William Baker's Email & Phone

William F. Baker is the Structural Engineering Partner for Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, LLP. Throughout his distinguished career, Bill has dedicated himself to structural innovation. His best known contribution has been to develop the buttressed core? structural system for the Burj Khalifa, the world's tallest manmade structure. While widely regarded for his work on supertall buildings, his expertise also extends to a wide variety of structures like the GM Entry Pavilion and Millennium Park's Jay Pritzker Pavilion and BP Pedestrian Bridge. Bill is also known for his work on long-span roof structures, such as the Korean Air Lines Operations Hangar and the Virginia Beach Convention Center, as well as for his collaboration with artists like Jamie Carpenter (Raspberry Island-Schubert Club Band Shell), Iñigo Manglano-Ovalle (Gravity is a Force to be Reckoned With), and James Turrell (Roden Crater). In addition to working at SOM, Bill is actively involved with numerous institutions of higher learning, as well as various professional organizations. He will be the recipient of a 2011 ASCE Outstanding Projects And Leaders (OPAL) Lifetime Award for Design. Bill is the 2010 recipient of the Gold Medal from the Institution of Structural Engineers (IStructE) and the 2009 recipient and first American to receive the Fritz Leonhardt Preis (Germany). In 2008, the CTBUH awarded him the Fazlur Rahman Khan medal. Bill is a Fellow of both the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) and the IStructE, and frequently lectures on a variety of structural engineering topics within the U.S. and abroad.