WSP | Parsons Brinckerhoff, a global engineering and professional services organization, has acquired Halvorson and Partners, a 40-person Chicago-based firm that provides structural engineering services for developers, private owners, and institutions worldwide.
Formed in 1996, Halvorson and Partners has completed structural designs for high-profile projects throughout the world. Its portfolio includes the Burj Mohammed Bin Rashid Tower in Abu Dhabi, which won the 2015 Best Tall Building Award for the Middle East and Africa from the CTBUH. Other prominent recent projects include: OneEleven, a 60-story luxury apartment tower in Chicago; Wolf Point West Tower, the first tower in a multi-phase $1 billion (USD) development along the Chicago River in Chicago; and Vantone Tower, a 600-foot-tall corporate headquarters in Tianjin, China.
Robert Halvorson, founding principal of Halvorson and Partners, led the firm’s designs for the recently completed Index Building in Dubai and the Central Market Towers in Abu Dhabi. He also developed the structural concepts for a number of super-tall towers which Halvorson and Partners has taken through schematic design and design development, including 1 Dubai, Russia Tower in Moscow, and Hanking Center in Shenzhen. Halvorson will remain with the firm and has been named an executive vice president, where he will continue to lead the Chicago office.
Aside from structural engineering services for tall and complex buildings, Halvorson and Partners offers technical expertise in such areas as adaptive reuse/tenant modification, forensic engineering, value engineering, building assessment, and peer review. Its clients include owners and developers of commercial office towers, residential buildings, hotels, and mixed-use complexes as well as educational and civic institutions.
Related Stories
| Oct 6, 2014
Houston's office construction is soaring
Houston has 19 million square feet of office space under construction, 54% more than a year ago, and its highest level since the booming 1980s, according to local news reports.
| Oct 6, 2014
Design activity at architecture firms finally back to pre-recession levels: AIA report
Gross billings at architecture firms have increased by 20% since 2011, according to a new report by the AIA.
| Oct 6, 2014
Retelling an old story: Why women are underrepresented in architecture
Women account for more than half of the U.S. population. But even with significant gains over the past 25 years, their numbers and positions among the ranks of practicing architects appear to have stalled.
| Oct 3, 2014
New survey tracks Americans’ attitudes towards transit use
A record 10.7 billion rides were taken on public transit in the United States last year. And a national survey of Americans finds that the speed, reliability, and cost, more than any other factors, determine people’s willingness and frequency of use.
| Oct 2, 2014
Effective use of building enclosure mock-ups within the commissioning process
Engineers from SSR offer advice and guidelines on implementing building enclosure mockups on any project.
| Oct 2, 2014
Budget busters: Report details 24 of the world's most obscenely over-budget construction projects
Montreal's Olympic Stadium and the Sydney Opera House are among the landmark projects to bust their budgets, according to a new interactive graph by Podio.
| Oct 1, 2014
Long-time competitors NAC|Architecture and Osborn merge
The combined firm has offices in California, Colorado, and Washington, and offers a wide range of services, from landscape architecture and graphic design to architecture and interior design.
| Oct 1, 2014
Philip Johnson's iconic Crystal Cathedral to be modernized, made 'intrinsically Catholic'
Johnson Fain and Rios Clementi Hale Studios have been commissioned by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange to upgrade the all-glass church in Garden Grove, Calif. The church acquired the property in 2012.
| Oct 1, 2014
4 trends shaping the future of data centers
As a designer of mission critical facilities, I’ve learned that it’s really difficult to build data centers to keep pace with technology, yet that’s a reality we face along with our clients, writes Gensler's Jackson Metcalf.
| Oct 1, 2014
EYP, WHR Architects merge, strengthening presence in education, healthcare, energy sectors
The merger unites 530 professionals to better address some of the most critical issues facing our nation, namely education, healthcare, and energy.