Scott Duncan, partner in the Chicago office of SOM has joined the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH) board of trustees, the organization’s highest-level decision-making body. In this role, he will help oversee the governance of the CTBUH, including the annual audit of operations and finances, and develop programs to ensure the continued growth of the council.
Duncan joins the group following a succession of CTBUH involvements, including participation in multiple conferences as a speaker, several years of support on the CTBUH advisory group, and more recently, serving as chair of the CTBUH height and data committee.
As a partner at SOM, Duncan leads the design of large-scale high-rise projects in Chicago and in cities around the world. He is a leader in sustainable design and technological innovation and has championed the firm’s vision for integrated design. The designer of some of SOM’s most influential recent work, Duncan’s design philosophy centers on solutions leading teams of experts in engineering, sustainability, high-performance design, urban design and interior design to realize highly contextual and impactful work designed to improve the lives of people around the world.
Among his notable projects are a proposed 500-meter supertall tower in Nanjing, China; a 523-meter net-zero energy supertall tower in South Jakarta, Indonesia; a 380-meter World Trade Center tower in Guiyang, China and One Bangkok, a 16-hectare sustainable development in central Bangkok, comprising several towers including one supertall—the first project in Thailand to target LEED Platinum certification for Neighborhood Development.
Duncan serves as a member of the board of directors of the SOM Foundation, and a leader of The Earth Project, SOM’s multidisciplinary research project on planetary health. He has lectured or served as a guest critic at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design, Columbia University’s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning & Preservation, the Illinois Institute of Technology and the University of Michigan. Duncan regularly serves as a jury member for architectural awards programs around the world. Duncan holds degrees from Lehigh University and Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design.
