BAKKALA CONSULTING ENGINEERS LIMITED, Dublin

Chris Bakkala, Managing Director of Bakkala Consulting Engineers, has over twenty years experience with top engineering firms designing efficient, economical tall building structures throughout the world. Our approach is collaborative. Working with Client and within the design team we develop engineering designs interactively. We explore and test the project constraints and the constraints of other building systems to realize optimal value in the structural form for each individual project. In our multi-disciplinary commissions, we assist the design development of engineering systems such as vertical transportation, mechanical and electrical systems, fire safety strategies, facade engineering and sustainability assessments to discover value opportunities for each system, and to realize the best combination of design solutions to suit Client objectives. To realize the maximum advantage in structure economy we quantify the spatial requirements of other building systems. In this way we establish a context of volume available for the structural frame. Within the available volume we proportion structural systems for economy, performance, and ease of construction. Our structures possess the strength to resist the forces of gravity, wind, and earthquake; the ductility to respond safely and reliably to applied forces; and a dynamic performance to satisfy agreed comfort criteria for building occupants. We optimise our frames by a number of methods. Through the design process, we study alternative structural materials and forms and assess available options. We study architectural and building services arrangements and assess the relative merit of design alternatives. Once an optimal arrangement is realized, we then optimise our designs numerically, to minimize the engineered material and embodied energy in the structure.