Graham, Bruce

Graham, Bruce

(1926–2010)Designer of Chicago’s John Hancock Center and Sears Tower (now Willis Tower), he led the Chicago office of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill from the 1960s through the 1980s with a staff that included Gordon Bunshaft, Walter Netsch, and structural engineer Faziur Khan. Graham is responsible for projects in London, Barcelona, Egypt, Korea, Guatemala, Houston, Los Angeles, Boston, Atlanta, Kansas City, Milwaukee, Wichita, Nashville, Tulsa, Madison, and many other locales. Their revolutionary design, engineered by Khan, placed the structural supporting elements on the outside, greatly reducing construction costs and providing vast open interiors. His 1957 Inland Steel building, Chicago, IL featured the use of structural columns on the building’s perimeter and a separate adjoining tower for elevators and other services to open up the interiors. With William Hartmann, another partner at SOM, Graham developed the Chicago 21 Plan of 1973 for the Chicago Central Area Committee, which called for alterations and additions to Chicago’s lakefront as the city entered the 21st century, including rebuilding the dilapidated Navy Pier into a tourist destination and the creation of the museum campus.