SOM Special Collection. 2

Author: Wilfried Wang
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-04-01
Features: Following the intense internal debates at SOM Company since the announcement of the , the plan to retain some members of the review committee for the second round was. This decision was made by the Chicago-based partners of SOM Company to address the concerns that members of the might have an inherent connection with the design proposals submitted by the New York office. Due to the recurring concerns about favoritism among the participants in the review process, even though the review committee members insisted that they were unaware of the details of the submitted proposals, a new review committee was formed to reassure those who doubted the independence of the review process. Since most of the selected proposals in the were from the New York office, readers outside of SOM Company might not be particularly interested in this issue. However, the New York office's repeated victory remains unspoken, though it further intensifies the internal debates. As a result, this collection may become a source of feedback on the central issues of all the proposals. Given the limited interest and acceptance capacity of the client community in this regard, how can high standards of design quality be achieved? How can a proposal integrate the reasonable interests of clients, as well as the long-term factors of programmatic, aesthetic, and material durability? How can the requirements for architecture be given a broader appropriate transcendence beyond mere display or contemplation of social and cultural significance? This collection includes one private residence, two infrastructure projects, two cultural projects, three schools, and one high-rise building. One might think that this is not a typical showcase of the types of work SOM Company has previously done. Two of the proposals received unanimous approval, two received 4 out of 5 valid votes, and the other five proposals behind them also garnered majority support from the judges.