Craig Schwitter

After an early period of work with consulting engineering and specialist contracting practices in the U.S., Craig joined Buro Happold in the Bath, UK office working with a group of engineers specializing in lightweight and complex structures. There he gained valuable experience in the design of fabric and flat cable systems.

In 1994, Craig moved to the U.S. office of FTL Happold, a joint venture of FTL Architects and Buro Happold engineers, and worked on a number of projects including the Bronx Zoo Aviary, work on rapid deployment shelter systems for the US military, and several pavilions for the Atlanta Olympics. Other notable projects include the structural engineering of Greg Lynn's Korean Presbyterian Church of New York.

After a short return to the UK to work on the site of the Millenium Dome, Craig returned to the U.S. in 1998 to oversee the newly opened Buro Happold multidisciplinary engineering office in New York City. Currently the office is involved in a wide variety of project work with architects such as Richard Meier and Partners, Nicholas Grimshaw and Partners, and Peter Eisenman. In 1999 Craig was appointed a chair of the Civil Engineering and Architecture Departments at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute where he currently jointly teaches in the architectural and civil engineering departments.

Engineering in the U.S.A. - Structure and Fashion in Longspan Design

Engineering is sometimes envisioned by those outside of our profession as an optimizing task, one that brings together the skills of the scientist and with those of the accountant to produce economical and conservative solutions. Further, building engineering in the U.S.A. is often said to be comparatively conservative with its European counterpart, with less innovation and cruder technologies. Does this mean that engineering in the U.S.A. is constrictive in practice?

Technology - a key driver of engineering design - is alive and well in the U.S. But it is fickle - tied at the hip with architectural trends. The engineering of buildings is naturally tied very closely to the developments of architectural practice and theory and the U.S. is certainly no different than Europe. Should engineers resist these trends, or should we try to somehow anticipate and add to the process of change in our built environment?

In this talk I will show some of the recent history of long span structural engineering design, including developments of stadia roofs over the past 30 years. I will also point to more recent trends in the U.S. in specialized structure design and where current architectural trends appear to pointing in the future.