Excellence in the making

Our firm was established in 1961 by Robert Darvas, an engineer who left his position as senior structural designer for the Chicago-based firm of Skidmore, Owings and Merrill to accept a position as Professor of Architecture at the University of Michigan. Committed to producing the highest quality designs the firm grew from its initial part-time operation to a firm which does business on an international level. In September of 1979, Robert Darvas and three of the registered engineers on his staff incorporated to form Robert Darvas Associates, P.C. Today the firm is committed to the same set of values that the company was built. Because of that commitment, 2012 marked our 50th year of business. Robert M. Darvas, S.E., P.E., the founder of Robert Darvas Associates, P.C., is widely known as an authority in field of structural engineering. During his almost sixty-year career in the field, he has been a teacher and mentor, taught structures to future architects, chaired the Architecture Department at the University of Michigan. Mr. Darvas has published books and articles on structural engineering, received a number of design awards, and been involved in numerous committees that have helped shape the built environment.

After leaving Hungary in 1956, Mr. Darvas worked in London and then later in Chicago for the firm of Skidmore, Owings and Merrill. There he designed the dynamic structure of the Chapel at the Air Force Academy in Colorado, designated as one of the ten best buildings in America. He then became the structural engineer for Kaiser Aluminum Technical Services. Leaving there in 1961, he joined the faculty of the College of Architecture at the University of Michigan and established Robert Darvas Associates, P.C., Consulting Structural Engineers. Committed to producing the highest quality designs, Mr. Darvas recruited similarly talented principals to the firm with strong backgrounds in structural engineering, as well as architecture and real estate development. This concentrated diversity enhances the firm’s ability to understand the complete project and the interplay of the structural system with related building subsystems and overall architectural concept.

Robert Darvas brings with him over a half of a century of experience, a deep knowledge base and a talent for innovation. As a principal and mentor, he consults on projects requiring unique solutions and is an active expert witness to the community. In addition there are currently four other principals, two of those were among the original that started the company. Individually, those principals have taught engineering, published textbooks and papers, worked in the construction field, and received educations beyond engineering in real estate developing and urban planning. All of the principals have formal educations in architecture. This concentrated diversity enhances our ability to understand the overall project and the interplay of the structural system with related building subsystems and overall architectural concept. This ability is why we have a strong base of return clients that include highly awarded architects, successful developers and experienced contractors.