SUPERSTRUCTURES Engineers + Architects

SUPERSTRUCTURES provided investigation, design, and construction administration services to restore the 8th floor terrace of this academic building on Hunter College’s main campus. Restoration work included: removal of the existing roof membrane; concrete slab repairs; installation of a new roofing system composed of SBS and liquid-applied membranes topped with insulation and pre-cast concrete pavers; and replacement of existing roof drains in kind. The project also included: installation of metal and glass barrier guardrails; installation of a structural steel bypass support for the glass barriers; joint sealant replacement; coping stone waterproofing; and parapet flashing repairs. Thanks to The City University of New York, DASNY (Dormitory Authority - State of New York ), and Pb Contracting #restoration #colleges

New York’s array of public housing forms a city within the city—one that SUPERSTRUCTURES is proud to help keep safe and viable for over 500,000 residents each year. The New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) is the largest public housing agency in North America and a long-standing SUPERSTRUCTURES client. With approximately 177,500 apartments across 335 developments, NYCHA trusts us because of our successful track record managing large, often multi-building restoration projects. Our extensive experience with the structure, materials, and systems of NYCHA buildings helps ensure on-time and on-budget services. To date, we’ve completed more than 175 restoration projects for NYCHA buildings, including facade inspections and restorations, roof restorations or replacements, building program feasibility studies, balcony, railing, and fire escape inspections and repairs, and leak and flood elimination. One recent assignment comprised FISP inspections and reports for 510 buildings in 43 developments in Brooklyn and Manhattan. While these projects don’t typically win preservation awards or attract industry publicity, they’re vital to maintaining the built environment that keeps NYC running. We’re grateful for our ongoing relationship with NYCHA and the opportunity to contribute to the health of the city’s public housing facilities. #PublicHousing #restoration

SUPERSTRUCTURES is familiar with this 748-unit cooperative complex—and not just from our recent work to restore the envelopes of its six buildings, the subject of a prior post. When our two founding principals were second-year architecture students at Cooper Union, one of their instructors, Sam Brody, was a principal of the firm that designed it (Davis Brody, now Davis Brody Bond). Brody took them on a site tour while it was under construction. The concrete frame was complete, but elevators had not yet been installed, so they walked up 22 flights of stairs to the roof of one of the “shorter” buildings. Over the years, SUPERSTRUCTURES has conducted exterior restorations of several Davis Brody buildings, including East Midtown Plaza, the Ellicott Dormitory Complex at SUNY Buffalo, and Manhattan’s Cathedral Parkway Towers. Thanks to East Midtown Plaza Housing Co., FirstService Residential, and Pyramid Restoration NY LLC, owner, managing agent, and contractor, respectively. #restoration #coop

Change orders usually mean additional expense and a delayed project completion date. But occasionally, they’re a pleasant surprise—when they signify a reduction in construction cost. ? Our restoration of Columbia University’s Fayerweather Hall is a recent example. The project comprised replacement of cracked brick, restoration of spalled and cracked limestone and granite, masonry pointing, joint sealant replacement, gutter replacement, and metal grille and panel painting. ? Change orders on this project were de minimus.?But the only change order was, in fact, a CREDIT, issued when not all allowance quantities were used. (Once our team performed a physical examination from scaffolding, we determined that some deficiencies could be addressed with a spall repair instead of a more expensive dutchman). ? For every project, our goal is a restoration that leaves the building safe and watertight for years to come. Our exemplary construction documents help minimize—or eliminate—the unwelcome surprise of change orders. But in some cases (like this one), change orders take the form of a positive balance. ? In the case of Fayerweather Hall, we were able to deliver a successful restoration for a long-standing client while keeping the budget in the black. #credit #columbiauniversity #restoration

Constructed in the early 1970s, this 748-unit cooperative complex incorporates six buildings. SUPERSTRUCTURES provided investigation, design, and construction administration services to restore the structures’ envelopes. ? Restoration work included: concrete spall and crack repairs, concrete coating, masonry unit replacement, window sealant restoration, and sheet metal replacement. Thanks to East Midtown Plaza Housing Co, FirstService Residential, and Pyramid Restoration NY LLC. #coops #restoration

Do you have the particular set of skills we’re looking for? Are you an architect or structural engineer with: - An interest in advancing the art and science of building restoration? - An appreciation for the inherent value of existing buildings, whether they’re 100 or 20 years old? - Good communication skills and the ability to think analytically and creatively? - The ability to work with a small team on multiple, simultaneous projects from investigation through construction administration? - The ability to craft construction documents (drawings and specifications) that are correct, complete, clear, concise, and consistent? You could be just what we’re looking for (and vice versa). Visit our Careers page to learn more and apply: https://lnkd.in/gmCFc9DH #skills #hiring #restoration

Clever of the British to give a posh name to a common problem: Regent Street Disease. But there’s no mask requirement in London’s West End—this disease affects buildings, not people. London’s prestigious Regent Street lends its name to a form of facade deterioration common to the neighborhood’s proliferation of 19th-century?buildings. The phenomenon is the same on either side of the Atlantic: When structural iron or steel corrodes, it expands (up to eight times its original size) causing cracks, spalls, or wholesale failure in the surrounding masonry and calling into question the member’s ability to sustain the load it was designed to carry. Compounding the problem in New York City, our buildings are also subject to more freeze/thaw cycling than their English counterparts, exacerbating masonry deficiencies with time and the seasons. While there’s no panacea for Regent Street Disease, early, proactive detection and restoration can mean the difference between a building that’s right as rain (though resistant to it) and one that ends up on life support. #london #historicbuildings #facades #restoration

From Harlem to Hell’s Kitchen and Jersey City to JFK airport, SUPERSTRUCTURES has restored buildings across the greater New York region. Each pin on this map represents one of our projects in progress and the renewal of part of the backbone of the city. Each project is an opportunity to advance our practice of the art and science of restoration. The reputation we’ve built over more than forty years—for innovative investigation, industry-leading construction documents, and client-focused construction administration—is thanks to our team of talented, dedicated engineers, architects, and technicians. And quality of projects is even more important than quantity. Most of these pins represent projects under way for universities, hospitals, schools, airports, courthouses, luxury coops, and public housing complexes—performed for NYC’s most prestigious and demanding clients. Are you a structural engineer or architect interested in joining our Wall Street-based team??We'd like to hear from you! https://lnkd.in/gmCFc9DH #map #newyorkcity #restoration #hiring

While conducting a test using a handheld, high-pressure spray nozzle to investigate water infiltration at a prominent condominium building in the South Street Seaport Historic District, we made our own mini rainbow! Non-destructive testing techniques like this (which we call leakage mapping) give us valuable information about the causes of distress in the building envelope and supporting structure. Interested in working for a team with an in-house Non-destructive Testing and Evaluation studio and robust technical resources? We’d like to hear from you! https://lnkd.in/gmCFc9DH #watertesting #condos #southstreetseaport

Year after year, SUPERSTRUCTURES successfully completes more exterior restoration projects than any other firm in the New York region. Each pin on this map represents one of our projects in progress. More importantly, each pin represents the renewal of part of the backbone of the city, as well as an opportunity to advance our practice of the art and science of restoration. And quality is even more important than quantity. Most of these pins represent projects under way for universities, hospitals, schools, airports, courthouses, luxury coops, and public housing complexes—performed for NYC’s most prestigious and demanding clients. SUPERSTRUCTURES has also worked with hundreds of contractors in our four decades of providing professional architecture and engineering services, so we know which ones are the best fit for each project. Overall, this map represents the virtues of continuous improvement: the more we do, the more we learn, and the better we perform going forward. #restoration #newyorkcity #map