Shaped by structural engineering: an interview with Ahmad Rahimian

25/May/2023
Reading Time : 5 minutes

When did your interest in structural engineering emerge?

When I was in high school, I liked maths, physics and engineering and was also interested in cars, particularly formula one cars and car design. As I grew familiar with structural design and tall buildings, I became fascinated by it.

Could you tell us about your favorite projects?

I have been fortunate to work on many interesting projects. My favorites are those that have unique challenges that provide opportunities for truly innovative design.

One example is the tallest building in Mexico City, Torre Mayor, which, due to its location in a high seismic zone, required a unique approach. When we began working on this in the mid-90s, the devastation of the 1985 Mexico City earthquake was still fresh in my mind and, beyond being successful, I wanted the project to set an example for future projects. We began studying unconventional solutions and decided to incorporate shock absorbers called dampers throughout the body of the structure, which are highly effective when dealing with dynamic loads, which includes earthquakes.

Ahmad Rahimian (left) standing on the top floor of the Torre Mayor, Mexico City with Enrique Martinez Romero, the local structural engineer for the project.

Ahmad Rahimian

United States

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This was the first time this had been done in tall new building construction, as this technology was created for defense and heavy industry not for buildings. We ended up receiving a patent for the unique application of this technology and, since the building’s completion, it has withstood several large earthquakes. There was a great collaboration between our team in WSP, our local engineer, the late Enrique Martinez Romero, and University at Buffalo, New York.

Another favorite project is the One World Trade Center. In addition to being a super tall building, which presents its own challenges, and an unprecedented security aspect to the design, there was also another dimension that was unique to this project – the emotional aspect. We all felt the emotion and aspiration of the nation on our shoulders and shared the collaborative goal of completing the project as soon as possible and in the best way possible.

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Do you think particular character traits lend themselves well to what you do?

Absolutely. Gaining knowledge and experience is one thing, but the design of buildings is a truly collaborative process. You need to be a team player who can work not only with your colleagues in the office, but with other design team members such as architects, contractors and building developers.

You also need to be a good problem solver who can listen carefully to the client’s goal and the architect’s design intent and come up with solutions that usually aren’t immediately apparent.

Another important trait is having a good set of guiding principles that can steer you through the challenges of projects – and indeed life. It’s inevitable that you will go through ups and downs and a strong set of principles that are focused on project delivery is crucial to navigating them. Related to this is being able to put your ego to one side when you get to the office as it’s a distraction that can impede the project and your success.

What’s your proudest achievement to date?

It goes beyond just what I’ve done. It’s about the rest of the engineers in the office, my colleagues around the world, and the things we’ve been able to collaboratively achieve.

Collaboration is my favorite part about working at WSP – we have a fantastic group of individuals and it’s a pleasure to work with them. We chose structural engineering and the field shapes us in the long term and makes us a bit more grounded, a bit more thoughtful, and, ultimately, better people.

A good example of this is the collaboration between our New York, London and Dubai teams who have delivered the unique design of the Atlantis The Royal Dubai hotel, which opened in January 2023.

WSP are the structural and MEP engineers for Atlantis The Royal Dubai, which has been described by the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat as “one of the world’s most unique building forms”.

What advice would you give to someone interested in pursuing a career in structural engineering?

Firstly, you need to really love the profession. It’s going to be hard work, but I promise you’ll enjoy it if you love it – you’ll enjoy the hard work and gain satisfaction from it.

Always be ready to learn, even on the subjects that we all think we know everything, but equally important on new subjects that are related to our practice that could expand our services.

You are also involved in research and development. Could you tell us about this?

Yes, we do our own R&D and write and publish papers in technical journals. I think we’re in a unique position where we can identify research gaps and explore how we can look at valuable research from the perspective of the practicing engineer in order to advance our practice and make building designs better and more efficient.

Engineering science is continually progressing and transforming and we have to think about how processes and designs will look in five or 10 years from now. We want to be at the forefront of this and are developing new digital technologies to help. We have a brilliant and passionate group of engineers and we want to put processes in place that free up more time for engineers to focus on innovating and add even more value to projects.