New Construction Structural Engineering

Lawson-Burke Structural Engineers is an award winning California structural engineering company located in Orange County. We are both Residential Structural Engineers as well as Commercial Structural Engineers with projects in the design phase and under construction throughout California and the United States. Our staff has over 50 years of experience in the structural design of buildings and other structures. Robert Lawson has been the structural engineer of record on several Progressive Architecture Annual Design Awards and over forty California Regional AIA Awards. Most notable among these are:

San Juan Capistrano Library
San Juan Capistrano, CA
National AIA Honor Award
Michael Graves and Associates

Hybrid Building
Seaside, FL
AIA National Honor Award
Progressive Architecture Citation
Steven Holl Architects

House At Martha’s Vineyard
Martha’s Vineyard, MA
AIA National Honor Award
Progressive Architecture Citation
Steven Holl Architects

Aronoff Guest House
Tarzana, CA
Progressive Architecture Award
Eric Owen Moss

Structural Design Services

Our goal is to design a cost effective aesthetically pleasing project that meets the client’s needs. We understand that coordination is essential for successful structural engineering of new construction projects. Our structural design team works closely with clients and their representatives to meet the client’s needs. Throughout every step of the project we collaborate with the project architect, mechanical engineer, and contractor to ensure a smooth completion.

Creative Structural Engineers

We pride ourselves on being creative structural engineers. We enjoy unique and challenging new construction projects that allow us to be creative with our structural design to achieve the project’s goals. Structural design projects in Southern California often lead to many challenges including earthquakes, fire hazards, hillside construction, and challenging soil conditions. We have extensive structural design experience with all of these unique situations. The primary goal is to always create a structural design that meets the clients and architect’s vision.

Some of our structural engineering new construction projects include:

Various commercial buildings
Office buildings
Retail buildings
Restaurants
Parking structures
Tilt-up buildings
Custom Residential

Contact us today to ensure the success of your new construction project’s structural design.

CASE STUDIES

Obstacles:
Hillside construction with a rear 1:1 slope to the street below, development of long cantilever roof and floor spans, minimize obstacles to preserve the outstanding view, develop an out of grade infinity edge pool at the center of the building that extends from the entry to the rear slope.

Solutions
Below grade caissons and grade beams were used for the bluff edge foundations. The lower level floor is a concrete slab on grade with cantilevered concrete decks overhanging the bluff top. The upper floor and roof is wood joist with shallow steel beams that allow for the development of large cantilevered spans. Steel moment frames are used throughout the building to maintain transparency and minimize view obstructions. This incredible view ranges from the Pacific Ocean at Santa Monica on the Northwest to downtown Los Angeles on the Southeast. Sidewalls acting as grade beams were used to support the 25 meter infinity edge lap pool that extends beyond the bluff face.

The house was featured in the book, 21st Century Houses, 150 of the World’s Best by Robyn Beaver.