BELMONT, MA : The American Council of Engineering Companies of Massachusetts (ACEC/MA) has named SMMA as a winner of their 2020 Bronze Engineering Excellence Award for their work on the National Association for Armenian Studies & Research (NAASR) Vartan Gregorian Armenian Center in Belmont, MA.

The 2020 Engineering Excellence Awards were recently announced and will be celebrated at the 2021 ACEC/MA Engineering Excellence and Awards Gala. The awards celebrate innovation, ingenuity, and excellence in engineering achievement.

The new NAASR Vartan Gregorian Armenian Center protects its renowned library of ancient and rare texts to preserve culture. Driven by the domestic and foreign challenges facing Armenians from the Diaspora, the project goals are to establish a cultural hub of global activity to pass down to future generations. The 15,000 sq. ft. headquarters incorporates specialized engineering systems to ensure the safety of its most precious archives, with an aesthetic that encourages observation and learning, and inspiring imagination. SMMA extensively studied Armenian architecture and craft for the new headquarters, incorporating cultural elements such as a large wooden door, hand-carved in the homeland by a master craftsman, and precast panels enriched with authentic Armenian designs.

Since 1955, SMMA has balanced architecture, engineering, interiors, and site design to afford clients the agility of a single source of creative and technical expertise.  They are an employee-owned firm with locations in Cambridge, Massachusetts and Providence, Rhode Island.

“The Engineering Excellence Awards program recognizes engineering firms for projects that demonstrate a high degree of achievement, value and ingenuity,” said Jenn Howe, President of the American Council of Engineering Companies of Massachusetts and Principal and Vice President at SMMA, Symmes Maini & McKee Associates. “Entrants are rated by an independent panel of judges from the architectural community, the construction industry, academia, the media, and the public sector on the basis of uniqueness and originality; future value to the profession and perception by the public; social, economic and sustainable development considerations; complexity; and successful fulfillment of the client/owner’s need, including schedule and budget. We congratulate them and thank them for their contributions to improving the quality of our everyday lives.”