SOM on Fast Company’s 50 Most Innovative List
Having completed more than 10,000 projects and at work on 1,320 more, SOM certainly has garnered its share of praise. Now it has been named one of Fast Company magazine’s World’s 50 Most Innovative Companies of 2009. Best known for complex mixed-use projects that involve residential, hospitality, and civic construction, the architecture, the urban design, engineering, and architecture firm has an enviable portfolio stretching over 73 years that includes superlatives such as the design and construction of America’s tallest building, the Sears tower, and the world’s soon to be tallest, the BURJ Dubai, as well as Pearl River Tower, slated to be the planet’s most energy-efficient high-rise, and probably the most controversial project of all, the Freedom Tower.

Milwaukee Firm Offers BIM Training to Out-of-Work Architects
Downturn and opportunity to gain new skills
Kevin Connolly, AIA, has long-embraced Building Information Modeling (BIM) and Integrated Project Delivery (IPD). Now he and his firm have teamed up with BIM experts to provide free training for out-of-work Wisconsin architects who want to prepare themselves to emerge in the new economy with the skills they need to design in 3D environments and to work collaboratively in all design phases with industry partners.

kiplinger connection
Obama’s Agenda • The Economy • Energy Stimuli
Obama’s Agenda: Good chances on some points, not so on others—an analysis.
The Economy: Beyond the credit crunch: concern over consumer confidence.
Energy Stimuli: Show your small business clients how SBA offers big boosts.