SOM Presents Exhibition in Mexico City: Art + Engineering + Architecture

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"SOM: Art + Engineering + Architecture" is an exhibition opening at the Antiguo Colegio de San Ildefonso in Mexico City. Presented in collaboration with MEXTRÓPOLI, the global architecture and urbanism festival organized by Arquine magazine, the exhibition offers a comprehensive overview of SOM's structural engineering practice, its integration with architectural design, and the firm's long tradition of collaboration with the visual arts.

For over eight decades, SOM has explored the poetry of structure through continuous inquiry and experimentation. "SOM: Art + Engineering + Architecture" reveals the concepts and forms that emerge from the firm's integrated practice, which brings together engineering, art, and architecture. The exhibition explores how engineers, architects, and artists alike create a poetics of research, experimentation, and ingenuity.

A series of 1:500 scale structural models, set against the venue's historic architecture, highlight SOM's groundbreaking projects. The installation includes some of the firm's most innovative recent work worldwide, such as the BBVA Bancomer Operations Center and the Bio-Esfera in Mexico, the New United States Courthouse in Los Angeles, and the Poly International Plaza in Beijing, alongside other influential projects designed throughout the firm's history, including the John Hancock Center, the Willis Tower, and the Burj Khalifa. Selected for their enduring influence on structural design, these buildings responded to periods of rapid urban growth and represent the most advanced construction technologies of their time.

Through hand sketches, interactive sculptures, immersive videos, and more than thirty structural models, the exhibition captures SOM's past and present, showcasing how the firm addresses physical and environmental challenges with concise and structurally expressive solutions. The exhibition also documents SOM's rich tradition of collaborating with visual artists through models, drawings, and other items. Specifically, the exhibition highlights collaborations between SOM and artists such as Pablo Picasso, James Turrell, Jaume Plensa, James Carpenter, Janet Echelman, and Íñigo Manglano-Ovalle.

With nearly fifty projects in Mexico, SOM has a well-established presence in the region. The firm recently completed the Operations and Technology Center for BBVA Bancomer in Mexico City, as well as the Bio-Esfera in Guadalajara, and maintains an active portfolio of ongoing structural engineering, urban planning, and architectural design projects in cities across the country. Currently, SOM's structural engineering department is working on five new large-scale, mixed-use developments in Mexico.

SOM will also host multiple presentations and participate in panel discussions throughout the exhibition. During MEXTRÓPOLI, visitors in Mexico City can attend various lectures by William F. Baker and Mark Sarkisian, structural engineering partners at SOM, join a tour on Félix Candela guided by William F. Baker, and attend a presentation by Douglas Voigt, the firm's Urban Design and Planning partner. Additional events will be scheduled over the course of the exhibition.