Dean’s Centennial Seminar Series Welcomes Bill Baker of SOM

Bill Baker, structural engineering partner at architectural and engineering firm Skidmore, Owings, and Merrill, will give a talk on Burj Khalifa, the world's tallest building, on Wednesday, May 5 at 4 p.m. in the ITW classroom in the Ford Motor Company Engineering Design Center as part of the McCormick Dean's Centennial Seminar Series.

Baker's talk is titled, "The Design of the Burj Khalifa." This lecture will describe some of the design methods, materials, and construction techniques which enable the creation of this superstructure.

Throughout his career, Baker has dedicated himself to the structural innovation of tall buildings within the urban landscape. He most recently developed the "buttressed core" structural system for Burj Khalifa. Closer to home, he has spearheaded the structural design of Chicago's AT&T Corporate Center and the 92-story Trump International Hotel and Tower. Baker has received the Fazlur Rahman Khan medal from the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat and is the 2009 recipient and first American to win the Fritz Leonhardt Prize.