Residential

Here's How

There’s no place like home. And residents today are demanding more from their homes than ever before. Sustainability, social responsibility and amenities for work and play are becoming as valuable to residents as aesthetics and comfort. From mixed-use towers to senior living and affordable housing communities, our multidisciplinary teams offer efficient, integrated solutions for residential design and construction.

Our services support every stage of the residential building life cycle, from resilience-focused master planning through design and construction and beyond – to maintenance, upkeep and the renovation of deteriorating or historic structures.

• Structural design. Our engineers use proprietary design, interoperability and visualization tools to develop efficient, cost-effective and constructable structural systems that push the limits of architectural expression. And our Advanced Project Delivery™ method results in designs that are easier to bid, build, inspect and maintain.
• Façades. We help design and integrate façade systems that fulfill architectural goals while improving constructability, maximizing performance and increasing security.
• Sustainability. We collaborate with project stakeholders to integrate sustainable solutions, such as energy analysis, embodied-carbon consulting, and design and certification for LEED, passive house, net zero, WELL Building and more.
• Acoustics, noise and vibration. Our specialists provide analysis and design to control noise and vibration to increase resident comfort. We offer advanced techniques for predicting and dampening building sway and footfall-induced vibration prediction.
• Investigation. When something goes wrong – from water leaks to energy performance to catastrophic failures – our forensics experts dig deep to find root causes and recommend safe, effective and economical fixes to restore or improve performance.
• Restoration and renewal. More and more, reuse and repurposing are part of the residential property life cycle. We work with the entire team to optimize a design that fits the new goals. For historic structures, we restore original features while meeting modern performance, resilience and sustainability goals with sensitive, appropriate modifications.

Qualifications

Our 75-plus years of design for residential structures provide a pool of collective expertise for solving whatever challenges your project presents.

Global Experience, Local Know-How

Efficiency and constructability are essential to the success of residential developments, as is an understanding of local building practices and regulations. With teams across the United States and around the globe, our people understand the nuances of your project.

And after working on more than 5,000 residential projects, we’re well-versed in all types of structural systems, from steel and concrete – including flat-plate, cast-in-place, post-tensioned and composite designs – to mass timber.

Integrated Services & Collaborative Approach

An extensive suite of services allows us to offer integrated solutions for residential projects of every size and budget. Our multidisciplinary teams work side by side to deliver seamless coordination, saving time and effort during fabrication and construction. And our passion for collaboration extends beyond our scope: we believe that open communication and teamwork among all project stakeholders lead to the best results.

We’re also experienced in all delivery methods, including those that involve higher levels of team collaboration, like design-build and IPD.

Performance-Based Seismic & Fire Design

Our performance-based design (PBD) experts routinely use advanced modeling to determine the seismic responses of structures and mitigate earthquake hazards. And our post-earthquake investigations of damaged structures provide valuable information to supplement our computer analyses.

We also develop practical PBD solutions to fire-related engineering challenges. Our experts in fire science and physical modeling analyze fire dynamics, heat transfer, smoke propagation, structural behavior and human response to fire. This information helps us craft better fire-protection strategies that increase the resilience and safety of residential buildings and their occupants.

Envelope Performance & Inspection

We've worked on all types of residential enclosures – from modern curtain walls and mid-century hybrid construction to prewar composite walls and ornate historic structures. We can evaluate the root causes of performance failures and develop solutions that meet the building’s needs and your budget. We can also help navigate complicated codes and local agency review processes. And we have a long history of supporting owners in achieving compliance with building envelope and local façade ordinances.