New exhibition during this year’s London Design Festival celebrates 40 years of the London office and features a special SOM-designed installation that explores the future of construction.
14 September 2026, London — Throughout London Design Festival 2026, Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) is celebrating its London office’s 40th anniversary with a new exhibition at Marylebone Hall. Running from 12-19 September, Change: 40 Years of SOM London reflects on four decades of the office’s work alongside the global practice’s 90-year history, while looking ahead to the approaches to technology, materials, and construction set to shape the future of design.
Organised into four chapters that trace the evolution of SOM’s work—Our Practice, Design, Society, and Economy—the exhibition explores design as a cultural practice that embodies the ways that people understand, shape, and imagine the world around them. It considers design as a shared process through which communities, technologies and environments evolve.
The exhibition also features a bespoke installation designed by SOM London’s structural engineering and architecture teams. Building on previous research into the future of construction through projects such as Angelus Novus Vault and The Glass Vault, the structure comprises around 2,000 wooden bricks made with reclaimed scaffolding boards and relies solely on contact forces, with no mortar or mechanical connections. Made entirely by untrained participants guided by VR goggles, the installation explores the democratisation of construction methodologies, testing the level of precision that can be achieved without the assistance of skilled masons or robots.
Through models, mock-ups, and extensive archival and concept imagery, the wider exhibition highlights nearly 40 projects that showcase the breadth of SOM’s work across architectural design, engineering, planning, sustainability, and interior design. It explores the milestones and relationships that tell the London office’s story, like Canary Wharf and Broadgate’s Exchange House, while also looking forward to ongoing and upcoming projects from across the global practice like Urban Sequoia and Moon Village.
“Forty years in London has taught us that looking back is only useful if it propels you forward,” said SOM Design Partner Kent Jackson. “This milestone isn’t about legacy, it’s about momentum. Our exhibition isn’t just celebrating where we’ve been; it is radically rethinking the built environment to prioritize planetary health and design a more resilient future.”
“For SOM in London, the past four decades have been a story of growth, achievement and evolution. Beyond projects like Canary Wharf and Exchange House in Broadgate, this exhibition explores the firm’s ongoing evolution and innovation over 40 years, from collaborations with leading artists and universities to significant expansion in regions such as the Middle East,” said SOM Managing Partner Thomas Behr.
The exhibition is free to enter, with no registration required.