LERA Honored by Skyscraper Museum

On June 21, 2017, The Skyscraper Museum saluted, for the first time in its twenty-year history, the profession of structural engineering by honoring five firms with a long and proud legacy in creating New York City's skyline. Before a convivial crowd of more that 150, the Museum presented the 2017 Making New York History Award to leaders of outstanding engineering companies including Leslie E. Robertson Associates (LERA).

After welcoming the many engineers and architects in attendance, Museum founder and director Carol Willis introduced trustee and Editor-in-Chief of Architectural Record, Cathleen McGuigan, who in turn introduced her colleague Janice Tuchman, Editor-in-Chief of ENR. Offering the champagne toast, Jan both poked fun at and praised "her people," the under-sung profession of structural engineers.

Presenting the awards to the individual firms was Skyscraper Museum board Chairman Jamie von Klemperer, a skyscraper architect and President of KPF, who recognized the firms' longevity in New York's high-rise history. After the five firms' representatives accepted the awards and shared praise for colleagues, a special recognition was awarded to Leslie E. Robertson for a lifetime of achievement in innovative engineering and design of classic modern structures.

SawTeen See, Managing Partner and Nayan Trivedi, Partner from LERA accepted the firm's award. Leslie E. Robertson Associates traces its history back to the W.H. Witt Company, founded in Seattle in 1923. Leslie Robertson joined the firm in 1958, when it was known as Worthington-Skilling. Starting out as a young engineer, he became a partner, and with the commission for the design of the structure of the World Trade Center, the firm Skilling, Helle, Christiansen opened a New York office, led by Robertson. The firm Leslie E. Robertson Associates was established in 1986. Founding principal Les Robertson retired as a partner at the end of 1994 and continued to work on projects through 2012. The firm’s many innovative skyscrapers around the world include the U.S. Steel Tower in Pittsburgh, the Bank of China Tower in Hong Kong, the Shanghai World Financial Center, Lotte World Tower in Seoul, and One World Tower in Mumbai.