With nearly 80 years of experience in integrating architecture and engineering, Skidmore, Owings & Merrill’s (SOM) work remains groundbreaking, especially when it comes to designing supertalls.

Besides addressing the question of "how high can you go", as well as the issues of efficiency and economy, this fourth volume of the DETAIL engineering series presents the theoretical background of SOM’s structural group. On the basis of a variety of projects with their general structural concept or their specific details, the book explains the process of finding corresponding solutions. These solutions illustrate the company's core values: simplicity, clarity, hierarchy, efficiency and continuous reseach.

In addition, the projects – from James Turrel Skyspace to Burj Khalifa – are also placed in the context of SOM’s work as a whole using anecdotes from a number of other well-known SOM projects as John Hancock or Sears Tower. This volume considers how to find new structural solutions, as well as how materials can be used innovatively to create "next generation" buildings.