Although no longer an active tri-athlete, Aercoustics Principal Bob Rimrott can still be found running, swimming or cycling at ground level. But in a professional capacity, he also might be up on the roof of an office tower sleuthing for extraneous noise and vibration sources. Bob followed up his engineering degree in 1985 with a Master’s in 1987, specializing in finite element analysis, a mathematical and computer graphics method of examining in detail where structures bend or twist, and the distribution of stress forces and displacements. Early on, the most famous high-profile project (literally and figuratively) was Bob’s design for the 400-ton steel counterweight (Tuned Mass Damper, or TMD) suspended inside the top of the 46-storey Chifley Tower in Sydney. The TMD was needed to mitigate vibration in the steel and glass office tower caused by wind.

Bob applies such principles to architectural acoustics and vibration, such as isolating cinemas stacked over Montreal retail spaces, and tracking an intermittent vibration problem throughout 26 floors of a 37-storey Toronto office tower. (And then designing a new, isolated room for the offending fitness centre.) He also is an environmental acoustician for many of the largest aggregate operators in Ontario.