 |
 |
 |
 |
The architectural office originated from the collaboration between Louis Skidmore and Nathaniel Owings in Chicago. Louis Skidmore was commissioned by Raymond Hood with the planning of the world exhibition "A Century of Progress" which took place there in 1933. For this commission he recruited his brother-in-law Nathaniel Owings. In 1936 they founded an office together and three years later John Merrill joined them.
The office SOM became known for buildings in the classical post-war modernism, which are marked by the influences of Mies van der Rohe. With buildings like the Lever House, SOM became famous. Later they realized several glass and steel skyscrapers, which served the era of functionalist office architecture of the 1950s and 1960s as Icons and served as a pictorial statement for International Style. Over many years SOM became the architectural office that could plan most of the global high-rise records.
Today Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) is one of the largest architectural firms in the world, and has offices in Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, Washington DC, London, Hong Kong, Shanghai and Brussels.
1953 - 1955 US Consulate General - Frankfurt
1957 America House - Frankfurt