On-site ticket sales begin at 5:30 pm.

Hear how the architecture firm of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM), which was founded in 1936 and drew attention for its design of several pavilions at the New York World’s Fair of 1939-40, was suddenly thrust into secretly designing an entire city from scratch during World War II. Nicholas Adams, professor of art at Vassar College and author of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill: SOM since 1936, and Phil Enquist, FAIA, consulting partner, urban design and planning, SOM, trace the history of SOM from its early days, through its work on the wartime “secret city” of Oak Ridge, Tennessee, to its cutting-edge practice today. Moderated by G. Martin Moeller, Jr., senior curator. This program complements the exhibition Secret Cities: The Architecture and Planning of the Manhattan Project, which will be open prior to the program.

Secret Cities is supported in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts. We also gratefully acknowledge Nancy Voorhees; Turner Construction Company; Skidmore, Owings & Merrill and the Skidmore, Owings & Merrill Foundation; STUDIOS Architecture; Bechtel; the Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts; HDR, Inc.; and ORAU for their generous contributions.

1.5 LU (AIA) / 1.5 CM (AICP) / 1.5 PDH (LA CES)

$12 Member | $10 Student | $20 Non-member

Tickets are non-refundable and non-transferable. Online registration for Museum programs closes at midnight the day before the scheduled program.

Postwar housing by SOM, Oak Ridge.