Commercial Buildings
At DeSimone, we believe in challenging the status quo. To that end, we apply a potent combination of advanced technical skill, responsiveness, and creative thinking to develop drawings and models that explore alternate options—along with cost/benefit and lifestyle analysis—for new and renovated structures.
We ensure that the structure can accommodate a rich mix of building amenities, restaurant and retail venues, and multiple dedicated access point for a variety of tenancy options over time.
For projects like the award-winning 1.8M-SF (167,200 SM) Winthrop Center in Boston—a skyline-defining, mixed-use tower featuring Class A offices, luxury residences and amenities, retail, and civic spaces—or the 1.3M-SF (120,800 SM) adaptive reuse and expansion of Terminal Warehouse in NY into a sustainable, vibrant office, retail, and public event space, we bring dedication, collaboration, and innovation in the relentless pursuit of an optimal design solution.
At Winthrop Center—the world’s largest Passive House office space—our team introduced innovations that had not yet been employed in Boston. We planned ahead for tenant flexibility and the ability to adapt to changing market conditions by creating openings and boosting reinforcement for large, multi-floor anchor tenants needing inter-office connections like feature stairs or skylights. We conducted studies to determine efficient ways to divide floors for multiple tenant occupancies with distinct access outlets from the central elevator core.
By designing the structure for “up-down” construction, the upper tower was built simultaneously with the four-level basement foundation below—saving time and budget—and addressing the challenge of constructing the tower above a double-height, block-through public retail, event, and transverse space known as “The Connector.” Our team’s structural design featured a “sky mat” level to effectively transfer loads to the residential stack to permit column-free office floors and 45-foot open bays for retail and restaurants at street level.
Forward-looking decisions proved central to transforming Terminal Warehouse, which involved unifying four distinct structures, in a mix of timber, steel, and concrete—wrapped in a Landmarked façade—into a cohesive, light-filled, modern urban workplace and retail complex. We created a six-floor overbuild with lightweight, voided concrete slabs and the addition of load-bearing concrete that also enabled long spans to accommodate open, flexible office floors. We sustainably repurposed existing timber to reinforce select timber beams in other parts of the building.
Many of our commercial projects demonstrate a similar degree of innovation, from the 830 Brickell office tower in Miami, located in a hurricane zone, where we tackled an array of challenges, including an eccentric shear wall core, irregular floor plates with large cantilevers, two transfer levels, and the need for resilient design given its location in a hurricane zone.
About us
In an industry in which consolidation has become the norm, DeSimone stands apart from large engineering practices. The diversification of our services enables us to support a global clientele experiencing complex challenges. We remain independent so that we are able to provide bespoke and personal solutions, wherever your vision takes you.
Structural engineering is where we began, and it is still the core of our practice. But through the years, we have expanded the services we offer our clients, from façade and building envelope to vertical transportation to steel detailing and fabrication-ready modeling to advisory services.
