A Brief History of Cowen Associates
In October 1974, the firm was opened for business by Mr. Fred V. Cowen, P.E. after seven years of experience with leading Structural Engineering firms.
At this point, Mr. Cowen had been in responsible charge of the Structural Design for several major buildings by Internationally recognized Architectural firms.
In addition to his proven Professional expertise as Structural Engineer, Mr. Cowen had gained a keen interest in Architecture.
During his employment as an Architectural Designer in 1966 and 1967 and part-time education at Boston Architectural Center (BAC) in 1967-68, he developed hands-on awareness of the importance of the Structural Engineer's role in the design of buildings. This awareness grew into a commitment to the concept of full participation by the Allied Professions in the design environment.
As a result of this commitment, in 1972 Mr. Cowen joined the volunteer faculty of BAC and taught a Structures Workshop of his own design until 1990. The Workshop featured a unique dialogue with advanced students on the role of the Structural Engineer, using a text by Mr. Cowen. The course also allowed the student to study advanced Structural concepts and systems, and brought forth discussion of Building Codes and Legal issues.
In addition to teaching, Mr. Cowen has actively participated in the development of course curricula for Structures at the BAC, and has served on numerous Thesis Advisory Committees.
In addition to the maintenance of this office during the years 1977 to 1980, Mr. Cowen served as Chief Structural Engineer of PACE International, a multi-disciplinary Consulting Engineering Company based in Kuwait.
During this period, PACE established a Cambridge office for the purpose of providing domestic design services for The Architects Collaborative for their work in the Middle East. Mr. Cowen formed and administrated a Structural Engineering Design group of up to 17 persons, and was responsible for the design of more than $250M in construction projects of reinforced concrete. The domestic operations of PACE ended in 1980 with a decline in construction activities in Kuwait. PACE remains an internationally recognized firm today.
Following the shut-down of the Cambridge offices of PACE, Cowen Associates completed several projects previously started, under contract with The Architects Collaborative, including an Embassy in Washington, D.C. and a 21 Story reinforced concrete commercial/residential building in Salmieh, Kuwait City.
The firm has been in continuous operation since 1973, and has provided a highly diversified service, while maintaining a manageable size.
Since its inception, this office has maintained an open door for service to Architects. Participation in the design of the smallest house addition is not uncommon, and is often done in short design sessions by Mr. Cowen with the Architect at this office.
Projects have also been quite substantial in size. Our capability generally is limited to construction costs in the range of $10 to $20 million when full service is required on domestic work.
Our experience is in the construction of all types of Wood Framed and Timber structures, Structural Steel, Cast-in-place and Precast Concrete and Aluminum systems. Along with our wide experience in new construction, we have also developed a specialty of Renovation and Restoration of existing structures, including some of high historic value.
To maintain the state of the art, and to keep productivity high, we have actively sought to maintain the leading Computer Software available to Structural Engineers.
Our first use of the micro-computer for Finite Element Analysis began with the development of Proprietary Software for the Design and Analysis of Helical Staircases. This program, specially written by Mr. Cowen, predated the popular IBM-PC.
Since this initial stage in 1977, our Computer-Aided Design and Drafting capability has grown.
We now are running Autocad, first initiated in 1985. In addition, we maintain
STAAD-Pro 2003, STAAD-Foundation, RAMSTEEL & RAMADVANCE systems based on Finite Element analysis, which perform Steel and Concrete Design and generate Drawings automatically. These systems are particularly suited to our larger projects. We also have sophisticated wood frame and timber design software, featuring a three dimensional Shear Wall Program that can model a whole building for lateral load resistance.
It has been the objective of the office to develop and maintain long-term personalized relationships with our cliental. This objective has been successfully reached through client loyalty.
We would be glad to furnish references on request.
A Summary of Special Expertise
The following is a listing of services offered where we feel we have special expertise:
- Renovation/Restoration
Since its inception, this office has carried out a large number of renovation and renovation/restoration projects of all sizes, and involving all types of construction. Historic Buildings have comprised a large percentage of this work. Knowledge of now-obsolete systems is a specialty.
- New Construction
This office offers special expertise in the design of new building framing systems such as:
- Structural Steel Systems for:
- Low-Rise Commercial/Retail Facilities
- Low and Medium-Rise Office and Mixed-Use
- Warehouse Facilities
- Industrial Facilities
- Institutional (Academic) Facilities
- Reinforced Concrete Systems for:
- Low to Medium-Rise Residential and Mixed use.
- Hospital Facilities
- Laboratory Facilities
- Institutional (Academic) Facilities
- Wood Frame and Timber Systems for:
- Churches
- Private Residences
- Multi-Family Housing
- Commercial/Office/Retail/Municipal
- Forensic Engineering:
Throughout his entire career, Mr. Cowen has been called upon to investigate and provide Expert Testimony on issues of Structural Engineering, Building Failures and Code compliance. He has been qualified as an expert at trial in Suffolk and Middlesex County Court proceedings, and at Arbitrations.
- Monumental Stair Systems:
Through an on-going relationship with several Internationally known Stair Manufacturers since 1977, Cowen Associates has special expertise in the design and analysis of Free-Standing Stairs of Helical, Elliptical, and Orthogonal geometry. Railing systems are also a specialty. Materials include Reinforced Concrete, Structural Steel, Light gauge Metal, Wood Laminates of all types, Cast Aluminum and Polycarbonates.
- Code Compliance and Structural Peer Review:
This office has performed Code Compliance research and reports on existing buildings and peer review for new projects.
- Roofing Investigations:
This office has performed investigations of roof framing systems, roofing systems, insulation techniques regarding roofing failures and for new roofing/insulation installations. Temperature/Volume Change and Temperature Gradient Analyses are a specialty.
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