Jon D. Magnusson

Senior Principal, Magnusson Klemencic Associates

Structure Becoming Architecture: Case Studies of Aesthetics, Form, and Efficiency
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Friday, March 21, 2014– 4:30 pm

Location: Sinclair Lab Auditorium, Lehigh University, 7 Asa Drive, Bethlehem, PA

Jon D. Magnusson, Senior Principal, Magnusson Klemencic Associates, Seattle, WA: Jon is Senior Principal at Magnusson Klemencic Associates consulting structural/civil engineers with offices in Seattle, Chicago, Shanghai, and Riyadh.  The 175-person firm has provided engineering services for projects in 47 states and 51 countries.  Many consider MKA as one of the most creative engineering firms in the United States.  Under Jon’s leadership, the firm has been recognized by the American Council of Engineering Companies (ACEC) with 25 national engineering excellence awards in the last 27 years. Jon is a licensed professional engineer in 24 states.  He is a Fellow in IStructE, an Honorary Member of the national American Institute of Architects, a Distinguished Member of ASCE, and was recently honored by the American Institute of Steel Construction with a Designer Lifetime Achievement Award.

 

Structure Becoming Architecture: Case Studies of Aesthetics, Form, and Efficiency: Architects are exploring forms and aesthetics that were impossible to realize as recently as ten years ago.  Today almost anything appears possible. 

This presentation will explore how many “impossible dreams” were conceptualized, designed, and built.  From the swoopy curves of Frank Gehry’s Experience Music Project to the crisp angularity of the Rem Koolhaus Seattle Central Library…architects are truly exploring the boundaries of the possible. Each of these projects succeeded by creating a different set of engineering solutions ranging from inventing new structural systems to advanced construction methodology to seismic isolation.  The presentation will finish with a look to the future with another generation of exotic architecture pushing technology forward.