Designing Tall Buildings


Book Description

The first of its kind, Designing Tall Buildings is an accessible reference that guides you through the fundamental principles of designing high-rises. Each chapter focuses on one theme central to tall-building design, giving you a comprehensive overview of the related architecture and structural engineering concepts. Mark P. Sarkisian provides clear definitions of technical terms and introduces important equations, to help you gradually develop your knowledge. Later chapters allow you to explore more complex applications, such as biomimicry. Projects drawn from Skidmore, Owings and Merrill’s vast catalog of built high-rises, many of which Sarkisian designed, demonstrate these concepts. This book advises you to consider the influence of a particular site’s geology, wind conditions, and seismicity. Using this contextual knowledge and analysis, you can determine what types of structural solutions are best suited for a tower on that site. You can then conceptualize and devise efficient structural systems that are not only safe, but also constructible and economical. Sarkisian also addresses the influence of nature in design, urging you to integrate structure and architecture for buildings of superior performance, sustainability, and aesthetic excellence.




Gordon Bunshaft and SOM


Book Description

This nuanced portrait of Gordon Bunshaft and his work for the architecture firm SOM explores his role in defining the built aesthetic of corporate America.




Engineering Architecture


Book Description

The structural engineer responsible for Chicago's John Hancock Center and Sears Tower, Fazlur R. Khan (1929-1982) pioneered structural systems for high-rise design that broadened the palette of building forms and expressions available to design professionals today.




Architects + Engineers = Structures


Book Description

This book applauds the union of architecture and engineering both today and throughout the history of building and construction. The relationship between the two fields is multifaceted. Some architects may have had an engineering background, and some engineers have experience of architecture. Some unacknowledged engineers have stood modestly behind great architects, and a number of architects have been encouraged and supported by their engineer-collaborators in designing structures that appear to defy gravity. Architects + Engineers = Structures focuses on the ideal: on a cohesive building design team where the members contribute equally, resulting in unique and exceptional designs. These are architects and engineers who entice beauty into buildings not just with lines on paper and calculations but with intuition, innovation and feeling for the needs of people, materials, strength, proportion, lightness and elegance. Structures featured include: * dome of the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore, Florence * Church of the Sagrada Familia, Barcelona * Eiffel Tower, Paris * Sydney Opera House, Sydney * Marina City, Chicago * Olympic Swimming Pool Arena, Tokyo * London Eye, London * many other international examples, both celebrated and less well-known "This subject is very important, and I hope the book will attract the attention of many architects and engineers." Professor Mamoru Kawaguchi Also by Ivan Margolius: Automobiles by Architects, Wiley-Academy, ISBN 047160786X "How rare it is to put down a book with the sense of pleasure satisfied, the mind excited by ideas and information, nostalgia stimulated, the eye amused by illustrations." Brian Sewell, The Spectator "Superbly entertaining book." Edwin Heathcote, The Architects' Journal "This is an enjoyable read." Building Design "Excellent book." FX Magazine "Purchasers are likely to have something unique on their bookshelves." The Automobile "A pleasant surprise is the density and clarity of the text, usefully accompanied by a wealth and diversity of iconography." L'Architecture d'aujourd'hui




Exterior Building Enclosures


Book Description

A comprehensive guide to the design and execution of sophisticated exterior building enclosures Focused on the design process for architects and related professionals, this book addresses the design and execution of sophisticated exterior building enclosures for a number of commercial building types and in a variety of building materials. It focuses on the design process by delineating enclosure basics, the participants (owners, architects, engineers, consultants) and their roles and responsibilities through collaboration, and tracking the design process through construction. This comprehensive handbook covers all of the factors that affect the design of a building enclosure, including function, visual aesthetics, performance requirements, and many other criteria. In-depth case studies of projects of various scales, types, and climate conditions illustrate the successful implementation of exterior wall enclosure solutions in brick masonry, stone, architectural concrete, glass, and metals. This unique and indispensable guide: Defines the functions, physical requirements, design principles, and types of exterior building enclosures Identifies the participants in the design and construction process and specifies their roles and responsibilities Presents a step-by-step process for the design of exterior enclosures, from defining goals and developing concepts through creating construction documents Reviews the construction process from bidding and negotiation through the paper phase to the "brick and mortar" stage Provides details on the properties of exterior enclosure materials, including structural considerations, weather protection, fire safety, and more Covers a variety of materials, including brick masonry, natural stone masonry, architectural concrete, metal framing and glass, and all-glass enclosures Written by the technical director of the San Francisco office of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, Exterior Building Enclosures is an indispensable resource for architects, engineers, facade consultants, and green design consultants working on commercial building projects.




The Future of Public Space


Book Description

Routine discussions on public space typically omit a gamut of possibilities ripe for critical discussion. This book, the latest in the SOM Thinkersseries, aims to address these questions. Here, Rachel Monroe challenges American preconceptions of the wild, wide-open West by addressing issues of surveillance; the series' first fictional piece, by China Miéville, covers an under-examined area of public space under the guise of detective fiction; a study of public art by Ben Davis sheds light on the myths and stigmas that have accrued to public art, also asking what it can become; Christopher DeWolf shares a sensory navigation trip through a directionless Hong Kong; Michelle Nijhuis writes on the shifting ecologies of national parks; Sarah Fecht explores architecture and social life beyond Earth; while Jaron Lanier meditates on the idea of public space online, linking the prevailing, free-for-all model of the internet with a characteristically American yearning for freedom and repudiation of rules and structure. Also included are examples of public art works by Lawrence Weiner.







SOM Structural Engineering


Book Description

This volume presents the theoretical background underpinning SOM's structural group and addresses the question of 'How high can you go?', as well as issues of efficiency and economy. On the basis of a variety of projects, from the James Turrel Skyspace to Burj Khalifa, it considers how to find new structural solutions, as well as how materials can be used innovatively to create 'next-generation' buildings.




Modern Architecture and Climate


Book Description

How climate influenced the design strategies of modernist architects Modern Architecture and Climate explores how leading architects of the twentieth century incorporated climate-mediating strategies into their designs, and shows how regional approaches to climate adaptability were essential to the development of modern architecture. Focusing on the period surrounding World War II—before fossil-fuel powered air-conditioning became widely available—Daniel Barber brings to light a vibrant and dynamic architectural discussion involving design, materials, and shading systems as means of interior climate control. He looks at projects by well-known architects such as Richard Neutra, Le Corbusier, Lúcio Costa, Mies van der Rohe, and Skidmore, Owings, and Merrill, and the work of climate-focused architects such as MMM Roberto, Olgyay and Olgyay, and Cliff May. Drawing on the editorial projects of James Marston Fitch, Elizabeth Gordon, and others, he demonstrates how images and diagrams produced by architects helped conceptualize climate knowledge, alongside the work of meteorologists, physicists, engineers, and social scientists. Barber describes how this novel type of environmental media catalyzed new ways of thinking about climate and architectural design. Extensively illustrated with archival material, Modern Architecture and Climate provides global perspectives on modern architecture and its evolving relationship with a changing climate, showcasing designs from Latin America, Europe, the United States, the Middle East, and Africa. This timely and important book reconciles the cultural dynamism of architecture with the material realities of ever-increasing carbon emissions from the mechanical cooling systems of buildings and offers a historical foundation for today’s zero-carbon design.




Architecture of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, 1950-1962


Book Description

The first in a series of five volumes covering the work of the New York architects, Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, this volume looks at the years between 1950 and 1963.