DeSimone Consulting Engineers is a structural engineering firm founded by Vincent J. DeSimone in 1969 in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. The firm provides

structural engineering Structural engineering is a sub-discipline of civil engineering in which structural engineers are trained to design the 'bones and muscles' that create the form and shape of man-made structures. Structural engineers also must understand and cal ...

services to architects, owners and developers, and performs structural analysis and design for all types of buildings at all project phases. DeSimone also launched a Property Loss Consulting division in 2016. The company has offices in

Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade C ...

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

New Haven New Haven is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound in New Haven County, Connecticut and is part of the New York City metropolitan area. With a population of 134,02 ...

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...

Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...

Abu Dhabi Abu Dhabi (, ; ar, أَبُو ظَبْيٍ ' ) is the capital and second-most populous city (after Dubai) of the United Arab Emirates. It is also the capital of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi and the centre of the Abu Dhabi Metropolitan Area. ...

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

, and Medellin. , DeSimone has designed over 10,000 projects in 40 states and 45 countries.

Engineering

Exoskeleton buildings

DeSimone is recognized for its work with exoskeleton buildings, including the award-winning residential building on the

Upper West Side The Upper West Side (UWS) is a neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. It is bounded by Central Park on the east, the Hudson River on the west, West 59th Street to the south, and West 110th Street to the north. The Upper West ...

of Manhattan at 170 Amsterdam Avenue. 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. DeSimone was nominated and received a Diamond Award for Structural Systems from the

American Council of Engineering Companies The American Council of Engineering Companies (ACEC) is the oldest and largest business association of engineering companies. It is organized as a federation of 52 state and regional councils with national headquarters in Washington, D.C., compris ...

in 2016 for their work on 170 Amsterdam. DeSimone is also the structural engineering firm for

One Thousand Museum One Thousand Museum is a high-rise residential condominium in Miami, Florida, United States. The building, which is located at 1000 Biscayne Boulevard, across from Museum Park, was designed by Pritzker Prize-winning architect Zaha Hadid. After t ...

, Florida. Designed by

Zaha Hadid Dame Zaha Mohammad Hadid ( ar, زها حديد ''Zahā Ḥadīd''; 31 October 1950 – 31 March 2016) was an Iraqi-British architect, artist and designer, recognised as a major figure in architecture of the late 20th and early 21st centu ...

, the building is the first skyscraper by the Pritzker-winning architect in the United States. DeSimone developed a curved "root" exoskeleton structure to support the building. The record setting auger cast pile

deep foundation A deep foundation is a type of foundation that transfers building loads to the earth farther down from the surface than a shallow foundation does to a subsurface layer or a range of depths. A pile or piling is a vertical structural element ...

system was installed by HJ Foundation, part of the

keller Group Keller Group plc () is a geotechnical engineering company. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index. History The company was established in the 1950s as the ground engineering division of GKN plc. In 196 ...

. 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. 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.

Twisting buildings

DeSimone engineered the first truly twisting towers in the US with The Grove at Grand Bay towers in

Miami, Florida Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade C ...

starchitect Starchitect is a portmanteau used to describe architects whose celebrity and critical acclaim have transformed them into idols of the architecture world and may even have given them some degree of fame among the general public. Celebrity status is ...

Bjarke Ingels Bjarke Bundgaard Ingels (; born 2 October 1974) is a Danish architect, founder and creative partner of Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG). In Denmark, Ingels became well known after designing two housing complexes in Ørestad: VM Houses and Mountain D ...

. 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 Biscayne Bay () is a lagoon with characteristics of an estuary located on the Atlantic coast of South Florida. The northern end of the lagoon is surrounded by the densely developed heart of the Miami metropolitan area while the southern end is la ...

and the Miami skyline. Like

, the auger cast pile

system for this building was by HJ Foundation, part of the

Keller Group Keller Group plc () is a geotechnical engineering company. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index. History The company was established in the 1950s as the ground engineering division of GKN plc. In 196 ...

. 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. DeSimone was nominated and received a Platinum Award for Structural Systems from the

in 2016 for their work on The Grove at Grand Bay

Skyscrapers and supertalls

DeSimone has served as structural engineer for many

skyscrapers A skyscraper is a tall continuously habitable building having multiple floors. Modern sources currently define skyscrapers as being at least or in height, though there is no universally accepted definition. Skyscrapers are very tall high-ris ...

and is currently working on a supertall building, 125 Greenwich Street designed by

Rafael Viñoly Rafael Viñoly Beceiro (born 1944) is a Uruguayan architect. He is the principal of Rafael Viñoly Architects, which he founded in 1983. The firm has offices in New York City, Palo Alto, London, Manchester, Abu Dhabi, and Buenos Aires. Viñ ...

which tops out at over 1,000 feet. DeSimone is also the engineering firm behind

99 Hudson Street 99 Hudson is a 79-story condominium in Jersey City, New Jersey. It is the tallest building in Jersey City and the state of New Jersey, and the 46th tallest building in the United States. It is also the tallest residential building in the United ...

, an 889-foot residential tower under construction in

Jersey City, New Jersey Jersey City is the second-most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey, after Newark.

DeSimone has worked on projects with many of the world's most renowned architects and architectural firms including

Richard Meier Richard Meier (born October 12, 1934) is an American abstract artist and architect, whose geometric designs make prominent use of the color white. A winner of the Pritzker Architecture Prize in 1984, Meier has designed several iconic buildings ...

Robert A.M. Stern Robert Arthur Morton Stern, usually credited as Robert A. M. Stern (born May 23, 1939), is a New York City–based architect, educator, and author. He is the founding partner of the architecture firm, Robert A.M. Stern Architects, also known a ...

Foster and Partners Foster + Partners is a British architectural, engineering, and integrated design practice founded in 1967 as Foster Associates by Norman Foster. It is the largest architectural firm in the UK with over 1,500 employees in 13 studios worldwide. ...

, Rem Koolhas,

Office for Metropolitan Architecture The Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA) is an international architectural firm with offices in Rotterdam, New York, Hong Kong, Doha, and Australia. The firm is currently led by eight partners - Rem Koolhaas, Reinier de Graaf, Ellen van ...

(OMA),

Skidmore, Owings & Merrill Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) is an American architectural, urban planning and engineering firm. It was founded in 1936 by Louis Skidmore and Nathaniel A. Owings, Nathaniel Owings in Chicago, Illinois. In 1939, they were joined by engineer Jo ...

(SOM),

Kohn Pedersen Fox Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates (KPF) is an American architecture firm that provides architecture, interior, programming and master planning services for clients in both the public and private sectors. KPF is one of the largest architecture firms in ...

(KPF),

Arquitectonica Arquitectonica is an international architecture, landscape architecture, interior design, and urban planning design firm headquartered in Miami, Florida’s Coconut Grove neighborhood. The firm also has offices in ten other cities throughout ...

, and SLCE.

Sustainability

DeSimone is a

U.S. Green Building Council The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), co-founded by Mike Italiano, David Gottfried and Rick Fedrizzi in 1993, is a private 501(c)3, membership-based non-profit organization that promotes sustainability in building design, construction, and op ...

(USGBC) National Member organization. DeSimone's work on P.S. 62, The Kathleen Grimm School for Leadership and Sustainability, New York City's first

net zero Carbon neutrality is a state of net-zero carbon dioxide emissions. This can be achieved by balancing emissions of carbon dioxide with its removal (often through carbon offsetting) or by eliminating emissions from society (the transition to the " ...

energy school, has received numerous awards including the 2016 AIANY COTE Award, Best Green Project by the Staten Island Chamber of Commerce, Architizer A+ Awards – Primary and High Schools 2016, and Engineering News Record (New York Region) – Best Green Project 2016.

Notable projects

- Jersey City, New Jersey * 100 11th Avenue - New York, New York * 100 East 53rd Street - New York, New York *

1450 Brickell 1450 Brickell, is an all-office skyscraper in the City of Miami, Florida, United States. It is 540 feet (165 m) tall with 35 floors. It is adjacent to One Broadway (Miami), One Broadway in Downtown Miami's southern Miami Financial District, Bricke ...

- Miami, Florida *

17 State Street 17 State Street is a 42-story office building along State Street and Battery Park in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. Completed in 1988, it was designed by Roy Gee for Emery Roth and Sons for developers William Kauf ...

- New York, New York *

220 Central Park South 220 Central Park South is a residential skyscraper in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, situated along Billionaires' Row on the south side of Central Park South between Broadway and Seventh Avenue. 220 Central Park South was designed by Rob ...

- New York, New York *

360 State Street 360 State Street is a residential skyscraper completed in 2010 in New Haven, Connecticut. It is the second-tallest building in the city, and the largest apartment building in the state. DeSimone Consulting Engineers were the structural engineer ...

- New Haven, Connecticut *

45 East 22nd Street Madison Square Park Tower, previously 45 East 22nd Street, is a skyscraper completed in 2017 and located between Broadway and Park Avenue South in the Flatiron District neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City. The building was designed by Kohn ...

- New York, New York *

90 West Street 90 West Street (previously known as the West Street Building and the Brady Building) is a 23-story residential building in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. Located on West Street just south of the World Trade Cen ...

- New York, New York *

900 Biscayne 900 Biscayne Bay is a skyscraper in Miami, Florida, United States. It is located in northeastern Downtown Miami, Downtown, on Biscayne Bay along the west side of Biscayne Boulevard. It opened for residential occupancy in early 2008. The tower is ...

- Miami, Florida *

Akron Art Museum The Akron Art Museum is an art museum in Akron, Ohio, United States. The museum first opened on February 1, 1922, as the Akron Art Institute. It was located in two borrowed rooms in the basement of the public library. The Institute offered clas ...

- Akron, Ohio *

Art Gallery of Alberta The Art Gallery of Alberta (AGA) is an art museum in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. The museum occupies a building at Churchill Square in downtown Edmonton. The museum building was originally designed by Donald G. Bittorf, and B. James Wensley, alth ...

- Edmonton, Alberta * Avalon Willoughby Square - Brooklyn, New York *

Casa 74 Casa 74, also known as 255 East 74th Street, is a 30-story, 87-apartment condominium building. It is situated at the corner of Second Avenue and East 74th Street on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, New York City. The building was developed by ...

- New York, New York * Erie Art Museum Expansion - Erie, Pennsylvania * Four Seasons Hotel & Tower - Miami Miami, Florida * IAC Headquarters New York, New York *

Jacksonville Public Library The Jacksonville Public Library is the public library system of Jacksonville, Florida. It primarily serves Jacksonville and Duval County, Florida, Duval County, and is also used by the neighboring Baker County, Florida, Baker, Nassau County, Fl ...

- Jacksonville, Florida *

Las Vegas City Hall Las Vegas City Hall is the center of municipal government for the City of Las Vegas, Nevada. It is located downtown ''Downtown'' is a term primarily used in North America by English speakers to refer to a city's sometimes commercial, cultura ...

- Las Vegas, Nevada * Marbella South - Jersey City, New Jersey *

Marquis A marquess (; french: marquis ), es, marqués, pt, marquês. is a nobleman of high hereditary rank in various European peerages and in those of some of their former colonies. The German language equivalent is Markgraf (margrave). A woman wi ...

- Miami, Florida * Millennium Tower - San Francisco, California *

O'Reilly Theater The O'Reilly Theater is a 650-seat theater building, opened on December 11, 1999, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Located at 621 Penn Avenue in downtown Pittsburgh's Cultural District, the O'Reilly Theater is actually a three-part building: The t ...

- Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania * One Thousand Museum Tower - Miami, Florida *

Panorama Tower Panorama Tower is a mixed-use 85-story skyscraper in Miami, Florida, United States. Located in the Brickell district of Downtown Miami, it is the tallest building in Miami, and the tallest building in Florida. Construction on Panorama Tower w ...

- Miami, Florida * Paramount Miami World Center - Miami, Florida * Santander Bank Building - Miami, Florida * Sofitel New York - New York, New York *

Taubman Museum of Art The Taubman Museum of Art, formerly the Art Museum of Western Virginia, is an art museum in downtown Roanoke, Virginia, United States. It was designed by architect Randall Stout. History In 1947, the Roanoke chapter of the American Associatio ...

- Roanoke, Virginia *

The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas (commonly referred to simply as The Cosmopolitan or The Cosmo) is a resort casino and hotel on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada. The resort opened on December 15, 2010, and is located just south of the Bella ...

- Las Vegas, Nevada *

The Modern The Modern could be * The Modern (band), a British Electropop band formerly called Matinée Club * The Modern (building complex), a twin tower complex in Fort Lee, New Jersey * The Modern (restaurant), a Danny Meyer restaurant in the Museum of Moder ...

- Fort Lee, New Jersey * The Ritz-Carlton Washington D.C. - Washington, DC * The Standard High Line - New York, New York * Tower 28 - Queens, New York *

Trump SoHo The Dominick, formerly the Trump SoHo, is a $450 million, 46-story, 391-unit hotel condominium located at 246 Spring Street at the corner of Varick Street in the Hudson Square neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City. It was announced in 2006, c ...

- New York, New York

References

External links

* {{Official website, 1=http://www.de-simone.com/ 1969 establishments in New York City American companies established in 1969 Construction and civil engineering companies established in 1969 Consulting firms established in 1969 Design companies established in 1969 Construction and civil engineering companies of the United States Companies based in New York City