A university building nears completion in Berkeley, a bold events venue will be inaugurated in Shanghai, and a beloved New York City landmark will reopen following a meticulous renovation. These are a few of the highlights that we are excited to celebrate in 2025. Ranging in scale from the sensitive transformation of a modernist workplace in Milan to the urban design and planning for an entire new city district in Oman’s capital, this selection of work in progress speaks as much to SOM’s integrated design approach as it does to the vision and ambition of our clients. We are grateful to contribute our design expertise to these projects that will be transformative for cities and communities around the world.

A campus building’s transformation offers a lesson in engineering

University of California, Berkeley — Engineering Center
Berkeley, California

Opening Spring 2025, the newly expanded Engineering Center at the University of California, Berkeley, is both an adaptive reuse project and a demonstration of cutting-edge engineering. Repurposing the original Bechtel Engineering building as the foundation for the new Center, the redesign adds a two-story glass-and-steel pavilion. Full of natural light with a three-level open forum at the center, the structure will flexibly accommodate classrooms, student services and special events.

Overlooking the Memorial Glade, a large open space at the heart of the campus, the building creates a new public face for the Engineering School. The lightweight addition acts as a counterpoint to the Brutalist character of the original building. The new construction itself is designed as a teaching tool: the structural systems in the building are exposed, allowing engineering students to examine the connections, gussets, dampers, a rod-hung stair, and an innovative tension rod system.

A flagship events venue arrives in Shanghai

Shanghai West Bund Convention Center
Shanghai, China

In a formerly industrial district now home to arts venues and tech hubs, a bold new convention center is nearly complete. Sited along the Huangpu River, the center is planned as the venue for the 2025 West Bund World Artificial Intelligence Conference. 

SOM employed an AI-assisted workflow to develop the building’s faceted design. Through this innovative process, the design team optimized the building’s structure and form, balancing site constraints, curtain wall angles, and programmatic requirements. The result is a compact, vertical layout that maximizes material efficiency, structural integrity, sustainability, and user experience.

From the grand atrium that forms the main entrance, escalators zig-zag toward two multifunctional exhibition halls. Among the largest venues of their kind in Shanghai, these spaces are designed for conferences, expos, and large-scale community events. Rooftop terraces with panoramic river views and landscaped public areas extend the West Bund’s five-kilometer green corridor, creating spaces for relaxation and social interaction. Light-filled public spaces along the edges enhance the building’s role as a community-focused venue.

A new hub for media and performance transforms a Philadelphia campus

Temple University – Klein College of Media and Communication and the Center for Performing and Cinematic Arts
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

This spring, Temple University will break ground on a new building for the Klein College of Media and Communication and the Center for the Performing and Cinematic Arts—a dynamic structure that brings together two schools under one roof. The new 199,000-square-foot building creates a singular home for media, communications, film, and performing arts programs that are currently spread across several buildings on the North Philadelphia campus. It will include classrooms, faculty offices, screening rooms, studio and post-production spaces, as well as three theaters that will host programming open to the public.

Sited at the western edge of campus, the new building is envisioned as a new gateway to Temple University. Polett Walk, the main pedestrian axis on the Temple campus, passes directly through the structure. Its dynamic facade establishes a prominent presence on Broad Street, with glass apertures that reveal the activity within. Designed as both an academic building and a performance venue, the project will serve both the campus and the broader community—a North Philadelphia neighborhood hub for gathering, learning, and entertainment. 

A dynamic workplace nears completion in Milan

Corso Italia 23
Milan, Italy

In central Milan, a 1960s office complex designed by an influential team of modernist architects will soon reopen following a comprehensive renovation led by SOM. Originally designed by the studio Ponti Fornaroli Rosselli with Piero Portaluppi, the complex—comprising three distinct buildings around a large central courtyard—is being transformed into a dynamic campus. The project coincides with a milestone in Milan’s urban development: it fronts the newly opened Santa Sofia station on the M4 line, which now links the city center with the airport in 15 minutes.

Our renovation honors the original architects’ vision while addressing the needs of the contemporary workplace. New openings in the floorplates accommodate dramatic spiral staircases, creating physical and visual connections between floors. The three buildings are united by a newly landscaped courtyard and state-of-the-art amenities, while various work settings offer choice and versatility. In addition to traditional desks, lounges and breakout spaces provide opportunities for informal gatherings and collaboration, while quieter areas equipped with soundproof booths support focused individual work. Just as Gio Ponti and his collaborators revolutionized commercial architecture with their original project, our sensitive transformation aims to set a new benchmark for offices and their role in cities.

Five new towers signal Riyadh’s northward expansion

The Avenues — Riyadh
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

This series of five distinctive towers is the signature feature of The Avenues – Riyadh, a major new mixed-use destination rising just north of the Saudi Arabian capital. Once complete, the development will redefine Riyadh’s skyline and mark a memorable gateway to the city. The towers will host several luxury hotels and residences, while the larger development—spanning 390,000 square meters—will be home to one of the largest shopping malls in the Middle East.

The towers’ design is rooted in the principles of Salmani architecture—a style unique to Riyadh that combines Saudi Arabia’s rich cultural heritage with modernity. Their tapered forms and distinctively textured facades harmonize with the desert sky. Developed by SOM’s interdisciplinary team comprising architects, structural engineers, interior designers, and sustainability experts, the towers are all targeting LEED Gold certification. The towers are expected to be completed by the end of next year, ahead of the overall development’s public opening in early 2026.

A destination for waterfront living takes shape in Hong Kong

Cullinan Harbour
Hong Kong

Fronting Hong Kong’s Victoria Harbour, a residential oasis is rising on the site of a former airfield, just 15 minutes from the central business district. The crescent-shaped Cullinan Harbour complex encircles an open courtyard featuring a serene pool, lush gardens, and community amenities.

The building’s diaphanous glass facade is inspired by the rippling waves of Victoria Harbour, with rounded balconies providing private outdoor spaces to enjoy the ocean breeze. At either end, the curving profiles of two signature towers evoke sails. Landscaped green spaces front the development, while a pedestrian footbridge grants access to Sky Garden on the former runway of Kai Tak airport.

As the first residents move in toward the end of 2025, Cullinan Harbour is set to become a reference point for luxury urban living in Hong Kong.

The Walt Disney Company opens a distinctively New York headquarters

Disney New York City
New York

Filling an entire city block in downtown Manhattan, the New York City headquarters for The Walt Disney Company achieves a careful aesthetic balance: standing out while fitting in. Its green terracotta facade attracts the eye, while the building’s form, proportions, and materials harmonize effortlessly with the historic masonry buildings that surround it. Behind the elegant facade is a buzzing media headquarters, with a dense collection of studios, newsrooms, offices, and outdoor spaces. 

The new Robert A. Iger Building rises in a series of setbacks that culminate in two, 320-foot-tall towers, echoing the form of classic New York City architecture. SOM designed both the architecture and a comprehensive branding strategy, delivering, as architecture critic Justin Davidson writes, a “handsome, urbane, beautifully engineered cultural-production machine.” With a phased move-in underway, the company’s various media brands will soon come together for the first time under one roof.

Renewing a landmark through preservation, restoration, and transformation

Waldorf Astoria
New York, New York

When the Waldorf Astoria opened its doors on Park Avenue in 1931, it became an instant New York City icon. The legendary hotel has been closed for several years to allow for a comprehensive restoration and transformation. Reopening in spring 2025, the Waldorf will once again shine as one of the city’s finest examples of Art Deco architecture.

The sheer size and scale of the twin-towered “skyscraper hotel” remains impressive today. The former 1,400-room hotel is being converted into a 375-unit residential building and a 375-key hotel. Visitors will once again be invited to walk through a block-long enfilade of landmarked interior spaces spanning from Park Avenue to Lexington Avenue, and to convene in the clock lounge with its original maple finishes and newly restored plaster bas-reliefs. SOM’s sensitive renovation improves circulation throughout these spaces, while preserving the integrity of the historic interiors.

A high-tech tower symbolizes Shenzhen’s booming business district

Shenzhen Hytera Houhai Headquarters Tower
Shenzhen, China

The new headquarters for telecommunications company Hytera is among the most prominent recent developments in the city’s Houhai downtown district. Due for completion early next year, the 43-story tower exemplifies the integration of architecture and structural engineering that has long been SOM’s hallmark.

A diagrid steel structure gives the building a bold architectural expression. The tower’s elevators rise within this truss system, offering workers glimpses of the city as they move between floors. The facade design updates the modernist curtain wall with operable glass panels that allow for natural ventilation. This feature, together with a design that maximizes natural lighting, creates a bright and flexible working environment for the next generation of tech industry talent.

Ecological design underpins a new city in Oman

Sultan Haitham City
Muscat, Oman

Unveiled last year, Sultan Haitham City is conceived as a new model for sustainable development in the Middle East. The development provides a mix of housing types within walking distance to new public amenities, parks, and vibrant open spaces. The development will reach several milestones in 2025, including the transformation of a dry riverbed into a public park.

In response to the country’s climatic realities, including soaring temperatures, humidity, and vulnerability to flooding in the summer, the urban design taps the potential of an existing 7.5-kilometer-long dry river—a wadi—that runs through the site. Harnessing natural water from flooding, the wadi is reinvented as a vibrant, green park with an interconnected network of open spaces and shaded plazas to encourage outdoor activity.

Serbia’s tallest tower anchors a reimagined waterfront

Kula Belgrade
Belgrade, Serbia 

Located near the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers, Kula Belgrade is the tallest building in Serbia’s capital city. The tower anchors a larger master plan to reimagine the public realm along the Sava riverfront: a 1.8-kilometer esplanade, complete with gardens, cafes, and restaurants. With the tower substantially complete, the public realm improvements are due for completion next year.

SOM’s design for Kula Belgrade takes inspiration from its waterfront site, its curving form evoking the two rivers that merge here. The mixed-use building houses a St. Regis Hotel, which opened earlier this year, as well as apartments, offices, and shops. The ground floor features a grand ballroom and event space that opens directly to the public plaza. An observation deck at the top of the building will offer a new perspective above Belgrade, offering sweeping views of the historic city and its surrounding landscape.