Myron Goldsmith was an American architect and designer. He was a student of Mies van der Rohe and Pier Luigi Nervi

Pier Luigi Nervi

Pier Luigi Nervi was an Italian engineer. He studied at the University of Bologna and qualified in 1913. Dr. Nervi taught as a professor of engineering at Rome University from 1946-61...

 before designing 40 projects at Skidmore, Owings & Merrill from 1955 to 1983. His last 16 years at the firm he was a general partner in its Chicago office. His best known project is the McMath-Pierce Solar Telescope

McMath-Pierce Solar Telescope

The McMath-Pierce Solar Telescope is a 1.6-m f/54 reflecting solar telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory in Arizona, USA. The building was designed by Myron Goldsmith and built in 1962. It is the largest telescope of its kind in the world and is named for astronomers Robert McMath and Keith...

 building constructed in 1962 at the Kitt Peak National Observatory

Kitt Peak National Observatory

The Kitt Peak National Observatory is a United States astronomical observatory located on 2,096 m Kitt Peak of the Quinlan Mountains in the Arizona-Sonoran Desert on the Tohono O'odham Nation, southwest of Tucson...

 in Arizona

Arizona

Arizona ; is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the western United States and the mountain west. The capital and largest city is Phoenix...

. It is visited by an estimated 100,000 people a year.

Background

Goldsmith was born in Chicago

Chicago

Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...

 and graduated in 1939 from the Illinois Institute of Technology

Illinois Institute of Technology

Illinois Institute of Technology, commonly called Illinois Tech or IIT, is a private Ph.D.-granting university located in Chicago, Illinois, with programs in engineering, science, psychology, architecture, business, communications, industrial technology, information technology, design, and law...

, where he studied under Mies, whose Chicago office he joined in 1946. He worked there until 1953, when he received a Fulbright Grant to study under Nervi at the University of Rome.

Career

His first major projects at Skidmore were two United Air Lines hangar

Hangar

A hangar is a closed structure to hold aircraft or spacecraft in protective storage. Most hangars are built of metal, but other materials such as wood and concrete are also sometimes used...

s at San Francisco International Airport

San Francisco International Airport

San Francisco International Airport is a major international airport located south of downtown San Francisco, California, United States, near the cities of Millbrae and San Bruno in unincorporated San Mateo County. It is often referred to as SFO...

, one of which used cantilever

Cantilever

A cantilever is a beam anchored at only one end. The beam carries the load to the support where it is resisted by moment and shear stress. Cantilever construction allows for overhanging structures without external bracing. Cantilevers can also be constructed with trusses or slabs.This is in...

ed steel girder

Girder

A girder is a support beam used in construction. Girders often have an I-beam cross section for strength, but may also have a box shape, Z shape or other forms. Girder is the term used to denote the main horizontal support of a structure which supports smaller beams...

s to hold four DC-8 jetliners. He was a professor of architecture at the Illinois Institute of Technology beginning in 1961.

In his 1987 monograph

Monograph

A monograph is a work of writing upon a single subject, usually by a single author.It is often a scholarly essay or learned treatise, and may be released in the manner of a book or journal article. It is by definition a single document that forms a complete text in itself...

 he wrote that: "A building should be built with economy, efficiency, discipline and order." At the time of his death, he was a member of a team organized by the institute to design a 115- to 120-story office, hotel and commercial structure in Seoul for the Hyundai Engineering and Construction Company. The project, known as "Hankang City," may end up as the world's tallest building.

Projects

• McMath-Pierce Solar Telescope
  McMath-Pierce Solar Telescope
  The McMath-Pierce Solar Telescope is a 1.6-m f/54 reflecting solar telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory in Arizona, USA. The building was designed by Myron Goldsmith and built in 1962. It is the largest telescope of its kind in the world and is named for astronomers Robert McMath and Keith...
  
   building (1962)
• Oakland Alameda County Coliseum (1966)
• Republic newspaper plant (1971) in Columbus, Indiana
• Ruck-a-Chucky Bridge (unbuilt) planned to cross the American River
  American River
  The American River is a California watercourse noted as the site of Sutter's Mill, northwest of Placerville, California, where gold was found in 1848, leading to the California Gold Rush...
  
  in Auburn, California northeast of Sacramento