The Engineer Behind The Oculus

Since 2015, Steven Krug, chief engineer at the Westfield World Trade Center, has been an integral part of the organization, which boasts the Oculus—the largest mall in Manhattan, where millions of people pass through each week.

His deep knowledge and unwavering commitment have been instrumental in successfully opening new retail locations, and play a critical role in keeping this major transportation and shopping hub running smoothly.

The boundaries of the Westfield World Trade Center campus are Towers 1, 2, and 3, and the Oculus, which is made up of about 100 stores and restaurants. “Part of my purview and responsibility,” said Krug, “is operations and maintenance of all the stores and restaurants, but I’m heavily involved in all the new development and redevelopment of the site.”

Currently, he’s working on about 10 new construction projects on site.

As part of Westfield, Krug feels he’s helped rebuild post-9/11 New York. Back in the late ‘90s and early 2000s, he worked across the street for another company. After seeing the planes hit both towers, he finally made it home late that evening by walking across the Brooklyn Bridge. “I feel like I’m one of the shepherds of the site, and here to protect the overall spirit of what the World Trade Center should be. It’s incredibly close to my heart. And I take a huge amount of pride in it.”

He says the job’s biggest challenge is making sure that he and his team are giving the attention that’s needed to everything in order “to keep this place as a Class A operation.”

As a behind-the-scenes worker, Krug says it feels good to be seen. “In my world, it’s not like you overcome a challenge and celebrate it. It’s just always solving that problem, so you go on to solve the next problem. So, it’s nice that someone else gets to look from the outside and recognizes the work you put in.”

After more than 10 years, the chief engineer is still excited to come to work each day, particularly, “Standing on that viewing platform [of the Oculus], and getting to appreciate how beautiful the place is, and how complex it is, and how prominent it is to everyone else in the world.”

When not at Westfield, Krug is with his wife of 25 years, his daughter, who is a senior at Harvard, and his son, who is starting at St. John’s in August. “They’re my everything. They’re my life. They’re my best friends. It’s great.”