July 7, 2004

Snapshot: Jack Wiggins

Jack Wiggins

Firm: Quantum Consulting Engineers

Title: Principal

Founded: 2002

Location: 1511 Third Ave.

Q: How was Quantum Consulting Engineers formed?

A: We were formed less than two yeas ago. All 10 of us came from the same firm, EQE, where we all worked together for several years. They were getting rid of their structural design department.

Q: Why did you want to start a small firm?

Rendering courtesy of Nadel Architects Quantum provided structural design and construction administration for the Del Mar Station Transit Village in Southern California. Designed by Nadel Architects, the 4-acre site will have 347 housing units and 20,000 square feet of retail.

A: We had the core common goal of wanting to serve the client on a more personal and practical level. A lot of big company issues at EQE took away from project work and we weren't able to dedicate as much time because of reporting issues and measurements.

Q: What's better about being in a small firm?

A: I like the principal involvement we bring to clients. We have four principals, and each is highly involved in major projects, to the point where we're doing calculations and doing a lot of the nitty, gritty work. I think clients appreciate having someone with a lot of experience involved in the projects.

Q: What is your specialty?

A: Medium sized projects -- commercial, residential. We also do K-12, single family, multifamily and cultural buildings. We carried over a lot of projects EQE was wanting us to do -- Del Mar Station and Merrill Hall at U.W. -- so it was an amicable split.

Q: What were your biggest challenges with those projects?

A: The Del Mart Station is a very large, $120 million multifamily project in Pasadena, Calif. It has light rail going through the middle of the project. There were a lot of construction issues that have taken a lot of dedication on our part. The project had turnover with metal fabricators, so they asked us to pick up more responsibility in helping the new fabricator do a better job. These are five- to seven-story buildings that have light metal floor joists and light metal walls that are built in the shop and everything is brought to the site. It's finally getting on the fast track and the buildings are really starting to go up fast now.

Merrill Hall is an environmentally sensitive building on a really tight site. Miller Hull chose a wood structural system that has beams and columns exposed. The fact that they wanted to expose the beams and columns made it more satisfying. It's always fun to have the architectural systems exposed, because that pushes us to design connections that are more architecturally pleasing.

Q: Why did you want to be LEED certified?

A: Because I want to get every LEED point I can, and know enough about it where I can help in the design. It's important to me to design environmentally sensitive structures.

Q: Why is green design important?

Image courtesy of Mike Kowalski The Northwest Maritime Center in Port Townsend, designed by Miller Hull Partnership, will have access to the shore and a deep draft dock.

A: I think there will be a scarcity of resources and that will make environmentally responsible practices, such as recycled materials, more economically viable. Having an environmentally responsible building is a good selling point because the occupants consider it a positive.

Q: When did you notice the Seattle economy turning the corner?

A: For us, it started turning around in January. Some projects started breaking and we started getting calls from clients on projects that had been on hold for awhile.

Q: How did you become interested in structural engineering?

A: My father was a structural engineer and I vowed never to follow in his footsteps. I was already out of college when I decided to go back to school for structural engineering. I really wanted to be part of something where I feel I'm contributing positively and I can see the results of my work.

Previous columns:

• Snapshot: Johnpaul Jones, 03-31-2004
• Snapshot: Kristen Scott, 02-25-2004
• Snapshot: Surinder Mann, 02-04-2004
• Snapshot: Shannon Murphy Rankin, 08-06-2003
• Snapshot: John Herzog, 07-23-2003
• Snapshot: Alex Protasevich, 05-28-2003
• Snapshot: James Adams, 03-19-2003
• Snapshot: Stefan Hampden, 12-18-2002