Author Archive
Thornton, Charles
Dr. Charles H. Thornton
Charles Henry Thornton was born on April 11, 1940 in Bronx, NY.
He received his B.C.E from Manhattan College in 1961 and earned his M.S.C.E from NYU in 1963. He started working part-time for Lev Zetlin while getting his masters degree, and received his doctoral degree in Structural Engineering in 1966 from NYU. Thornton continued working for Lev Zetlin after graduation and became employed full-time at Lev Zetlin & Associates (LZA). His first major project was for two giant hangars for American Airlines.⁶ Dr. Thornton later went on to co-found Thornton-Tomasetti in 1975.
Thornton is the founder of the ACE Mentor Program, a non-profit, NYC-based organization that offers guidance to inner-city high-school students in Architecture, Construction and Engineering.
As of January 1, 2005 Dr. Thornton, PhD., P.E. has founded a new company Charles H. Thornton & Company LLC (CHT&Co). They perform specialized consulting in “areas of management/marketing, concept structural design and structural investigative/expert witness services”. 1
Reference:
1 http://www.chtandcompany.com. Retrieved 1-25-11.
Tomasetti, Richard
Richard Tomasetti
Specialty:
Structural Engineering
Richard L. Tomasetti graduated from Manhattan College with a B.C.E in 1963 and received his M.S.C.E from NYU in 1965. He completed several post-graduate studies at UCONN and NYU-Poly. In 1975 Tomasetti co-founded Thornton-Tomasetti.
His awards include:
New York Building Congress 2003 Industry Honoree
New York Association of Consulting Engineers 2002 Engineer of the Year Award
Manhattan College 1991 Chi Epsilon Honor Member
Engineering News Record’s citation “Those Who Made Marks” for developing the “stressed skin” tube structure for high-rise buildings.
In 2004, Mr. Tomasetti was elected to the National Academy of Engineering. “He was cited for innovative structural engineering in the design of high-rise buildings and long-span structures”. 1
Currently he acts as an adjunct Professor at Columbia and New York University, as Chairman of Thornton Tomasetti Foundation, and Chairman of the New York Building Foundation.
Reference:
1 http://www.engineering.manhattan.edu/na/tomasetti.html. Retrieved 1-26-11.
Thornton Tomasetti
Thorton Tomasetti
http://www.thorntontomasetti.com/
Main Office:
51 Madison Ave.
New York, N.Y. 10010-1603
Additional Offices:
Abu Dhabi, U.A.E.
Chicago, IL
Dallas, TX
Dubai, U.A.E.
Fort Lauderdale, FL
Hong Kong
Irvine, CA
Kansas City, MO
London, U.K.
Los Angeles, CA
Moscow, Russia
Mumbai, India
New York, NY
Newark, NJ
Oakland, CA
Philadelphia, PA
San Diego, CA
San Francisco, CA
Shanghai, PRC
Washington, D.C.
Number of employees: 550
Hardesty & Hanover Offices (Partnership)
Engineering Specialties:
History:
The firm was originally founded in 1956 as Lev Zetlin & Associates. In 1975, Charles Thornton and Richard Tomasetti purchased the firm. Soon after, they began to branch out and enter the high-rise market with several innovative designs. The firm has grown from a 50 person local firm to a 550 person global engineering firm. “Thornton Tomasetti has provided building engineering services to clients worldwide on projects of all sizes and complexity, from tall towers and long spans to innovative building systems and materials” ⁵. The company is committed to advancing sustainable design and construction practices. Approximately one third of Thornton Tomasetti’s staff are LEED accredited professionals (LEED AP), and the firm is currently involved with more than 70 sustainable building projects. Thornton Tomasetti is also the first engineering company to sign the AIA 2030 commitment.
Selected Projects:
photo © Thornton Tomasetti ¹
Masdar Headquarters Building, Abu Dhabi, U.A.E.
Photo Courtesy Vornado Realty Trust ²
Bloomberg Tower, New York, NY
Photo Courtesy gkkworks
Kohinoor Square, Mumbai, India
Taipei 101, Taipei, Taiwan ³
Soldier Field, Chicago, Illinois ⁴
Courtesy John Portman & Associates 7
Incheon 151 Tower, Incheon Metropolitan City, Republic of South Korea
Resources:
1 Photo Courtesy Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture. Photo retrieved 1-25-11 from Thornton
-Tomasetti website
2 Photo retrieved 1-25-11 from Thornton-Tomasetti website
3 Photo retrieved 1-25-11 from Thornton-Tomasetti website courtesy of gkkworks
4 Photo retrieved from Chicago Now. http://www.chicagonow.com/blogs/under-the-golden-dome/2010/03/irish-to-play-in-soldier-field.html
5 Chen, Christina. Richard Tomasetti/Charles Thornton. Architectural Engineers Of The 20th & 21st Century. NY/C-19. University of Texas. 2008
6 Retrieved 1-27-11. http://www.structuremag.org/article.aspx?articleID=706.
7 Photo retrieved 2-1-11 from http://www.thorntontomasetti.com/projects/incheon_151_tower
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