Meet 2021 New England Design Hall of Fame Inductee Steven Siegel
November 3, 2021
Thereâs a little bit of magic in the work Steven Siegel does. How else do you explain a South Shore homeâs sixteen-foot-long, second-floor room that seems to float in midair with no visible support? To Siegel, itâs part science and part art, and itâs all in a dayâs work for his thirty-year-old Newton, Massachusetts-based structural engineering firm.
Siegel grew up wanting to be an architect but, as he puts it, âMy pragmatic father steered me toward structural engineering.â His dad was as wise as he was pragmatic. At the University of Connecticut, Siegel discovered that engineering suited both his personality and his talents.
While some architects see what he does as âjust math,â Siegal says, he believes his companyâs success comes from engaging architects in a true relationship. âI think itâs more common for engineers to tell architects how they want to do something, while our approach is to provide options,â he explains. âThere are lots of different ways to approach a design challenge. The clients weâve developed come back because they appreciate the interaction and that we value what theyâre doing.â
His ability to connect with his clients comes not only from his love of design, but from his own studies at the Boston Architectural College. âWe used to joke that architects are gravity-defying individuals,â he says. âThe moment I took classes, I ignored my engineering and started doing my own gravity-defying designs. It helped me develop empathy for architects early on in my practice.â
Most of Siegelâs work is right here in New England, but his firm also ventures farther afield. When one team member moved to South Carolina because his wife got a university position there, Siegel opened a Spartanburg office. âSome of the design sensibilities are different down there,â he acknowledges. But with the mix of science and artâand maybe a little magicâthat is structural engineering, Siegel Associates is sure to find continued success.
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