Collaboratively Addressing Building Enclosure
Performance Challenges in Innovative Architecture

John Karras, PE
Senior Project Manager, Simpson Grumpertz & Heger

Between 2009 and 2012, John was SGH’s project manager for a multi-phase building enclosure investigation and rehabilitation project at a large iconic building on the campus of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.  John will share his experience of several years working collaboratively with the owner, architect, and construction team (including co-locating at the project site with the construction team during the construction period), while employing forensic, design, management, and professional relationship building skills in the context of complex architecture.  John will also weave-in his perspectives on the exciting and diverse career opportunities for civil engineering students.

John Karras obtained his Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering from Tufts University in 2002.  Since then, following starting his career in the construction management field, John has gone on to become a licensed Civil Engineer and practice the craft of building enclosure consulting for 12 years at the Washington, DC office of Simpson Gumpertz & Heger Inc (SGH).  SGH is a national engineering firm that designs, investigates, and rehabilitates structures, building enclosures, and materials.  John has particular expertise in creatively collaborating with design and construction teams to navigate the performance risks associated with the facades and roofs of complex architectural designs.  John also has experience working on the campus of the University of Notre Dame; in 2010 he spent the summer on location in South Bend as the Designer-of-Record for the rehabilitation of the Theodore Hesburgh Library facade.