DeSimone Consulting Engineers

Founder, and former President and CEO Vincent DeSimone

DeSimone Consulting Engineers was founded in 1969 by Vincent "Vince" J. DeSimone, (born in 1937) a graduate from Manhattan College in 1959. Vince was described as Runyonesque type character, and as a "visionary" and "brilliant" by the people he worked with. Vince stepped down as CEO in 2002, making way for his son, Stephen V. DeSimone. Regardless, Vince would work as President of the firm, a largely ceremonial office, until his passing in 2016 from a battle with cancer.[6][7][8]

The firm has made a concerted effort to break into the engineering field in the United Kingdom, opening a London office in May of 2022.[9] However, struggled to gain significant clients due to the lack of the firms brand recognition in the United Kingdom. In an effort to remedy this, the firm acquired DP Squared on 1 August, 2023, one of the leading British structural engineering firms in Manchester, and Northern England as a whole.[10]

The Architect's Newspaper named DeSimone Consulting Engineers the best structural engineering firm in the Northeastern United States for 2023.[11]

DeSimone is recognized for its work with exoskeleton buildings, including the award-winning residential building on the Upper West Side of Manhattan at 170 Amsterdam Avenue.[12] The 20-story residential high-rise features a concrete exoskeleton with a diagrid design and was developed using newly available modeling technology. The building's exoskeleton moves the structure to the exterior, allowing for flexible floor plans free of columns. A specialized concrete mix was used for the exterior structure which was made to look like limestone. Fiberglass was also used also used on the exterior.[12] DeSimone was nominated and received a Diamond Award for Structural Systems from the American Council of Engineering Companies in 2016 for their work on 170 Amsterdam.[13]

DeSimone is also the structural engineering firm for One Thousand Museum in Miami, Florida. Designed by Zaha Hadid, the building is the first skyscraper by the Pritzker-winning architect in the United States.[14] DeSimone developed a curved "root" exoskeleton structure to support the building. The record setting auger cast pile deep foundation system was installed by HJ Foundation, part of the keller Group. Like with The Grove at Grand Bay project, placing the buildings support systems on the exterior allows for increased space inside and reduces the amount of materials used.[15] The exoskeleton structure was originally purely cosmetic, but DeSimone was able to integrate the design into the structural engineering, creating the exterior support structure out of hollow, precast, concrete panels.[16]

DeSimone engineered the first truly twisting towers in the US with The Grove at Grand Bay towers in Miami, Florida designed by the Danish starchitect Bjarke Ingels.[17] Grove at Grand Bay features two 20-story buildings with 98 apartments that feature 12-foot high ceilings and 14-foot deep balconies. The twisting element of the buildings has a total rotation of 38 degrees, and provides panoramic views of the Biscayne Bay and the Miami skyline.[18]

Like One Thousand Museum, the auger cast pile deep foundation system for this building was by HJ Foundation, part of the Keller Group. The twisting nature of the columns posed a number of structural challenges. The main challenge was to resist torsion generated in the tower core due to the sloping column geometry. The horizontal component of the gravity load in the columns is resolved in the slabs by transferring it to the interior core shear walls, which are the only consistently vertical structural elements in the building.[18] DeSimone was nominated and received a Platinum Award for Structural Systems from the American Council of Engineering Companies in 2016 for their work on The Grove at Grand Bay[13]

DeSimone has served as structural engineer for many skyscrapers and is currently working on a supertall building, 125 Greenwich Street designed by Rafael Viñoly which tops out at over 1,000 feet.[19] DeSimone is also the engineering firm behind 99 Hudson Street, an 889-foot residential tower under construction in Jersey City, New Jersey.[20] Upon completion, it will be the tallest building in the state of New Jersey and the 4th tallest residential tower in the United States.[21]

DeSimone has worked on projects with many of the world's most renowned architects and architectural firms including Zaha Hadid,[22] Bjarke Ingels,[23] Richard Meier,[24] Robert A.M. Stern,[25] Foster and Partners, Rafael Viñoly, Rem Koolhas,[26] Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA),[26] Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM), Kohn Pedersen Fox (KPF),[25] Arquitectonica,[27] and SLCE.[28]

RRC Engineering's logo

On September 2, 2020 DeSimone Consulting Engineers announced they had purchased RRC Engineering, a Massachusetts-based structural engineering firm specializing in the design of data centers to diversity the firms holdings and to offer RRC's engineers further resources.[34] RRC Engineering was founded by its eponymous Robert Chartrand in November of 2002.[35][36] Prior to its merger into DeSimone, its profile boasted numerous data centers around the country, as well as the headquarters of the Mobile Press, the Winston-Salem Journal and Bob's Discount Furniture, as well as Tufts University's Equine Center as part of its University of Veterinary medicine.[37] RRC would become DeSimone's Foxborough branch whose principle engineer would remain Robert Chartrand.[38]

Dowco's logo

On January 6, 2023, DeSimone Consulting Engineers announced they had acquired Dowco, a Langley, British Columbia, based steel detailer for an undisclosed amount.[39][40][41][42] Dowco was founded in June of 1970 by Hugh Dobbie, Joe Ord and Jack Wilson (whose last initials spell DOW). The company had been an early adopter of computer-aided design (CAD) and even developed several early softwares as well as running CAD classes. Prior to its acquisition in 2023, Dowco itself underwent several mergers and acquisitions, including Adveno Consultants in 1982, Total Structural Detailing in 2004, FabTrol Systems Inc. in 2008, SDE Steel Detailing and Consulting in 2013, RISA Technologies in 2015, and Acuna y Asociados in 2016 and had offices in Chile, India and the Philippines.[43] DeSimone had acquired the firm in order to have in-house detailers, as opposed to contracting other firms, in order to limit risk to their clients.[42][44][45]

DP Squared's logo

On 1 August, 2023, DeSimone acquired DP Squared, a civil engineering firm established by Darren and Deborah Paine in 2004.[46] The firm was headquartered in Hebden Bridge, which will transform into DeSimone's Northern England branch, and has become DeSimone's second branch in the United Kingdom, besides their London branch. DP Squared was known for its environmental and LEEDs initiatives, and for being the structural engineers for Deansgate Square.[47][48] The firm was noted by New Civil Engineer for punching above their weight, with a relatively small team that has been responsible for the structural engineering of 5 of the 6 tallest buildings in Manchester. They also noted the firms commitment to creating a friendly and inclusive work-space environment.[49] DeSimone acquired the firm to expand their profile in the United Kingdom, mostly due to DP Squared working on projects similar to those DeSimone is known for, and also due to their name recognition in the British civil engineering field.[10]