Solomon Cordwell Buenz

Solomon Cordwell Buenz, known as SCB, is a Chicago architecture and interior design firm founded in 1931. The practice works nationally across high-rise residential, mixed-use, higher education and workplace projects, with a particular reputation for tall residential towers. SCB is the architect and interior designer for Lily River Oaks, Southern Land Company’s 38-story tower in Houston. With offices in Chicago, San Francisco and other markets, the firm pairs design work with technical delivery on complex vertical buildings, the kind where structure, envelope and amenity planning have to resolve together. Its portfolio includes some of the taller residential projects built in U.S. cities over the past two decades.

SCB practices from five offices – Chicago, San Francisco, Boston, Seattle, and Los Angeles – having opened Seattle in 2019, Boston in 2021, and later expanding south to Los Angeles. Beyond architecture and interior design, the firm runs dedicated planning and urban design studios and now works in aviation and science-and-technology sectors alongside its residential, mixed-use, and higher education practices. SCB helped form Studio ORD, the joint venture designing O’Hare International Airport’s new Global Terminal. Today the firm employs over 250 people, with built and planned work spanning more than 100 cities and 65 campuses nationwide. Its Chicago headquarters houses six design studios, and the firm-founded SCB Foundation awards an annual scholarship and paid internship to design students.