Richard Croswell

PE, SECB, LEED AP

Chief Structural Engineer

At SMMA

  • Applies his 35+ years of experience to design of new construction and building renovations, including delivery of fast-track structural packages to meet aggressive schedule needs
  • Enjoys solving difficult structural challenges, customizing his approach to the unique requirements of each client -- and each building’s purpose, design, and site
  • Mentors the firm’s young structural engineers 
  • Adapts new technologies and protocols to help deliver ever-increasing value to clients
  • Recognized as a sought-after expert on structural design, regulations, and standards 

Technology + Creative Design

Richard is fascinated with the opportunity presented by new technology, particularly the improvement in team dynamics that it enables. “More sophisticated tools provide us with easier methods to examine options and consider the best design strategy,” he says. “The caution with today’s technology tools is that we have to continually challenge each other. Just because it's easier to do something, does that make it right? We still need to apply creative thinking to solve a problem.”

“The ability to push back when something may not be right is a healthy and positive thing for the team. In a multidisciplinary design setting, engineers as co-workers make for better architects, and vice versa.”

Learning from the Master

Richard studied at Princeton under renowned post-modernist architect Michael Graves, and credits Graves with instilling in him an appreciation for critical thinking. “The necessity of asking the right questions at the right time, and the importance of having the courage to not only think of the questions, but to boldly challenege accepted norms, were important career lessons for a budding design professional,” Richard recalls.