M. Ludvik Engineering is a boutique firm specializing in special structures and facade engineering. Our clients include architects, building owners, attorneys, artists, and glazing contractors. We maintain expertise in glass and structural engineering, and use it for everything from blank sheet of paper design to forensic analysis.

We believe good engineering is imaginative. We love a good challenge and see engineering as a sensible and inventive process. We enjoy working with demanding clients to venture into the unknown and imagine the unimagined.

We are licensed in a number of US states as Professional Engineers.

About

  • Our love for glass comes from its ability to convey fully the concept of transparence. We enjoy the process of transforming the architectural statement into an essay on the nature of transparancy, and using the physical properties of glass in full.

    We approach glass as a mathematician’s material and design unconventional projects using structural glass. We use first-principles and hand calculations as preliminary design tools, codes and standards as design frameworks, and advanced finite element analysis for in-depth structural understanding to tune in more efficient and lightweight structures.

  • Our best know tension structures are glazed cable walls. We design and engineer the cable system, custom tension hardware, and integration with glass and other cladding materials.

  • We maintain expertise in the engineering and design of carbon fiber and composites, especially finite element analysis, detailing, form finding, integration with glass metal.

  • AESS is at one level just structural steel with tighter tolerances, but we consider it much more. It opens the door to a level of complexity and refinement which can put it into another category completely.

    Our first principles approach is integral to our AESS work as it allows real free form expression for the design.

    We work with artists, sculptors, architects, and industrial engineers to pay attention to detail on surface finish, coating, weld finish, etc. to push for forms and architectural expressions that stand out in a world of conventional structural members.

  • We design mechanisms to protect architectural systems from seismic structural movement. The mechanisms we have designed include the following:

    • high strength steel pendulum to vertically support a glass bridge between two buildings and to absorb the relative building movement.

    • stainless steel pendulum to laterally support a 80 ft tall glass curtain wall in seismic region, while allowing story drift up to 8 inches.

    • customized front gate for MoMA in NYC including blast resistant customized door hinges and wall anchorages.

    • glass elevator customized cabs and support systems for private residences and museums.

  • We use first principle calculations, in-office testing, working with test labs, and advanced engineering analysis to uncover issues behind structural failures. We use evidence based engineering method to testify for client for arbitrations and in court.

  • We use thermal tools such as 2D LBNL software and advanced CFD analysis to understand facade energy balance and identify energy weak spot in the facade systems.

    We also engineer storefront systems for high end retail and office buildings by coming up with feasible solution for contractors and installers.

  • We work with artists to come up with sculpture structures and anchorage methods to ensure structural stability and code compliance, while ensure maximum artistic impact and creativities.