Creating a building brings together a lot of people with different backgrounds who may not otherwise have anything to do with each other. As an engineer you get to interact with all these people, sometimes in the same day, and, ideally, you should be able to communicate effectively with all of them; and, let’s be honest, we didn’t go to engineering school because we were amazing communicators.
While there’s something to gleaning technical knowledge and insight from your engineering peers, there’s a wealth of diverse experiences, personalities and perspectives that come out of all the people and trades involved in putting together ‘their’ building.”
Since the early 2000s, Cristian Vimer has been providing structural design solutions and overseeing the design management of complex projects such as new building structures, renovation and adaptive reuse projects, preservation of historical buildings and forensic studies. Cristian holds a PhD in Structural Engineering from NYU and a Master’s from the Technical University of Civil Engineering of Bucharest.
Cristian moved to NYC from Bucharest, Romania in 2000 to pursue his doctoral degree on a research and teaching scholarship from NYU Tandon School of Engineering (then Polytechnic University of Brooklyn). Cristian started his own company in 2011, and in 2012 he joined forces with Erik Madsen and Madsen Consulting Engineering (now DCI+Madsen). Together they developed the company from a two-person office into a growing firm responsible for completing over 1,000 projects in the NYC area and beyond.
Cristian was a member of the NYC Department of Buildings Code Revision Structural Technical Committee for the 2022 NYC Building Code and for the proposed NYC Existing Building Code. He is still actively involved in research projects related to structural degradation, and he co-authored a book on health monitoring for infrastructure materials, published by Springer in 2018. He has published several articles in specialty journals and trade magazines. During his time at NYU, Cristian has also taught several structural engineering classes.
If you weren’t an engineer, what would you be?
Writer / Stand-up Comedian / Movie Director / Chef (Restaurant/Bar Owner).
What were your favorite classes in college?
Descriptive Geometry / Leadership and Management / Earthquake Engineering
What are your favorite New York spots?
The day I landed in NYC for the first time, I took a cab from JFK Airport to my school in Downtown Brooklyn and the ride there was underwhelming, to put it mildly. Later that evening, my advisor took me to the Brooklyn Heights Promenade, and the view completely blew my mind. I was in love (at first sight) with NYC, and the love is still strong nearly 25 years later.
