Thornton Tomasetti is an American engineering consulting firm headquartered in New York City, United States. It operates globally and employs over 2,000 people. It was formerly known as the Thornton-Tomasetti Group, Thornton Tomasetti Engineers, Lev Zetlin & Associates, LZA Technology and Weidlinger Associates.
Services Thornton Tomasetti has expertise in structural engineering, facade engineering, forensic engineering, structural renovations, construction engineering, resilience (engineering and construction), sustainable design, applied science, protective design and security, civil engineering and bridge design and rehabilitation. The firm's services are supported by its internal research and development CORE teams, which provides technology-focused expertise, computational simulation and software development as well as artificial intelligence and machine learning.
The firm provides consulting expertise to clients in a variety of industries, including architecture, engineering, construction, insurance and law firms, real estate developers, building owners and operators, defense, life sciences, manufacturing, natural resources and space systems.
History
1949—Paul Weidlinger opens consultancy: Weidlinger Associates dates back to 1949 with the launch of Paul Weidlinger Consulting Engineers in Washington, D.C. A native of Budapest, Hungary, Paul earned a master's degree from the ETH Zurich in Zurich. He apprenticed with Le Corbusier in Paris and László Moholy-Nagy in London before coming to the United States in the late 1940s.
1950s—Applied Science division launched: Paul Weidlinger, Dr. Mario Salvadori and Dr. Melvin Baron shared an interest in the dynamic response of structures, which led the firm to create an Applied Science division. The group developed analysis and design procedures to protect structures from the effects of blast loadings. Their methods led to early and continuing use of computers in advanced analysis and design.
1956—Lev Zetlin starts Lev Zetlin Associates: After earning a doctoral degree from New York's Cornell University, Lev Zetlin decided to start his own company, Lev Zetlin Associates (LZA).
1960—Charlie Thornton joins LZA: Charlie Thornton, who earned master's and doctoral degrees from New York University and authored a thesis on cable nets, joined Lev Zetlin Associates in 1960. Serving as co-chairman of the firm until 2004, he was involved in the analysis, design and construction of projects worldwide.
1964 -- 1964 New York World's Fair (Flushing Meadows, New York): Early in his career, Lev Zetlin devised a "double-layer bicycle wheel" roof system. The system combines upper and lower cables with varying tensions that are jacked apart and connected by rigid vertical struts. Connecting cables that have differing natural frequencies minimizes wind-induced fluttering. First developed for the Utica Memorial Auditorium, which was completed in 1960, Lev Zetlin's bicycle wheel system has helped to shape the design of other tensile structures, among them the New York State Pavilion, Madison Square Garden, the Seoul Olympic Gymnastics Arena, Tropicana Field, and the Georgia Dome.
1968—Richard Tomasetti joins LZA: Richard Tomasetti joined Lev Zetlin Associates after working in the aerospace and submarine industries. Tomasetti created Environspace Research and Development, the firm's first research and development group.
1977—Charlie Thornton and Richard Tomasetti buy LZA from Gable Industries: Charlie Thornton and Richard Tomasetti purchased Lev Zetlin Associates while it was a subsidiary of Gable Industries. It was at this time that the firm began performing some work as Thornton Tomasetti. The firm's name changed officially from the TTG Group to Thornton Tomasetti in 1999.
1980s-1990s—FLEX code introduced: The FLEX code was first developed by Weidlinger in the early 1980s to support Nuclear Test Ban Treaty monitoring. Its name is derived from its primary focus, performing "fast large explicit" time-domain dynamic simulations, and from its versatility and speed in modeling unusually large structures. In the early 1990s, the FLEX code was diversified into a family: NLFlex (blast), EMFlex (electromagnetic waves), and PZFlex (sonar and ultrasound). In 1999, SpectralFlex was developed to serve the growing field of medical therapeutics, and in 2002, Weidlinger created the FLEX Template System, for modeling and simulation of structural components of civilian structures subjected to bomb blasts.
2001—World Trade Center collapse (New York, New York): In the 10 months after the September 11 attacks, crews removed more than 1.6 million tons of debris. Thornton Tomasetti staff were the first engineers on the site on September 11, and started work that afternoon. The firm supervised 20 member firms of the Structural Engineers Association of New York and arranged for 24/7 coverage of the site for nine months. The firm assisted in rescue, demolition and clean-up, advising on structural issues that required resolution as part of the recovery effort.
2004—Taipei 101 (Taipei, Taiwan) Completed: The first 21st-century building to become the world's tallest upon completion, Taipei 101 is, as its name implies, a 101-story tower. Working with engineer of record Evergreen Consulting, Thornton Tomasetti established an efficient steel-based dual structural system and solved wind behavior problems with distinctive double stair-step corners. By 2020, Thornton Tomasetti had designed five of the 20 tallest complete buildings in the world.
2011 – CORE studio founded: CORE studio is the firm's internal research and development group that specializes in application development, computational modeling and artificial intelligence to create efficiencies in the structural design and construction process.
2012—Response to Hurricane Sandy: On October 29, 2012, Hurricane Sandy made landfall near Atlantic City, New Jersey. In response, the firm conducted damage assessment in three states related to structural and architectural integrity, HVAC, electrical, plumbing and fire protection equipment and systems. Included in the investigations were high-rise office and residential facilities, and other retail, rail, aviation and government facilities.
2015—Thornton Tomasetti and Weidlinger merge: Thornton Tomasetti and Weidlinger Associates announced a merger. Weidlinger Associates was a U.S.-based structural engineering firm that designed and rehabilitated buildings, bridges, and infrastructure and provided special services in applied science, forensics, and physical security. The merger created two new entities: CORE Lab - a sister internal group to CORE studio - that focuses on the long-term development of internal methods, capabilities and products to evaluate new business opportunities; and TTWiiN, a technology accelerator and product commercialization platform.
Projects
Skyscrapers, buildings and structures 1111 South Wabash, Chicago 110 North Wacker, Chicago 181 West Madison, Chicago 191 North Wacker, Chicago 30 Hudson Street, Jersey City, New Jersey 30 West Oak, Chicago 401 East Ontario, Chicago 420 Fifth Avenue, New York 5 Times Square, New York 546 Fifth Avenue, New York 55 East Erie, Chicago 550 West Jackson, Chicago 599 Lexington Avenue, New York 717 Texas Avenue, Houston, Texas 745 Seventh Avenue, New York 840 North Lake Shore Drive, Chicago 855 Avenue Of The Americas, New York 601 North Central, Phoenix, Arizona 20 Grosvenor Square, London ABN AMRO Plaza, Chicago AMA Building, Chicago Americas Tower, New York Block A & Block C, MGM CityCenter – "Project CityCenter", Las Vegas, Nevada Block 21, Austin, Texas Bloomberg Tower, 731 Lexington Avenue, New York CBS 2 Broadcast Center, Chicago Chase Center, Chicago Chifley Tower, Sydney, Australia Children's Museum of Los Angeles, Los Angeles Citicorp Center, Chicago, Illinois City View Tower, Chicago, Illinois Conrad Chicago Hotel, Chicago Comcast Technology Center, Philadelphia Continental Center, New York Deep Space Auditorium, Verona, Wisconsin Embassy Suites, New York Erie on the Park, Chicago Eurasia Tower, Moscow Federation Tower, Moscow Fifty South Sixth, Minneapolis Furman Hall, New York Great American Tower at Queen City Square, Cincinnati Harborside Financial Center Plaza 5 & Plaza 10, Jersey City, New Jersey Hilton New Orleans Riverside, New Orleans Kingsbury on the Park, Chicago Lehman Brothers Building, New York Leo Burnett Building, Chicago Lotte Center Hanoi, Hanoi, Vietnam McMahon Hall of Fordham University, New York Menara Maxis, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Metapolis, Hwaseong, South Korea Minneapolis Central Library, Minneapolis Miranova Condominiums, Columbus, Ohio Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, Fort Worth, Texas New York Times Building, New York One Indiana Square, Indianapolis One Liberty Place, Philadelphia One Mellon Bank Center, Pittsburgh One Pennsylvania Plaza, Philadelphia Optima Horizons, Evanston, Illinois Optima Towers, Evanston, Illinois Overture Center, Madison, Wisconsin Palazzo Lombardia, Milan, Italy Park Alexandria, Chicago Petronas Towers, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Ping An Finance Centre, Shenzhen, China Plaza 66, Shanghai, PRC Prentice Women's Hospital, Chicago R R Donnely Building, Chicago Random House World Headquarters, New York Shanghai Tower, Shanghai, China Taipei 101, Taipei, Taiwan Tencent Headquarters, Shenzhen, China The Clare at Water Tower, Chicago The Edge, Brooklyn, New York The Westport, New York The Plaza at PPL Center, Allentown, Pennsylvania Times Square Tower, New York UBS Tower, Chicago, Illinois University of Chicago Graduate School of Business Building, Chicago, Illinois We've the Zenith, Busan, South Korea Westin Hotel at Copley Place, Boston Wilshire Grand Tower, Los Angeles Winspear Opera House, Dallas Wuhan Greenland Center, Wuhan, China
Stadiums and convention centers
American Airlines Arena, Miami Arvest Ballpark. Springdale, Arkansas Al-Najaf International Stadium, Najaf, Iraq AT&T Park, San Francisco Baku National Stadium, Baku, Azerbaijan Ball Arena, Denver Banc of California Stadium, Los Angeles, California Barclays Center, Brooklyn, New York Basra Sports City, Basra, Iraq BMO Field, Toronto, Canada BOK Center, Tulsa, Oklahoma Bridgestone Arena, Nashville, Tennessee Children's Mercy Park, Kansas City, Kansas Climate Pledge Arena, Seattle, Washington CONSOL Energy Center, Pittsburgh Ford Center, Evansville, Indiana Ford Field, Detroit, Michigan Golden 1 Center, Sacramento, California Honda Center, Anaheim, California Jeju World Cup Stadium, Seogwipo, South Korea Kohl Center, Madison, Wisconsin MetLife Stadium, East Rutherford, New Jersey Nationals Park, Washington, D.C. Nationwide Arena, Columbus, Ohio Petco Park, San Diego Philips Arena, Atlanta PNC Park, Pittsburgh Prudential Center, Newark, New Jersey Rogers Place, Edmonton, Canada Soldier Field, Chicago United Center, Chicago U.S. Cellular Field, Chicago U.S. Bank Stadium, Minneapolis Videotron Centre, Quebec City Yankee Stadium, New York
Renewal and rehabilitation Chrysler Building – Facade Rehabilitation, New York Kaufmann Stadium - Renovation, Jackson County, Missouri United States Capitol dome – Structural Rehabilitation, Washington, D.C. Washington Monument Renovation, Washington, D.C. Winter Garden Reconstruction – Structural Repairs, New York Wrigley Field – Structural Rehabilitation & Addition, Chicago
Forensics, investigation and property loss consulting i-35 bridge collapse, Minneapolis, Minnesota Indiana State Fair stage collapse Miller Park investigation, Milwaukee, Wisconsin Response to CAT-90 Sandy, New York, New Jersey and Connecticut Tropicana parking garage collapse, Atlantic City, New Jersey World Trade Center disaster response, New York Arecibo Telescope Collapse, Arecibo, Puerto Rico
Under construction 151 Incheon Tower, Incheon, South Korea