Mark Sarkisian is an American structural engineer. He is the Partner of seismic and structural engineering in the San Francisco office of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill. [1] [2] [3] He is notable for designing many landmark high rise buildings in USA, China and the middle east.
Sarkisian has designed over 50 major building projects around the world including the Embassy of the United States, Beijing, the NBC Tower in Chicago, the Cathedral of Christ the Light, St. Regis Museum Tower a 42 story tall building in San Francisco, Rolex Tower a 59 story tall tower in UAE, Zifeng Tower an 89 story tall building, Tianjin World Financial Center a 74 story tall building in China, the Jin Mao Tower - currently the fifth tallest building in the world, and the 415 meter-tall Al-Hamra Tower in Kuwait.
Sarkisian holds eight U.S. Patents for high-performance seismic structural mechanisms designed to protect buildings in areas of high seismicity and for seismic and environmentally responsible structural systems. [4]
He has published more than 100 papers examining seismic behavior, tall building design, and innovative uses of materials in structures. Over his 25-year-long career, he has received over 50 awards for innovation in structural engineering. He has also received an Honorary Doctorate Degree from Clarkson University. [5] He was elected a member of the National Academy of Engineering in 2021 for innovation in efficient and aesthetic design of tall buildings and structures. [6]
Sarkisian currently teaches an Integrated Studio class that includes students from UC Berkeley, California College of the Arts, Stanford, and Cal Poly which is focused on the collaborative opportunities in design. He received his Bachelor of Science from the University of Connecticut, and his Master of Science from Lehigh University.
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 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.
Bruce John Graham was a Colombian-born Peruvian-American architect. Graham built buildings all over the world and was deeply involved with evolving the Burnham Plan of Chicago. Among his most notable buildings are the Inland Steel Building, the Willis Tower, and the John Hancock Center. He was also responsible for planning the Broadgate and Canary Wharf developments in London.
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.
In structural engineering, the tube is a system where, to resist lateral loads, a building is designed to act like a hollow cylinder, cantilevered perpendicular to the ground. This system was introduced by Fazlur Rahman Khan while at the architectural firm Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM), in their Chicago office. The first example of the tube's use is the 43-story Khan-designed DeWitt-Chestnut Apartment Building, since renamed Plaza on DeWitt, in Chicago, Illinois, finished in 1966.
Frank Newby was one of the leading structural engineers of the 20th century, working with such architects as Philip Powell and Hidalgo Moya, Eero Saarinen, Cedric Price,James Gowan (architect) James Stirling, and the practice of Skidmore, Owings and Merrill (SOM), and such engineers as Ove Arup and Felix Samuely.
The Institution of Structural Engineers' Structural Awards have been awarded for the structural design of buildings and infrastructure since 1968. The awards were re-organised in 2006 to include ten categories and the Supreme Award for structural engineering excellence, the highest award a structural project can win.
The Petron Megaplaza is an office skyscraper located in Makati, Philippines. It previously held the title as the tallest building in the Philippines from 1998 to 2000 when the PBCom Tower was topped-off. It has a total ground to architectural spire top height of 210 meters, soaring at 45 storeys high.
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 One Roxas Triangle, also known as the One Roxas Triangle Tower 1 or Roxas Triangle Tower One, is a residential condominium skyscraper located in Makati, Philippines. It is owned by Roxas Land Corp., and was developed by the combined efforts of Ayala Land, Inc., Hongkong Land, Ltd. and Bank of the Philippine Islands. It stands at 174.3 metres.
The MIPIM Architectural Review Future Projects Awards is an award program for unbuilt or incomplete projects spanning across eight categories. It is organised and awarded annually by MIPIM, the international property market in Cannes, France, in cooperation with the monthly international magazine Architectural Review. Since 2002, the awards have been presented at MIPIM.
George J. Efstathiou, FAIA, RIBA is an American architect of Greek descent. George joined Skidmore, Owings and Merrill, LLP (SOM) in 1974, where he served as Managing Partner and later Consulting Partner in the Chicago office until 2016. He is currently leading the consulting practice of Efstathiou Consulting LLC which serves clients in the architecture, planning, interiors design as well as others in the real estate and corporate communities.
Heller Manus Architects, founded in 1984, is a San Francisco, California-based architecture firm providing architectural, master planning, and urban design services for public and private sector clients. Jeffrey Heller, FAIA is the founding principal of the firm and member of the Green growth leaders Council, and Clark Manus, FAIA is founding principal of the firm and the 87th President of the American Institute of Architects (AIA). Steve Buchholz, AIA is the CEO, and Eric Lundquist is the President and Chief Financial Officer, both have been with the firm for over 30 years. The firm's portfolio includes high-rise commercial and residential, hotels, retail, civic, renovations, sustainability, academic/research, entertainment, transportation, and master planning projects throughout the United States and China.
Computers and Structures, Inc. (CSI) is a structural and earthquake engineering software company founded in 1975 and based in Walnut Creek, California, with additional office location in New York. The structural analysis and design software CSI produce include SAP2000, CSiBridge, ETABS, SAFE, PERFORM-3D, and CSiCOL.
Srinivasa "Hal" Iyengar was an Indian American civil engineer and a senior structural consultant, who has been particularly instrumental in the development of innovative and efficient structural concepts and systems for high-rise, long-span and stadium structures.
The New Beijing Poly Plaza is a building complex in Beijing, China. Completed in 2007 for the China Poly Group Corporation, it houses the company headquarters, other office space, retail, restaurants, and the Poly Museum.
Tianjin CTF Finance Center is a supertall skyscraper located in the Tianjin Economic-Technological Development Area central business district of Binhai, Tianjin, China. Construction started in 2013 and was completed in 2019. At 1,739 ft (530 m), and with 97 floors, the tower is the second-tallest building in Municipal Tianjin after unfinished Goldin Finance 117, the eighth-tallest building in the world, and the tallest building in the world with fewer than 100 floors. It is located in the outer district of the Tianjin Economic-Technological Development Area. Tianjin CTF Finance Center is designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP in collaboration with Ronald Lu & Partners.
Pertamina Energy Tower was a 99-storey, 523-metre (1,716 ft) proposed skyscraper in Jakarta, Indonesia. It was designed and planned by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP (SOM), a private architecture and engineering company, and it was supposed to be the new HQ of the state-owned energy company Pertamina.
Jack Moehle is the Ed and Diane Wilson Presidential Professor of Structural Engineering at the University of California, Berkeley.