Structural engineer Sean P. Clifton owes his career trajectory to the liquid “sloshing” damper. As a graduate student at the University of Texas Austin, he watched with fascination as a guest lecturer demonstrated the action of the device—which damps a tall building’s sway—using a 1-ft-tall “homemade” oscillator to represent a skyscraper.
A $240-million transformation of the 30-year-old center, home to the Phoenix Suns and Phoenix Mercury, was delivered below budget and completed on time in October 2021 despite a variety of scheduling challenges resulting from COVID-19.
The Structural Engineers Association of Illinois gives out its annual awards, the redeveloped Old Chicago Post Office reopens and a historic Frank Lloyd Wright cottage gets a new home in Glencoe.