American structural engineering firm
Geiger Engineers| Type | Private company |
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| Industry | Structural Engineering |
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| Founded | 1988 |
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| Headquarters | |
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Key people | David M. Campbell, P.E. (Principal, CEO Emeritus)
Paul A. Gossen, P.E., F.ASCE (Principal Emeritus)
Stephen P. Emery, P.E. (Principal)
Timothy D. Mills (Principal )
Karen A. Lynch, P.E. (Principal, CEO)
Keith M. MacBain, Ph.D., P.E., S.E. (Principal, President) |
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| Services | Consulting
Tensile Membrane Structures
Long Span Structures
Sports Facilities
Retractable Roofs
Entertainment Engineering |
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| Website | http://www.geigerengineers.com/ |
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Geiger Engineers is the doing business name of Geiger Lynch MacBain Campbell Engineers, P.C., an American structural engineering consulting firm located northwest of New York City. Founded in 1988 by David H. Geiger, Paul A. Gossen, Kris P. Hamilton, David D. Chen, David M. Campbell, and Mike Liao,[1] the company has worked on large projects throughout the world. Starting from long span and tensile membrane structures, Geiger Engineers has branched out over the years into a range of specialties from designing sports facilities to providing engineering services for the entertainment industry.
Recent high-profile projects include the new roof on the JMA Dome (formerly the Carrier Dome) at Syracuse University,[2] winner of NCSEA's 2021 Excellence in Structural Engineering Award for Forensic/Renovation/Retrofit/Rehabilitation Structures over $20 Million;[3] the Credit One Stadium renovations, new Stage House and canopy;[1] the USTA's Louis Armstrong Stadium which was a finalist in the SEAoNY 2020 Excellence in Structural Engineering (EiSE) Awards;[4] and Ariens Hill at Titletown, winner of the ASLA 2019 Wisconsin Award and the AIA 2018 Michigan Building Award, among others.[5]
In addition to providing a wide range of engineering services, Geiger Engineers remains involved in industry innovations. For example, Tensotherm (trademark) - a composite fabric insulated with Lumira aerogel - was developed by Cabot Corporation, Birdair, and Geiger Engineers.[6] In 2008 it was used for the first time on the Dedmon Athletic Center’s new roof.[7]
More recently, Geiger developed a nonlinear bearing for large moveable structures such as retractable roofs. This now patented nonlinear bearing[8] is an improvement on the commonly used linear bearing in that it can combine rotation and translation in varying ways, giving structural designers greater flexibility.
History
In 1968 while David Geiger was an adjunct professor at Columbia University with a part-time practice, he was contacted by Davis-Brody, a New York architectural firm. With their design of a 30-story tall, air-supported fabric structure, Davis-Brody had won the design competition for the U.S. exhibition hall at Expo '70 in Osaka, Japan. They needed a structural engineer with the expertise to implement their design and they turned to Dr. Geiger.[9] In order to meet the lower than expected budget passed by Congress, Geiger changed the design and invented the low profile cable-restrained air-supported roof.[10] The success of the Osaka Pavilion led to a surge in the design and construction of air-supported roofs.
During the Osaka project, Horst Berger joined Geiger and their firm became Geiger Berger Associates which remained central to the new-found interest in utilizing air-supported roofs. Eight stadia were built with air-supported roofs in the U.S. during the 1970s and early 1980s with Geiger Berger Associates as the structural engineers for all of them.[11]
As important as the air-supported roof projects, was Geiger Berger's work in pioneering long-span cable, tensile membrane, and tensegrity structures. Among the notable structures engineered by Geiger Berger are the tensile membrane Hajj Terminal which in 2010 won the AIA 25-Year Award;[12] the first tensegrity type dome which was built for the Olympic Gymnastics Venue in Seoul, Korea;[13] and the world's first translucent insulated fabric roof for the Talisman Centre (now the MNP Community & Sport Centre), in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. In addition, Geiger Berger was involved in the development of structural fabric materials such as Teflon PTFE coated fiberglass.[1]
By the early 1980s, the partnership between David Geiger and Horst Berger began to break apart[11] and in 1983 Geiger Berger Associates again became Geiger Associates upon the departure of Berger. Geiger Associates was bought by KKBN in 1986. In 1988, the year before he died, David Geiger and his associates Kris Hamilton, David Chen, Paul Gossen, David Campbell, and Mike Liao founded Geiger Engineers with a group of other former colleagues from Geiger Associates.[1]
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