairman emeritus and lives in Mill Valley, California.
Patrick MacLeamy, FAIA, LEED AP, is an American architect and executive who is chairman of buildingSMART International. Previously, he served as Chairman and CEO of HOK, a global architecture, engineering and planning firm. MacLeamy is the author of the book Designing a World-Class Architecture Firm: The People, Stories and Strategies Behind HOK, published by Wiley in April 2020. The book tells the history of HOK, one of the largest design firms in the world, and draws lessons from HOK intended to help other architects and creative services professionals improve their own practices. “Build Smart,” a podcast co-hosted by MacLeamy and Mark R. LePage, AIA, NCARB, is inspired by MacLeamy's book.
George Francis Hellmuth (1907–1999) was an American architect based in St. Louis, Missouri.
George E. Kassabaum was an American architect, and one of the co-founders of the HOK architectural firm.
Robert Allan Jacobs (1905-1993) was an American architect in practice in New York City from 1935 to 1976. From 1939 until 1965 he was the partner of Ely Jacques Kahn in the firm of Kahn & Jacobs.
Edwin Butler Crittenden (1915-2015) was an American architect practicing in Anchorage, Alaska. Referred to later in life as the "dean of Alaska architecture", he was the most notable Alaskan architect of the 20th century.
