David Childs
David Magie Childs (born April 1, 1941 Princeton, New Jersey) is an American architect and chairman emeritus of the architectural firm Skidmore, Owings & Merrill. He is best known for his controversial redesign of the new One World Trade Center in New York City.
Early life and education
Childs graduated from Deerfield Academy in Deerfield, Massachusetts, in 1959 and from Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut in 1963. He first majored in zoology before he then turned to architecture at the Yale School of Architecture and earned his master's degree in 1967.
Career
He joined the Washington, D.C., office of SOM in 1971, after working with Nathaniel Owings and Daniel Patrick Moynihan on plans for the redevelopment of Pennsylvania Avenue. Childs was a design partner of the firm in Washington until 1984, when he moved to SOM's New York Office.
His major projects include: in Washington, D.C., 1201 Pennsylvania Avenue, the Four Seasons Hotel, master plans for the National Mall, the U.S. News and World Report headquarters, and the headquarters for National Geographic; in New York City, Worldwide Plaza, 450 Lexington Avenue, Bertelsmann Tower, and One World Trade Center; and internationally, the Embassy of the United States, Ottawa, and the Changi international terminal in Singapore.