Careers in Buildings & Structures

The Buildings & Structures Practice is comprised of architects and engineers with specialized expertise in various aspects of structural engineering (such as dynamics, bridges, seismic, wind, vibrations, control, design, and advanced analysis) and building technology (such as materials, architecture, and components). Joining our team will allow you the opportunity to work with the principal investigators of the most challenging technical problems, including devastating infrastructure failures such as the collapse of the World Trade Center towers, the destruction of Hurricane Katrina, and buildings damaged by earthquake forces. Most of our consultants have advanced degrees in engineering or architecture, and all of our consultants develop extensive practical experience in the field by inspecting and analyzing poorly performing buildings and structures.

Many of our consultants have maintained close ties with academia, and we strongly encourage continuing professional development through research, publication, and committee work. We encourage our engineers to disseminate the lessons we learn from our investigations by publishing articles in technical journals and teaching courses. Our team is located across the San Francisco Bay Area, Irvine, Houston, Chicago, Boston, and New York, and we work together as a tight, integrated team.

Buildings & Structures Team

The Building Technology Group focuses on diagnosis and remedies of building problems often associated with breaches in a building's weatherproofing envelope. These often occur due to poor performance or the failure of building components. If a building is experiencing water intrusion and mold growth, our engineers and architects will determine the mechanisms of water entry, often using advanced diagnostic tools and spray testing. For problems with building components, our engineers conduct extensive field investigations and in-field and laboratory testing to determine causative mechanisms for poor performance of the components.

The Structures Group focuses on diagnosis and remedies for structural problems ranging from the assessment and mitigation of damage and risk associated with natural hazards, to the investigation of partial and total collapses of the structural skeleton. If a building or portfolio owner is concerned about what might happen to their facilities, we use our experiences with structural failures to provide quantitative risk assessments so that intelligent retrofits can be implemented to minimize damage and loss of life from the next hurricane, earthquake, or terrorist attack. After a partial or complete structural collapse, our engineers will assist with search and rescue, stabilize the debris, and determine the root cause of the failure, often using laboratory testing and sophisticated structural analysis.

Our typical project work involves client interaction, field inspection, advanced analysis, testing, report writing, and sometimes technical litigation support. We have investigated damage to structures following major earthquakes and hurricanes, performance problems and collapses of bridges, tunnels, construction cranes, specialized structures, and failures of building facades, materials, and roofing systems.

 

Buildings & Structures Capabilities