If you look at our portfolio you will see immediately that when it comes to skyscrapers, and the amount of research that we have undertaken to engineer them, there are very few other firms in the world that can compete with us. Architecture at this height is rare and it is in this space that our practice is different from most other architects. Our expertise is unique – many of our buildings are 300 meters tall and much higher. But when we just started in 2006, we were known primarily for tall buildings. Our expertise is broad, and we believe we can meet most challenges, large or small. We see no limits either in scale or complexity. We love skyscrapers – supertalls and even megatalls – but what interests us most is addressing very complex urban problems.Ĭentral Park Tower is a mixed-use supertall skyscraper Image Credit: Courtesy of Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill ArchitectureĪS: We are architects and city planners. We focus on finding unique solutions for cities. Our capabilities are very wide – from any building type to master plans. We analyse density, energy efficiency, vertical transportation, livability, new construction techniques and materials and so on. We continuously push the performance and functionality limits, as well as possibilities for hybrid programs. We work hard to challenge the skyscraper typology. The development of this building type preoccupies over half of our time. Gordon Gill (GG): We see ourselves as very able architects in developing very complex buildings. VB: You are referred to as the ultimate skyscraper architects. That project did not move forward, but we learned so much by exploring its potentials.
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At that point we were already working on minimising waste and maximising efficiency through understanding how to utilise the 111-storey height by incorporating wind turbines, photovoltaic panels, double climate wall exterior skin systems, open air atria for wind reduction, tapered and soft corners to mitigate vortices, and even stack effect power generation using the exterior wall cavity space as a chase. Even when I was experimenting with the Samsung Togok Tower in Seoul back in 1994-95, I was working with Gordon. Vladimir Belogolovsky (VB): Do you mind telling me about your responsibilities in the firm?Īdrian Smith (AS): Gordon and I are both Design Partners and we design most projects jointly, as we have done since working together at SOM. Model of Samsung Togok Tower, Seoul, designed by Adrian Smith, Design Partner at SOM Image Credit: Courtesy of James Steinkamp Photography Among currently at least 20 under construction buildings designed by Smith and Gill, and mostly obtained through design competitions, there are Jeddah Tower, to be the world’s tallest building, exceeding 1,000 meters in height 1,550-foot tall Central Park Tower in New York and two other supertalls: 97-storey Wuhan Greenland Center and 101-storey Chengdu Greenland Center, both in China.Īll of these tall buildings are very attractive but what sets AS+GG apart from other leading architecture practices in their field is the architects’ groundbreaking research, extensive experience and singular dedication to achieving first – intelligence, second – efficiency, and third – beauty, as a consequence of the first two primary goals. Other buildings designed by Smith prior to starting AS+GG include 71-storey Pearl River Tower (design with Gill, 2011, Guangzhou), 163-story Burj Khalifa (2010, Dubai), and 98-story Trump International Hotel and Tower (2009, Chicago).
Since his 88-storey Jin Mao Tower was completed in Shanghai in 1999, Smith has become the go-to authority on high-rise construction.
It was designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, the firm where both designers made their careers prior to starting their current practicein 2006. The open-plan, entirely see-through office of now 70 people occupies one of the lower levels of the elegant 1957 Inland Steel Building in the heart of Chicago’s Loop. I sat down with the two founding partners of Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture (AS+GG) to discuss beauty and science behind their iconic buildings. I met with Adrian Smith and Gordon Gill for the following interview on the topic that these two architects have become synonymous with – the skyscrapers.
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