MACK CONACHEN, P.E., S.E., AIA
Associate Principal, San Diego Office Director
Mack Conachen is responsible for the growth and management of our San Diego office. He has
considerable experience in structural design, analysis and project management across a wide
range of project types and materials. His areas of specialization include healthcare, biotech and
laboratory design, renovation and rehabilitation projects and seismic retrofits. With a background in architecture, Mack has a deep understanding of the needs and objectives of design clients. He is adept at developing creative, yet practical solutions to complex and challenging projects.
DEAN SCHOENBERG, P.E., S.E.
Senior Associate
Since joining Thornton Tomasetti in 2011, Dean Schoenberg has gathered extensive experience
in concrete, CMU and steel design and detailing for seismic provisions, as well as modeling and
analysis of structural responses to seismic loading. Dean’s project portfolio spans numerous
market sectors from education to residential, government, commercial, hospitality, mixed-use,
transportation and sports.
The presentation will focus on some of the more unique challenges that Thornton Tomasetti is facing in our industry today related to revisions in code provisions, an increased scrutiny on green building and the desire to use more sustainable construction materials such as mass timber as well as the tools we use to execute projects with complex geometry. We will present some of the challenges and limitations of the current code provisions related to mass timber construction in regards to gravity, seismic, and fire protection and discuss some possible means of addressing these issues using Performance-Based Design. TT will then touch on some of the tools that we use to solve some of the challenges with coordination and “option-eering” of complex geometric structures.