RMMI | Masonry Heroes

Home > Masonry Heroes > Maintaining a Human Scale

Maintaining a Human Scale

Engineers at Atkinson-Noland & Associates Put Masonry Research to Work for Colorado and the World

Michael Schuller, P.E., President, Atkinson-Noland & Associates

Denver, CO (2001) - For the past 25 years, Dick Tracy and Indiana Jones have had some quiet competition in the form of a new breed of historic detective – masonry researchers. These guys don’t exactly work undercover, but they do search for clues through research and by pounding the pavement – literally.

As masonry sleuths go, Michael Schuller and the staff of Boulder’s Atkinson-Noland & Associates Inc. are undoubtedly one of the best-kept secrets in Colorado, even though they’ve been around for a long time. In 1975, ANA’s pioneering founders Jim Noland and Hank Atkinson shook up the field of masonry research by leaving their positions at the University of Colorado and taking their work where it had never gone before – into the real world.

Since that time, the company has continually advanced its research and engineering capabilities and today uses technology, including radar and ultrasound, to diagnose problems in existing masonry structures.

Some of the company’s most impressive achievements to date include an international project with Italian and Slovenian agencies to develop methods for the repair and retrofit of existing masonry structures. There’s also a recently completed research project conducted for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, developing a tomographic imaging technique to evaluate concrete and masonry materials.

But while the company has been building its reputation for decades, Schuller emerged only recently as its leader. Schuller started with the firm in 1985 as an undergraduate lab assistant who, in his own words, “spent a lot of time breaking bricks” as part of his early interest in the earthquake resistance of masonry. Then in 1995, at the age of 30, Schuller was thrust into a leadership position at the firm when both Noland and Atkinson passed away within a year of each other. Now at the helm, Schuller has built the company’s reputation as the preeminent masonry engineering firm in the country and one of the top firms in the world.

Stone façade at the Molly Brown House, Denver.

Ann Sullivan, executive director of the Rocky Mountain Masonry Institute, said that the masonry industry recognizes the firm’s international presence: “Until a few years ago when Atkinson-Noland took on the role of technical adviser to the Rocky Mountain Masonry Institute, the firm was better known for its masonry expertise in Europe than here in the United States. We are very fortunate to have such sought-after expertise right here in Colorado.”

Much of the firm’s research and diagnostic work involved historic preservation projects, including Newcomer’s Mill Bridge (Frostburg, Md., built in 1806) and the Molly Brown House Museum (Denver, built in 1890). One project that Schuller found particularly fascinating was the restoration of Baltimore’s Basilica. Built in 1806, it was the nation’s first Catholic cathedral, designed by Benjamin Henry Latrobe, the architect of the U.S. Capitol, and the country’s first professional architect and engineer.

Schuller said he particularly admires the way the masonry in the Basilica and other buildings of that era are broken down into their most basic use. In historic architecture, “the structure and engineering of a building are very clear. An arch is an arch and bears the weight and tension you’d expect, while in modern structures, an arch may be completely or partially decorative and supported by steel beams or other internal mechanisms.”

ANA engineered masonry panels for this office building.

This air of simplicity and honesty in historic construction has kept Schuller devoted to its preservation in this country and around the world. Here in Colorado, Schuller has recently revived the University of Colorado’s structural masonry course, which had not been taught in seven years. With the support of the Rocky Mountain Masonry Institute, he and Greg Kingsley of the design firm KL&A are teaching undergraduate engineering students the complexities of masonry, both historic and contemporary.

Other members of the ANA team include Vice President David Woodham, engineer and historic restoration contractor David Transue, and historic preservation specialist Manuela Palma.

But Schuller is their masonry connoisseur. He has spent his life learning about the intricacies of masonry by building a knowledge of the materials that few engineers in the world can match. He knows a lot about all types of masonry but is most inspired by the natural beauty of stone.

If he were reincarnated, he’d like to come back as a stone carver so he could experience the process of “picking up a piece of native stone, refining it with my own hands and making it work as a structurally sound building material.”

When asked “why masonry?,” his answer is as clear and uncomplicated as the material itself: “It’s the demand,” he said. “People want it. They like the handmade feel. We live in a mass-produced world, and through masonry, people are reminded of the human scale.”

^ Back to top