Roger Frechette- Mechanical Design Wizard (#65)

Bio Roger Frechette PE, LEED AP Managing Principal, Interface Engineering Roger’s impressive resume covers three decades of design experience, including sustainable/energy master planning and many significant iconic buildings. The Burj Khalifa, Dubai; Greenland Tower, Wuhan; Plot 16. Moscow; BBVA, Mexico City; and the Pearl River Tower, Guangzhou are just a sampling of his recent work. In 2004, he was recognized by the US Congress for his work in sustainability, and he is a current Senior Fellow with the Design Futures Council. Show Notes Roger’s Role & overview of Interface Engineering (6:35)Origins (7:30)Raised in Ashburnham, Massachusetts (rural town) Mediocre student but fast (The Flying One)Father the head of a Motorcycle Gang (The Slaves)Lived in a “commune” for bikersTreetop seat on a chopper with bungee cords holding his cradleEducation (10:45)Recruited by Boston U. as a track athlete but had to have a major for studies and he needed a scholarship, but they couldn’t offer him one, so he ran away from homeThen recruited by Southeastern Massachusetts University to run track and decided to major in mechanical engineeringOdd college experience- worked full time and if you got a good grade on a final exam and he crammed for finals in every course…and did very well.Career (16:00)Small firm in Middleborough, MAC. A. Crowley Engineering– office in the basement of a bowling alley (2 years)Syska Hennessy Group in Cambridge, MA (17:30)Worked on first high rise project in China thereLearned how buildings came together and how the business worked thereLiked the problem solving aspect of the business initiallyHis new father in law moved to Roanoke, VA and had to commute back and forth initially and tried to resign to move, so his company asked him to open an office in Northern Virginia in 1993 (21:00)Successful in winning large projects in DC area (25:00)Firm hired an older experienced guy to be his boss and he decided to resignJoined Vanderweil Engineers and opened an office in Alexandria, VA in 1995 (27:00)Work was in the Mid-Atlantic primarilyEmbassies, Labs, Office Buildings, RetailClients were Architects primarilyStructural firms stay within that frameworkMedium size firms have mostly gone away…either large firms with multiple services or small boutique specialized firms (29:00)Interface is a medium size firmTen years with Vanderweil and had a great run there.Ownership transition and Roger became bored running the firm and not doing the design work as much (32:00)Left and joined Skidmore Owings...