Media Coverage
11 feb 13 | Arch One
Alumnus who designed world's tallest building to receive honorary doctorate degree
Adrian Smith, designer of the world’s tallest building, the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, and a champion of sustainable design, will receive an honorary doctor of letters degree from Texas A&M at spring commencement... DETAILS
8 feb 13 | aia.org
2013 FAIA Announcement
The Fellowship program was developed to elevate those architects who have made a significant contribution to architecture and society and who have achieved a standard of excellence in the profession... DETAILS
17 dec 12 | Crain's Chicago Business
Overseas planning gigs: A closer look
Chicago architecture firms increasingly are looking overseas not only for architectural commissions but for urban-planning gigs. Urban planning is a growing niche, driven by the global population shift to city centers, a trend that has accelerated in the past decade... MORE
25 oct 12 | Popular Science
China is Building a Brand New Green City from Scratch
Chengdu Tianfu District Great City is supposed to be a prototype that can be replicated elsewhere throughout China... MORE
16 oct 12 | WGN Radio
Sunday Night Radio Special - Adrian Smith
Bob Sirott and Marianne Murciano talk to architect Adrian Smith about designing the Trump Tower, his projects in China and Malaysia, his career, architecture, and design. Adrian even settles a dispute between Bob and Marianne about how warm a house should be in the winter... MORE
sep 12 | Civil Engineering
Ancient Architecture Inspires Contemporary Tower Complex
A Two tower complex that is being designed as part of a development in Seoul, South Korea, was inspired by the traditional building methods represented in the nation’s ancient temples, yet the project will be anything but antiquated. Indeed, the towers will be decidedly contemporary, featuring many innovative elements... MORE
21 sep 12 | The Wall Street Journal
Designing Towers to Catch the Sky
Gordon Gill, an architect in Chicago who specializes in very tall, energy-efficient structures, doesn't spend much time looking at buildings. Mr. Gill said that he gets better ideas by looking at lakes or trees rather than Chicago's broad-shouldered skyline. The city's notorious blasts of wind are another inspiration... MORE
26 july 12 | ted.com
Supertall and Super Sustainable
Gordon Gill's talk at TedXMidwest Youth this past fall, now live on Ted.com. Architect Gordon Gill has a holistic approach to design, creating positive energy buildings that work with their natural surroundings. He walks through the Chicago Decarbonization Plan which allows urban population density to increase while a metropolitan city's carbon footprint decreases. In addition, he shows off stunning buildings that puncture the stratosphere.... MORE
28 june 12 | Crain's Chicago
High-rise, low-carb buildings offer new ideas for sustainable skyscrapers
An exhibit of six green buildings designed by students at the Illinois Institute of Technology opened this month at the Chicago Architecture Foundation.
The six designs were superimposed on a massive white model city of Chicago already on display in the CAF's atrium in the Santa Fe building on Michigan Avenue... MORE
17 may 12 | Architecture Source
Breathing Life into Korean Architecture Feat
The concept of biomimicry is the architectural process whereby a building or structure takes its form from the imitation of organic systems and processes. It is sustainability on a whole different level, as architects who design using biomimetics seek to simply copy not only the organic form being mimicked, but also its organic function... MORE
11 may 12 | World Architecture News
Year of the Dragon: AS+GG unveils design for supertall mixed use towers for Seoul, South Korea
The Chicago-based design firm, Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill, unveiled today its design for Dancing Dragons, a pair of supertall mixed-used towers for the new Yongsan International Business District in Seoul, South Korea. The buildings, which include a mix of residential, ‘officetel', and retail uses, consist of slender, sharply angled mini-towers cantilevered around a central core... MORE
11 may 12 | inhabitat
Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Unveil Dancing Dragons Towers with Scaly, Breathable Skin
When architects Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill design a new building, people tend to pay attention... MORE
may 12 | Architectural Record
Kingdom Come
An interview with Carol Willis, the director of New York City's Skyscraper Museum, explores the reasons for so many supertalls being built in in far-flung places. The Kingdom Tower by Adrian Smith and Gordon Gill in Jeddah Saudi Arabia is also discussed... MORE
apr 12 | Discovery Channel Magazine
Reach for the Sky
They dominate our skylines, and reflect our hopes and dreams - not to mention our egos. As Chris Wright reports, when it comes to the future, the next generation of skyscraers will, quite literally, reach for the sky... MORE
13 apr 12 | Building Design + Construction
40 Under 40, the Class of 2012
Chosen from 223 applicants, these 40 young AEC professionals represent the Class of 2012 in Building Design+Construction’s “40 UNDER 40” competition... MORE
25 jan 12 | Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat
Adrian Smith, Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture, Chicago
Adrian Smith, recipient of the 2011 CTBUH Lynn S. Beedle Lifetime Achievement Award speaks about his tall buildings career... MORE
3 nov 11 | Nashville Post
Giarrantana unveils trio of proposed skyscrapers
Tony Giarratana — arguably the city’s most high-profile developer and unarguably its king of skyscraper projects — has revealed plans for three new towers, including an office building that would rise up to 700 feet and easily rank as Nashville’s tallest and most cutting-edge structure... MORE
18 nov 11 | Nashville Business Journal
Tony Giarratana talks about his latest proposed office tower
High-profile developer Tony Giarratana has declined requests from the Nashville Business Journal and other media outlets to discuss his recently revealed ambitions to build a trio of towers in downtown Nashville... MORE
28 sep 11 | Huffington Post
A Call for Urban Doctors
In the United States, buildings are responsible for between 40 percent and 80 percent of carbon emissions in major cities... MORE
18 sep 11 | LakeForest-LakeBluff Patch
Local Legends Program Spotlights Tall Building Designer
Lake Forest resident Adrian Smith will discuss his work in an interview with Bill Kurtis... MORE
sep 11 | Young Architects Forum
Woman in Architecture
I have learnt that a career in architecture is not always a linear path. Architecture is a profession that is ever changing, and success is not defined by any single moment but through the collection and variety of experiences that makes for an interesting career... MORE
sep 11 | Perspective
High up in the wind
Situated close to the meeting of hte Yangtze and Han rivers, Wuhan Greenland Centre is scheduled to be completed in about five years... MORE
5 sep 11 | World Architecture News
Why the big firms are reaching out to find new work
‘Cautious’, ‘economic uncertainty’ and ‘luck’ were the buzzwords this week when WAN asked some of the world’s largest architecture, design and engineering practices to sum up their experiences of 2011 and cast an eye forward into 2013... MORE
4 sep 11 | Los Angeles Times
Critic's notebook: Skyscrapers remain powerful symbols, post 9/11
Skyscrapers, viewed in many parts as signs of prestige, have experienced a building boom since the attacks... MORE
30 aug 11 | Arabian Business
Kingdom Tower architect grapples the wind at 3,000 ft
Kingdom Tower, Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal’s project to erect the world’s tallest building in Jeddah, is designed to imitate the contours of a sprouting desert plant... MORE
aug 11 | The Big Project
The Big Players
They are the companies and projects rebuilding the region's construction industry; from world-class stadia, to record breaking architecture and infrastructure built for the next generation. The Big Project speaks exclusively to the industry's big players... MORE
aug 11 | Civil Engineering
Wuhan Greenland Center
The curved, tapering form of a hotel and residential tower planned for Wuhan, china is designed to help the structure resist strong wind forces even as it rises to become one of the tallest buildings in the country and the world.... MORE
14 aug 11 | New York Magazine
Higher
At the Skyscraper Museum, a reminder of why we keep reaching for the clouds... MORE
4 aug 11 | WTTW Chicago Tonight
Kingdom Tower
On August 2, Chicago firm Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture (AS + GG) announced that it plans to design Kingdom Tower, which—at over 1,000 meters and with a total construction area of 530,000 square meters—will be the world’s tallest building. Adrian Smith joins us on Chicago Tonight at 7:00 pm with more on the project... MORE
aug 11 | Architectural Record
On the Boards: Wuhan Greenland Center
Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture has won an international competition to design the Wuhan Greenland Center in central China... MORE
3 aug 11 | Chicago Tribune
Chicago firm's design towers over the rest
The competition to design a new skyscraper in Saudi Arabia had a simple but lofty rule: The tower had to be the world's first kilometer-tall building... MORE
3 aug 11 | Construction Week Online
Kingdom Tower is next step in skyscraper design
The 1km-high Kingdom Tower to be built in Jeddah represents “an evolution and a refinement of an architectural continuum of skyscraper design,” according to Gordon Gill from Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture (AS+GG)... MORE
3 aug 11 | The Wall Street Journal
Saudis Plan World's Tallest Tower
Saudi Arabia's Prince Alwaleed bin Talal announced plans to build the world's tallest building in Jeddah less than two years after the Burj Khalifa opened in Dubai at a height that many thought wouldn't be surpassed for years... MORE
2 aug 11 | msnbc.com
World's tallest building coming to Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia unveiled plans Tuesday to build the world's tallest tower — a mixed-use structure that will rise two-thirds of a mile high — in the Red Sea port city of Jeddah... MORE
2 aug 11 | The Huffington Post
Kingdom Tower: Adrian Smith Talks Designing World's Tallest Building
At six feet, Adrian Smith is fairly tall for an architect. But now, with the announcement that his Kingdom Tower in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, will begin construction this year, he may qualify as the world's tallest architect... MORE
2 aug 11 | World Architecture News
AS+GG confirmed for Kingdom Tower
After months of rumour and suspicion, AS+GG confirms it is designing a $1.2bn, 1000+m tower in Jeddah... MORE
2 aug 11 | The Chicago Tribune
Chicago architecture firm to design world's tallest tower
A tower designed by Chicago architects Adrian Smith and Gordon Gill and to be built in Saudi Arabia will be the world's tallest building if completed, according to plans unveiled today... MORE
2 aug 11 | WBBM News Radio Chicago
Chicago Architects Unveil Plans for World's Tallest Building in Saudi Arabia
Two Chicago architects are in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia Tuesday, unveiling plans for what would be the world’s tallest building... MORE
2 aug 11 | The Washington Post with Bloomberg Business
Saudi presses forward with plans to build world's tallest tower, outdoing neighbor Dubai
Saudi Arabia took a key step forward Tuesday in its plan to build the world’s tallest tower and outdo Gulf neighbor Dubai, which inaugurated its own record-breaking skyscraper less than two years ago... MORE
2 aug 11 | The Baltimore Sun
Chicago architecture firm to design world's tallest tower
The proposed tower, which will rise more than 1,000 meters and take just over five years to complete, is the centerpiece of the planned Kingdom City development being built outside Jeddah by Prince Alwaleed's Kingdom Holding... MORE
2 aug 11 | Financial Times
Saudi Arabia plans world's tallest tower
Saudi Arabia’s Prince Alwaleed bin Talal’s investment vehicle, Kingdom Holding, has announced that an associate company will partner with the country’s Bin Laden Group to build a tower near Jeddah that would replace Dubai’s 828m Burj Khalifa as the world’s tallest building... MORE
2 aug 11 | Emirates 24/7
Kingdom Tower to top reigning champ Burj Khalifa by 173m
The US-headquartered architectural practice Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture (AS+GG) has revealed the design for the Kingdom Tower, which is to be the world’s tallest building at 1 kilometre height... MORE
2 aug 11 | Chicago Sun-Times
Chicago firm designing new tallest building
The Chicago-based firm of Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture is designing what is to be the world’s tallest building, Kingdom Tower, in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, near the Red Sea... MORE
25 jul 11 | designMENA
Burj Khalifa architect on jury for WAN Urban Design awards
Adrian Smith, the architect of the Burj Khalifa, is included on the jury of the WAN Urban Design competition, which awards the best in international urban design, transport and infrastructure... MORE
8 jul 11 | The Wall Street Journal
Architect Q&A: The State of Supert-Tall Towers
Adrian Smith, 66, is the senior design partner at Chicago-based Adrian Smith+Gordon Gill Architecture. While at his previous firm Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, Mr. Smith designed the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, which at 2,717-feet high is the world’s tallest, along with China’s Nanjing’s Zifeng Tower, Chicago’s Trump International Hotel & Tower and Shanghai’s Jin Mao Tower... MORE
30 jun 11 | Bustler
Adrian Smith Honored with CTBUH Lifetime Achievement Award for Supertall Buildings
Adrian Smith, senior Design Partner at Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture in Chicago, is the 2011 winner of the Lynn S. Beedle Lifetime Achievement Award from the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat for his extraordinary contribution to the supertall building typology... MORE
28 jun 11 | World Architecture News
Gordon Gill on Chicago's changing climate
Gordon Gill is a Chicago-based architect and one of the world’s preeminent exponents of performance-based design. As the designer of one of the world's most sustainable skyscrapers, the Pearl River Tower, (designed at SOM) and the world first large-scale positive energy building, Masdar Headquarters, who better than Gill to comment on the alarming prediction in the New York Times that Chicago will soon face a major climate shift that will have it feeling more like Baton Rouge, Louisiana, than a Northern metropolis before the end of the century... MORE
21 jun 11 | Chicago Tribune
Smith and Gill win competition for supertall tower in China
Chicago-based architect Adrian Smith and Gordon Gill have won a competition to design a Chinese skyscraper that will, according to the firm, be the world's fourth tallest building... MORE
21 jun 11 | World Architecture News
Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill, Thornton Tomasetti and PositivEnergy Practice to design world's fourth tallest building
Fast becoming leaders in the design of tall buildings, Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture have just scooped another major project in China which is destined to become the fourth tallest building in the world when construction completes in approximately five years... MORE
21 jun 11 | inhabitat.com
AS+GG's Aerodynamic Wuhan Greenland Center to be World's 4th Tallest Building
Today, Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture unveiled their competition winning design for the Wuhan Greenland Center, set to be the world's 4th tallest building... MORE
21 jun 11 | e-architect
Wuhan Greenland Center Tower
Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture is pleased to announce that it has won an international competition to design Wuhan Greenland Center, which at 606 meters (1,988 feet) will likely be China’s third-tallest building, and the fourth tallest in the world, when completed in about five years... MORE
spring/summer 11 | One
(Re)Conceiving Cities
Whether building a city from scratch in Abu Dhabi or retrofitting the Chicago Loop, architect Adrian Smith says 21st-century cities need to be clean, green, and user-friendly... MORE
28 apr 11 | Nissan Technology Magazine
5 Guests - 2025, the future of mobility and our cities
Predicting what cities will be like 25 years from now, and what they should be like at that time, are, of course, two different tasks... MORE
spring 11 | Men's Book Chicago
Mr. Positive
Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture unveils the world's first large-scale energy-positive building... MORE
21 apr 11 | inhabitat.com
Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill’s new Vantone Center will be Tianjin’s most sustainable LEED tower
At a whopping 607 feet, the Vantone Center designed by Adrian Smith & Gordon Gill will be among Tianjin’s tallest new towers... MORE
7 mar 11 | Crain's Chicago Business
Crain's 2011 Coolest Chicago Offices: Adrian Smith & Gordon Gill Architecture
When Adrian Smith and Gordon Gill launched their firm, they drew up a list of amenities their new office needed... MORE
4 mar 11 | Archone: Newsletter of the College of Architecture at Texas A&M University
Adrian Smith visits students, presents Rowlett Lecture
Adrian Smith '66, designer of the world's tallest building and partner in a firm dedicated to the design of high-performance, energy efficient and sustainable architecture on an international scale, was featured at the 2011 John Miles Rowlett Lecture Series... MORE
17 jan 11 | Architect's Newspaper
Smart Grid City
Chicago invented the skyscraper. Can it pioneer the best urban sustainable-energy strategies as well? MORE
jan 11 | That's Shanghai
The architect's architect
Adrian Smith talks about Jinmao, contextualism and designing the world's most sustainable super-tall building... MORE
6 dec 10 | The Columbia Chronicle
Chicago future home to national museum: interactive exhibits, new technology in design from renowned architecture firm
The Field Museum, Art Institute of Chicago and Museum of Science and Industry are a few of Chicago’s popular exhibit halls and tourist destinations. In the spring of 2015, a new institution will be added to Chicago’s list of prestigious museums... MORE
december 10 | GreenSource
The rise of retrofit
Chicago shows what's next and what's needed to meet the city's ambitious performance goals... MORE
1 dec 10 | wbez.org
Plastic surgery for the old Rock Records building: Will structure become a sustainable-and snazzy-$45 million medical museum?
A Chicago foundation is seeking to raise $45 million to convert the former downtown home of Rock Records into a flashy state-of-the-art outpost of Washington D.C.'s venerable National Museum of Health and Medicine--and has hired Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture to handle the transformation... MORE
29 nov 10 | Curbed Chicago
Futuristic Health & Medical Museum Planned for the Loop
Here's a proposed development that's guaranteed to add a bit of excitement to the Washington Street streetscape in the Loop... MORE
12 nov 10 | The Hindu
Standing Tall
Designer of many famous edifices across the world, Gordon Gill speaks of the action behind the scenes... MORE
29 oct 10 | inhabitat.com
Korean tower boasts one of the world's most efficient solar facades
Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture recently announced the groundbreaking of the solar-powered Federation of Korean Industries Tower in Seoul, which will incorporate an advanced photovoltaic wall system that reduces energy usage while generating power... MORE
25 oct 10 | e-architect
CTBUH Best Tall Building Award
Burj Khalifa honored as first recipient of CTBUH's new Tall Building "Global Icon" Award... MORE
18 oct 10 | World Architecture News
WAN Awards 2010: Urban Legends
Tonkin Zulaikha Greer with JMD Design & City of Sydney and Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture named winners of WAN AWARDS 2010 Urban Design sector... MORE
Fall 10 | McGraw-Hill Construction
Innovation Conference 2010
The Decarbonization of Chicago... MORE
25 sep 10 | The New York Times
Planning a Sustainable City in the Desert
Promoters of Masdar, a city under construction near Abu Dhabi, say that it will be the world's first carbon-neutral city... MORE
23 sep 10 | Autodesk
Masdar Headquarters Project
Multidisciplinary project team led by Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill designs world's first large-scale positive-energy building with help from Autodesk BIM solutions... MORE
12 aug 10 | inhabitat.com
Dubai's Park Gate is a Solar-Powered Desert Oasis
Just because a building is in the desert doesn't mean it has to be hot... MORE
august 10 | Architect Magazine
2010 R+D Award in Sustainability: Chicago Central Area Decarbonization Plan
By now, most architects realize that in order to mitigate global warming, we need not only build more efficient new buildings, but also retrofit the existing building stock... MORE
august 10 | Architectural Record
Burj Khalifa
The completion of the world's tallest skyscraper raises intriguing questions about the significance of this gleaming, spiraling form... MORE
25 may 10 | The National
Masdar showcased at a Smithsonian Institution's museum
Masdar Headquarters, the seven-story centrepiece of Masdar City, is on display at the Smithsonian Institution's Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum as part of the 2010 National Design Triennial, which runs until January 9 next year... MORE
june 10 | Metropolis
Skyline: Willis Tower
An ambitious plan to green the former Sears Tower includes a zero-energy hotel... MORE
6 may 10 | The Chicago Tribune
A tale of two urban plazas
Trump's merits a big thumbs up; the Wrigley Building's, a Bronx cheer... MORE
may 10 | Concept Magazine
New Head Office of the Federation of Korean Industries
The new head office of the Federation of Korean Industries (FKI) in a simple and graceful appearance will be a symbolic building for the whole view of Seoul City... MORE
apr 10 | Perspective
Building for change
In a world struggling to deal with climate change, Chicago has set the pace with a bold carbon reduction plan – in which Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture is playing a critical role... MORE
19 apr 10 | Cityscape Intelligence
Burj Khalifa - a true icon
Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world which forms the iconic centerpiece of Downtown Dubai, has been named the winner of the mixed use project award in the prestigious Cityscape Awards for Real Estate in the Middle East and North Africa... MORE
spring 10 | High Performance Building
Chicago's opportunity
The overall impact of energy savings from existing buildings can far exceed savings from new buildings due to the small amount of the building stock replaced each year. Achieving significant reduction goals for carbon emissions due to buildings will be possible only if existing buildings are substantially renovated... MORE
mar 10 | Architect
Burj Khalifa Curtain Wall
For Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM), designing the cladding for the record-setting 2,717-foot-tall Burj Khalifa required simplifying technology and pushing its limits... MORE
26 feb 10 | Chicago Tribune
Five Chicago architects named to AIA's College of Fellows
The honorees are Martha Bell, Philip Castillo, Gunny Harboe, Jim Loewenberg and Peter Weismantle... MORE
25 feb 10 | Eco-Structure Magazine
Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture offers a low-carb plan for Chicago
Moving forward on the Chicago Climate Action Plan in conjunction with city government, Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill (AS+GG) has released the first phase of its Chicago Central Area DeCarbonization Plan... MORE
22 feb 10 | inhabitat.com
Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill hatch massive plan to DeCarbonize Chicago
Renowned architecture firm Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill (AS+GG) recently completed the investigation phase of a massive plan to “decarbonize" Chicago's Loop... MORE
18 feb 10 | World Architecture News
AS+GG completes first phase of Chicago DeCarbonization Plan
Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture has completed the first phase of a comprehensive Decarbonization Plan for the downtown Loop area of Chicago... MORE
11 feb 10 | The Architects Newspaper
Unveiled: Federation of Korean Industries Tower
Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture's Seoul tower features a pleated, BIPV-paneled facade... MORE
8 feb 10 | The New Yorker
Castle in the Air
Dubai reaches for the sky... MORE
feb 10 | Forest & Bluff
The man who made it possible
On January 4,20 10, our very own Adrian Smith of Lake Forest attended the opening ceremony of the Burj Khalifa, previously known as the Burj Dubai, in downtown Dubai of the United Arab Emirates... MORE
1 feb 10 | archone
Former student Adrian Smith '66 designs world's tallest building
When the world's tallest building, the Burj Khalifa, officially opened Jan. 4 in Dubai amid a flurry of fanfare, former Texas A&M architecture student Adrian Smith '66 was among the honored guests... MORE
20 jan 10 | Architect Magazine
2010 P/A Awards Matrix Gateway Complex
What if an entire city could be housed under one roof? MORE
20 jan 10 | Chicago Sun-Times
Architect defends his stature
In reputation and marketability, Adrian Smith is Chicago's tallest architect... MORE
18 jan 10 | The Orange County Register
San Clemente gave architect of world's tallest building a foundation
Adrian Smith, who designed the 2,717-foot Burj Khalifa skyscraper in Dubai, grew up in San Clemente. At 65, he's competing to design a building in Saudi Arabia that may be even taller... MORE
11 jan 10 | e-architect
Chicago Architect Adrian Smith's Burj Khalifa, World's Tallest Building, Opens in Dubai
The world's tallest building, Burj Khalifa (formerly known as Burj Dubai), officially opened Jan. 4 in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates. Architect Adrian Smith, who designed Burj Khalifa while at the Chicago office of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, attended the opening ceremonies. Burj Khalifa's official height was announced at 828 meters, or 2,716.5 feet... MORE
9 jan 10 | The National
Ancient practice of feng shui underpins soaring achievement
The Burj Khalifa has a towering fascination with the number 8... MORE
9 jan 10 | The National
Sky is still the limit for architect
The global downturn may have brought an end to many planned tall buildings around the world, but Adrian Smith, the Chicago-based designer of the Burj Khalifa, believes there is still a future for these epic structures, even in Dubai... MORE
7 jan 10 | The Providence Journal
David Brussat: Superman, meet Dubai's superscraper
Superman could not, if he were alive today, have leaped the newly opened Burj Dubai in a single bound. It is the tallest building in the world. He would have had to fly over it. And if he did fly over it, he might not, as the photo above attests, be able to see the ground (at least not without using his X-ray vision)... MORE
7 jan 10 | Lake Forester
Sky-high: Lake Forest's Adrian Smith designs world's tallest building in Dubai
e stands 5-feet-11 -- considered average height for a man -- but there's nothing average about Adrian Smith's work... MORE
7 jan 10 | Spiked
What's wrong with towering ambition?
Burj Khalifa in Dubai, the tallest manmade structure in history, stands in glorious contrast to the pessimism of the West... MORE
5 jan 10 | Emirates Business
The impossible transformed into reality
The biggest challenge during the building of the Burj Khalifa was to exercise caution, according to Mohamed Alabbar, Chairman of developer Emaar Properties... MORE
5 jan 10 | Khaleej Times
Meet the architect of the world's tallest tower
Adrian Smith, creator of the Burj Khalifa and other iconic structures worldwide, has been a practising architect for over 40 years. Meet the man who designed the building that has smashed all world records... MORE
4 jan 10 | Emirates Business
Soaring to the Sky
It is important for architecture to reflect the ethos of its location... MORE
4 jan 10 | The Chicago Tribune
The Burj Dubai: New world's tallest building shows that nothing succeeds like excess
If ever a skyscraper was burdened with great expectations, it is the Burj Dubai, the colossal, half-mile-high tower designed by Chicago architects that opens here on Monday. This high-rise isn't simply meant to shatter height records... MORE
4 jan 10 | The New York Times
Dubai Opens a Tower to Beat All
Burdened by debt and a devastating real estate crash, Dubai is doing what it does best: doubling down... MORE
3 jan 10 | The Chicago Tribune
The tallest building ever (brought to you by Chicago)
As a boy, growing up about two blocks from the beach in Southern California, Adrian Smith built towering sand castles -- only to watch the Pacific Ocean wash them away... MORE
1 jan 10 | Los Angeles Times
The Burj Dubai and architecture's vacant stare
One of the odder, more complicated moments in the history of architectural symbolism will arrive Monday with the formal opening of the Burj Dubai skyscraper... MORE
9 dec 09 | Engineering News-Record
Design Team Held to Competition Promises
Masdar Initiative reconvened competition jury halfway through design of its sustainable headquarters in Abu Dhabi to keep on positive-energy track... MORE
1 nov 09 | The Chicago Tribune
Willis Tower looks to go green, from the rooftops on down
Rooftop gardens part of plan to improve efficiency... MORE
29 oct 09 | Architectural Record
Adrian Smith Develops "Decarbonization" Plan for Cities
A Chicago architecture firm is producing a holistic planning approach to reduce carbon emissions in dense urban cores... MORE
20 oct 09 | The New York Times
New agency to lead global energy push
The International Renewable Energy Agency, set up this year to lead a global crusade for renewable energy development and sharing of technology between the developed and developing worlds, has come a long way in a short time... MORE
20 oct 09 | Environment Report
Lessons from a skyscraper
You might have heard the Sears Tower in Chicago is now called the Willis Tower. But there's more changing for America's tallest skyscraper. Soon, the Willis Tower will start an environmental facelift that could cut eighty-percent of its energy use. You might wonder: what could a homeowner learn from what the Willis Tower is doing? Shawn Allee thought it wouldn't hurt to ask, and went on a tour for the answer... LISTEN
20 oct 09 | KERA
Architecture & the future cities
What will our cities be like in 10, 20, or 100 years and what roll will sustainability play in their design? We'll talk this hour with Adrian Smith, principal at Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture. Smith is in town to judge the 42nd Annual AIA Dallas Design Awards... LISTEN
14 oct 09 | The Architect's Newspaper
They might be giants: Willis Tower
In 1973, it was enough to be the tallest building in the world. More than three decades later, Sears Tower, this year rechristened as Willis Tower, seems a bit of a slouch next to some of the current decade's shorter but greener buildings... MORE
10 oct 09 | The Toronto Star
Towering Example
Chicago skyscraper creates roof-top garden as part of retrofit project to slash energy use 80%... MORE
9 oct 09 | Maktoob Business (online)
Burj Dubai to open Dec. 2, chairman says
maar Properties, the Middle East's largest developer, plans to open the world's tallest tower Burj Dubai Dec. 2, the company's chairman told CNN in an interview Friday... MORE
8 oct 09 | CNN (online)
Sexy architecture alive and well in the Middle East
With all the pomp and money befitting its status as the world's richest city, Abu Dhabi will soon unveil its new Formula One track on Yas Island, a spectacular entertainment destination emerging from the turquoise waters off the coast of the Emirati capital... MORE
13 sep 09 | Chicago Tribune
Adrian Smith: Building toward the stars like never before
Few, if any, architects in this generation can match Adrian Smith's imprint on Chicago... MORE
aug 09 | Architecture and Urbanism
Relationship between design and construction
Masdar Headquarters will be the world's first positive-energy building, using sustainable design strategies and systems to produce more energy than it consumes... MORE
10 jul 09 | Artdaily.org
Architect Adrian Smith to be honored by Streeterville residents
orld-renowned architect Adrian Smith will be presented a special award on August 10, 2009, during BLUEPRINTs, an annual event by the Streeterville Organization of Active Residents (SOAR)... MORE
30 jun 09 | The National
UAE to house Irena headquarters
Abu Dhabi triumphed yesterday in its hard-fought bid to host the headquarters of the International Renewable Energy Agency (Irena)... MORE
25 jun 09 | worldarchitecturenews.com
Sears follows Empire State example
Iconic Chicagoan tower gets eco-retrofit... MORE
25 jun 09 | The Wall Street Journal
Big hotel planned next to Sears Tower
A real estate investment group that owns the Sears Tower said it is pushing forward with plans to build a 500-room environmentally friendly hotel next door to North America's tallest building... MORE
25 jun 09 | The Chicago Sun-Times
Lofty green renovation for Sears Tower
Sears Tower is "going green" while keeping its attire of basic black. The tower's owners are planning a rooftop-to-plaza renovation to conserve energy and power up its financial performance... MORE
25 jun 09 | The Chicago Tribune
Sears Tower plans hotel, self-greening
Rooftop gardens, solar panels, wind turbines considered to improve energy efficiency... MORE
24 jun 09 | The New York Times
Sears Tower to be revamped to produce most of its own power
The Sears Tower, that bronze-black monument that forms the 110-story peak of the skyline here and stands as the tallest office building in the Western Hemisphere, will soon have another unique feature: wind turbines sprouting from its recessed rooftops high in the sky... MORE
24 jun 09 | Crain's
Sears Tower owners propose 5-star hotel
Amidst the sharpest downturn in the local hotel market since the 2001 terrorist attacks, Sears Tower's ownership group announced high-flying plans Wednesday to build a five-star hotel next to the 110-story skyscraper... MORE
24 jun 09 | Associated Press
$350 million green facelift for Sears Tower
Wind turbines, solar panels and rooftop gardens planned... MORE
26 mar 09 | Chicago Reader
Best of Chicago 2009 art & architecture
We no longer butcher many hogs or make much steel, but Chicago can still turn out talented architects—and Gordon Gill is one to keep an eye on... MORE
feb 09 | Riscaldamento Climatizzazione Idronica (translated)
Biomimicry in building design
Some examples of cutting-edge designs are created according to the principles of biomimicry: an applied science that studies the principles and forms of environmental adaptation found in the natural world and uses them to design objects and systems capable of meeting the needs of human society... MORE
11 feb 09 | Blueprint magazine (online)
Reject the Dubai clichés
It is time to reassess the extreme clichés about Dubai. To many, it is a fabulous place, fast-forwarding into the future with stunning, drop-dead architecture... MORE
jan 09 | Space
Clean technology building
An embodiment of biomimicry, solar power and wind design in a symbiotic relationship with the local environment... MORE
29 jan 09 | Medill Reports
Local architects plan an eco-bridge to complete Burnham's plan
One hundred years after its inception, the vision of Daniel Burnham has inspired two Chicago architects to create an eco-bridge they hope will be completed with the help of a 2016 Olympic bid... MORE
15 jan 09 | L'espresso (Translated from Italian)
The new design is born
Every great architect has his own specialty. The Iraqi Zaha Hadid prefers fluid forms, the self-educated Tadao Ando is famous for his minimalist rigor... MORE
7 jan 09 | Building Design + Construction
CTBUH releases 11 technical papers on tall building design
Architect Gordon Gill's vision of "A tall, green future" and Yale professor Kyoung Sun Moon's breakthrough analysis on reducing material in tall buildings are among 11 new research papaers published... MORE
dec 08 | Millionaire
Yearning to soar
Structures that touch the sky have fascinated us from time immemorial, wither it is for their utility value – like a communications mast – or for their beauty and sense of achievement – like Burj Dubai, now the tallest manmade structure in the world... MORE
dec 08 | Fortune
A green city blooms in the desert
Abu Dhabi, which reckons the world will wean itself from fossil fuels, is building a city that runs on solar power, recycles all waste, and bans cars... MORE
dec 08 | Architect
The comeback kid
Adrian Smith didn't want to retire. Turns out his clients didn't want him to, either... MORE
dec 08 | Architectural Record
Model Behavior: Anticipating Great Design
Cutting-edge projects throughout the Middle East rely on a variety of simulation programs to inform design and predict building performance... MORE
nov/dec 08 | GreenSource
Urban Harvest
Western Designers are changing the face of Asia with city-scale green developments... MORE
11 nov 08 | Globe and Mail
A building with an energy all its own
New design frontier aims to make structures more than zero users of energy but power plants in their own right... MORE
nov 08 | Architectural Record
Review: The Architecture of Adrian Smith, 1980-2006 Toward a Sustainable Future
A quick tour d'horizon proves that great height is an instant means of putting a place on the map... MORE
nov 08 | identity
The future is now
The best of design today's was celebrated and the outlook for the future mapped out at Cityscape Dubai, with the focus on sustainable projects providing a more eco-friendly tomorrow... MORE
nov 08 | identity
Green Giants
Although no one denies the need to make buildings eco-friendly, the main concern was for the quality of life... MORE
nov 08 | Cityscape Magazine
New look for old
As Dubai's ongoing transformation migrates from the periphery of the city into its more established neighbourhoods, Clair Malcolm asks meraas Development whether the US$95 billion Jumerira Gardens project truly represents the future of community living in the emirate... MORE
nov 08 | Travel + Leisure
Must-see green American landmarks
A skyscraper, city park, baseball stadium, hotel, museum, parking garage, restaurant, and more - all of them iconic, all of them green. This is what sustainable design looks like now... MORE
oct 08 | Metropolis
Innovation from the innovators
Metropolis asked some of the world's most forward-thinking architectural and engineering firms to name their newest green products and systems... MORE
18 oct 08 | Globe and Mail
Market panic? Bring it on
If there is a new imperative in this desperate economy, it is surely to build more intelligent architecture... MORE
14 oct 08 | Building (online)
The tallest building in the world: the contenders
Five new