World View Series
Brian Lee,
FAIA, LEED® AP
Consulting Partner, SOM

Brian Lee, now a consulting partner, practiced in the SOM’s San Francisco office for 28 years before joining the Chicago office in 2007. Lee has designed landmark structures around the globe, including projects in East and Southeast Asia, Europe, and the Middle East. Among his award-winning high-rise projects are the China World Trade Center, the centerpiece of Beijing’s Central Business District, Poly International Plaza in Guangzhou, China, and the 530-meter supertall Tianjin Chow Tai Fook Binhai Centre.

Tianjin CTF Finance Centre dominates the Tianjin Economic-Technological Development Area (TEDA), located just outside Tianjin, the coastal city south of Beijing that is China’s fifth largest metropolis. The sleek tower's undulating curves subtly express three programmatic elements: offices on the broad lower floors, serviced apartments in the shaft above, and a luxury hotel in the tapering top floors. The curtain wall of gently curving glass conceals the innovative structural system of eight sloping columns that increase the structure’s stiffness in response to seismic concerns. Multistory wind vents combined with the tower's aerodynamic shape reduce vortex shedding, which in turn dramatically minimizes wind forces.

Lee’s design approach is focused on achieving full integration of the natural and built environment through the most innovative design forms, materials, and construction technologies. Brian received his BA in Architecture from the University of California, Berkeley in 1976 and his Master of Architecture from Harvard University Graduate School of Design in 1978.