San Francisco, CA: Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP (SOM), the renowned architecture, engineering, interiors and planning firm, has received eight Spark Awards. Spark is a community of designers and creative people, bound together by the idea that Design can make positive change in the world. The prestigious global competition included seven completely independent juries of expert and independent judges from related fields for Experience Design, Product Design, Spaces Design, Transport Design, Communication Design, App Design and Concept Design. The award submissions reflected Spark’s mission to emphasize, good design — works that contribute directly to building a better place to live.
In the category of Spaces Design, the Dallas City Performance Hall, a 750-seat proscenium performance hall and A.C.T. Strand Theater, a renovation of a one-hundred-year-old theater were awarded the Gold Level. Nanhu Village Master Plan, which seeks to further the nation’s farm reform goals and address the region’s environmental problems, was awarded the Silver Level.
In the category of Transport Design, Denver Union Station, an integrated, multi-modal transit district, won at the Gold Level.
Bronze level awards were bestowed on the following SOM projects: Poly International Plaza, a complex of three speculative office buildings,Sheikh Khalifa Medical Center, a 2.5-million-square-foot medical complex in Abu Dhabi and UC San Diego Medical Education Center, an innovative medical education facility.
In addition, the EA Tool, which evaluates estimated carbon for building structure, won at the Bronze level for App Design.
An exhibition featuring all the winning projects will be on view at the Autodesk Gallery in San Francisco in February, and in Taipei in March. For a full list of the winners and to view image galleries head to the Spark Awards website www.sparkawards.com/galleries/
About Skidmore Owings & Merrill LLP
Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP (SOM) is one of the leading architecture, interior design, engineering, and urban-planning firms in the world, with a 75-year reputation for design excellence and a portfolio that includes some of the most important architectural accomplishments of the 20th and 21st centuries. Since its inception, SOM has been a leader in the research and development of specialized technologies, new processes and innovative ideas, many of which have had a palpable and lasting impact on the design profession and the physical environment. The firm’s longstanding leadership in design and building technology has been honored with more than 1,700 awards for quality, innovation, and management. The American Institute of Architects has recognized SOM twice with its highest honor, the Architecture Firm Award—in 1962 and again in 1996. The firm maintains offices in New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., London, Hong Kong, Shanghai and Abu Dhabi.