Adrian Smith FAIA RIBA
Partner

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Adrian Smith, has been a practicing architect for over 40 years. His extraordinary body of work includes some of the world’s most recognizable landmark structures, including the Jin Mao Tower in Shanghai, China; Rowes Wharf in Boston, Massachusetts and the Burj Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, soon to be the world’s tallest structure.

Adrian’s unique design approach emphasizes sensitivity to the physical environment. He considers each project holistically, taking into consideration site orientation, climate and geography, cultural and social influences to create highly sustainable projects that achieve contextualism within the global environment. As one of the world’s foremost experts of super tall towers, he recently collaborated with Gordon Gill to design the world’s first net Zero-Energy skyscraper, Pearl River Tower, to be built in Guangzhou China. The design harvests the natural forces of wind, sun and geothermal mass, and continues Adrian’s tradition of integrating energy efficient systems and technologies into his designs.

Prior to founding Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture in 2006, Adrian was a Design Partner in the Chicago office of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill from 1980 to 2003 and a Consulting Design Partner from 2004 to 2006.

Throughout his career, Mr. Smith has played an active role in international projects and developments. From 1971-1973 he was the resident project architect for the Corporate Headquarters for the Wills Hartcliffe Project in Bristol, England. In 1989, he was selected to participate in the IV Hamburger Bauforum to lead a team in exploring alternative visions for the Speicherstadt District in Hamburg, Germany. In 1990 he participated in a team of 40 international architects and planners in the Zentrum: Berlin Symposium, at the Bauhaus in Dessau, to discuss the challenges for the reunification of Berlin. He has also designed buildings in Bahrain, Brazil, China, England, Germany, Guatemala, Indonesia, Korea, Kuwait, Mexico, the United States (Chicago, Boston, Des Moines, St. Louis, Minneapolis, Washington D.C., Orlando,) and Saudi Arabia.

Mr. Smith was elected by the SOM Partnership to serve as the firm’s Chief Executive Officer (1993 to 1995). He also served as the Chairman for the SOM Foundation (1990 to 1995); Trustee to the Chicago Architecture Foundation (1992 and 1999); president of the Chicago Central Area Committee (1997 and 1999); Board member to State Street Council (1995 to present); and Governor on the Board of the School of Art Institute of Chicago (2002 to present).

Nationally, Mr. Smith is a Lifetime Governor of the Urban Land Institute Foundation; a member of the Urban Land Institute (1986 to present); and he has served on numerous professional juries and committees, including the Chicago Chapter AIA Fellows Committee; the National AIA Large Firm Roundtable. He was Chairman of the National AIA Jury on Institute Honors (1987); the Progressive Architecture Awards Design Jury (1988); the Jury Chairman of the Central States Region AIA Awards Program (1994); the 2000 Advisory Panel to the AIA Board of Directors for the Firm Award and Gold Medal Award recipients (2000); and Chairman of the AIA National Honor Awards for Architecture (2004).

He was keynote speaker at the CTBUH Fifth World Congress (1995); speaker for the ABN Amro symposium (1990); speaker at the 1991 Quaternario conference in Singapore (1991);and has lectured in Amsterdam; Buenos Aires, Argentina; Prague, Czechoslovakia; Frankfurt, Germany; Seoul, Korea; Shanghai China; Hong Kong; Washington (1994); Amsterdam (2003); Notre Dame (2005); Chicago (2003, 2004,2005); and CTBUH in New York (2005) among others.

He was a Trustee of the Building Experiences Trust Limited, a British organization devoted to furthering architectural education curriculum(1995 to 1998); the Royal Institute of British Architects British Architectural Library Trust Representative for the British Schools and Universities Foundation (1994 to present); as well as having appeared in several documentaries including the BBC World Service’s “Chicago Architecture” film, several episodes of Chicago Tonight; and the first two parts of the “Skyline: Chicago” film series.

Projects under his design direction have won over 90 major awards for design excellence, including 5 international awards, 8 National AIA awards, 22 Chicago AIA awards, and 2 ULI Awards for Excellence. His work has been featured in major museums in the United States, South America, Europe, Asia and the Middle East.

Mr. Smith has also written two books pertaining to his work as an architect. They are “Pro Architect 24: Adrian D. Smith” and “The Architecture of Adrian Smith, SOM: Toward a Sustainable Future”