Abstract

ABSTRACT Recent developments in software tools available to designers have given rise to a new spirit of freedom and opportunity in architecture, resulting in a wave of novel building forms. The complexity of the structural systems required to support these new buildings requires increasingly innovative solutions from the structural engineering designers, demands which are rapidly changing the nature of the profession. Since graduating from Cambridge, Aaron has practiced in the San Francisco studio of the architectural firm Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP , and has served as the Project Structural Engineer on a number of complex building designs. The presentation will focus of the evolving design process as practiced at SOM , and will highlight several of the firm’s recent projects. Projects discussed will include the New Beijing Poly Plaza, recently completed in Beijing, China and incorporating the world’s largest cable-net supported glass façade, and the Al Hamra Tower, marketed as ‘the world’s tallest sculpted tower’ and presently under construction in Kuwait City, Kuwait.