2009 - You really just can’t say enough good things about Michael J. Paul. A structural engineer, Michael has volunteered his engineering skills with the Community Design Collaborative for over 15 years, contributing to more than 20 different community design projects in the Philadelphia area.
After studying Psychology as an undergraduate at Dartmouth, Michael received a Master of Science in Civil Engineering and a Master of Architecture from MIT; he is a registered architect as well as a professional engineer. Here at the Community Design Collaborative, Michael is one of our renaissance men. Not only has he been a dedicated volunteer since 1991, he is our current Board Co- Chair, leads the Resource Development Committee, and hosts our annual Bowling Ball in his signature silver top hat.
Getting Michael to pick his favorite Collaborative project is like trying to get someone to pick their favorite child, but he took the time to describe the worthwhile challenge of developing new uses for churches that have been abandoned or fallen into disrepair. In his words, churches may be, "underutilized, but they have architecture and construction of a type that we can't even afford to create anymore."
Reflecting on the broader scope of the Collaborative’s work, Michael mentions the how important it is that the “full range of ideas are incorporated into projects, from the transformative planning visions that examine how to transform areas that are old, dying or under-utilized, to the nuts and bolts of how to incorporate green into a streetscape with a vest pocket park.”
Although Michael has lived and worked in the Philadelphia region for years, he’s originally from Indiana. He had his first brush with design working as a trim carpenter when he was 19 years old. In the beginning he installed the trim inside closets in custom-built homes in northern Indiana. Now, looking forward to the macro-level future of Philadelphia, he hopes to see the city take advantage of Fairmount Park, the “marvelous jewel for the city,” and hopes to see the “fruits of the labor to fully incorporate the two rivers which haven’t yet been fully embraced for public use.”
Michael's professional life is no less rich than his work with the Collaborative. As a lead structural engineer and the Senior Vice President at Duffield Associates, he is in charge of engineering, documentation, and management of design, investigation, and forensic projects. He has served as a guest lecturer, instructor, and coordinator of the University of Delaware’s capstone course in Civil and Environmental Engineering.
Michael has broad experience in the evaluation, investigation and design of repairs for steel, concrete masonry, iron and timber structures, and received a certificate of appreciation from the City of New York for his volunteer services on World Trade Center recovery operations. Michael was honored as Engineer of the Year in 2008 by the Delaware Section of the ASCE.
