Joseph R. Loring

Department of Electrical Engineering
Class of 1947, BS

Joseph R. Loring’s work appears all over the world. His trademark is on the New York’s World Trade Center, the Federal Parliament House atop Capital Hill in the city of Canberra, Australia, and the U.S. Supreme Court Building in Washington, D.C.

Since Mr. Loring started his private practice in 1956, Joseph R. Loring & Associates, Inc., has provided essential engineering services for many of the great public and private building projects of our time. They range from high-rise office towers and corporate headquarters to universities and libraries, hospitals, airport terminals, courthouses, and correctional facilities.

After only six years in business, Mr. Loring was selected as the electrical engineer to design the electrical systems for the twin 110-story towers comprising the World Trade Center in New York — then the world’s tallest building. Ever since, his company has been labeled a pioneer in introducing efficient, reliable, environment-friendly building systems.

His success in the global market illustrates his expertise and experience. As an example, Mr. Loring teamed with Mitchell/Giurgola and Thorp Architects in 1980, and they won an international design competition that Newsweek magazine later called “The Architectural Commission of the Century.” That project was the design of the new Federal Parliament House atop Capital Hill in the city of Canberra, Australia.

Most recently, Mr. Loring’s Washington, D.C. office is in the schematic design stage for the renovation of all mechanical and electrical systems of the U.S. Supreme Court Building. This ambitious project requires that work be completed while the building is occupied and in use as usual. Mr. Loring describes this complex project to be one of the most challenging of his career that spans six different decades.

Other credits to Mr. Loring’s business prowess include: One Post Office Square, Boston, Mass.; and the new headquarters buildings for the International Finance Corporation and the American Red Cross, both located in Washington, D.C. His company has been retained to begin work on a project the Dallas Morning News labeled “The World’s Tallest Building,” to be located on a site outside of Dallas, Texas. The proposed project is sponsored by the Maharishi Global Development Fund of New York. Other international projects include: the U.S. Embassy, Caracas, Venezuela; Hyundai-Xiwang Building, Dalian, China; Latvian National Library, Riga, Latvia; and the King Fahd Airport, Dhahran, Saudi Arabia.

Since 1995, the firm has been known as LORING. The main office remains in New York with more than 100 employees. Other LORING locations are in Washington, D.C., Princeton, New Jersey, and Albany, New York. The company has received a number of awards, including the 1999 American Consulting Engineers Council’s Grand Prize in the transportation category. The award was for the design of the mechanical and electrical systems for Terminal One at JFK International Airport, the first new terminal built at JFK in 35 years.

Three years ago, Mr. Loring and his wife, Sheila Johnston, relocated to Arlington, Virginia, and he now spends most of his time in the Washington, D.C. office. He has two daughters, Lisa and Debra, and five granddaughters, Maren, Andrea, Alison, Melissa, and Bari.

At Virginia Tech, Joe and Sheila are members of the University’s Ut Prosim Society. He has served on the Bradley Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering’s Advisory Board and on the College of Engineering’s Advisory Board. He is also a member of the College’s Committee of 100, the Advisory Board of the National Institute of Building Sciences, and a life member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers. In 1999, Mr. Loring was inducted into the Bradley Department of Electrical Engineering’s Academy of Distinguished Alumni. He funded a scholarship under his company’s name that is awarded to a Virginia Tech student on an annual basis.

Mr. Loring’s close ties with Virginia Tech came about in an unusual way. A native of New York where he attended Boys High School in Brooklyn, Mr. Loring had not planned on coming to Blacksburg. In 1944, he enlisted in the Army Reserve. He was given a test, and due to his high grades, the Army “escorted” him to Virginia Tech to study, engineering for 12 months. Afterwards, he was assigned to work on a top secret voice scrambling installation in the Pentagon during the remainder of World War II. He rose to the rank of staff sergeant, and after the war, he returned to Virginia Tech to complete his degree in electrical engineering in December of 1947.

Class of: 1947
Year Inducted into Academy: 2001