On this day in 1916, New York City passed a zoning resolution which established the maximum mass of buildings allowed on any give site, based on a prescribed vertical height above the street. The multiple setbacks that resulted to maximize floorspace within this restriction created complexity in building envelopes with profound implications for New York’s skyline and SUPERSTRUCTURES’ future work.

As a firm of engineers and architects specializing in exterior restoration, SUPERSTRUCTURES has become the go-to choice of innumerable “professional” clients—but we also work with many private, residential clients represented by co-op or condo boards. Based on our extensive experience, we offer this primer to help residential clients raise the bar when securing contractors.

SUPERSTRUCTURES applauds the City’s decision to dedicate funds for the restoration of 70 Mulberry Street, site of a devastating fire this January which threatened total demolition of the Chinatown landmark.

Ever since aerospace engineers and test pilots introduced the phrase “to push the envelope,” it’s come to stand for the cutting edge of advancement in many fields. For SUPERSTRUCTURES, the term is particularly appropriate because we’re focused on restoring building envelopes—and constantly innovating how we do it.

Love it or loathe it, Brutalism is here to stay. Brutalist buildings have been derided for their “soulless” aesthetics (think gray Soviet-era edifices), but that doesn’t mean they have to be relegated to a dark chapter in architectural history that’s best forgotten. A leader in concrete and masonry restoration, SUPERSTRUCTURES has worked on a number of Brutalist-influenced buildings and these projects highlight the expertise necessary to preserve these “ugly ducklings” of Modernism.

Hospitals and healthcare facilities in the New York region provide essential services for the welfare of all—especially during a widespread public health crisis such as the COVID-19 pandemic. These facilities have been on the front lines of this fight, and SUPERSTRUCTURES is proud to count many of them among our major clients for individual projects and term contracts. Our experience working on SUNY Downstate Medical Center’s Health Science Education Center and scores of other New York healthcare facilities gives us the credentials to provide the full range of building envelope care.

It may come as a surprise, but, at the end of the day, SUPERSTRUCTURES isn’t just an A/E firm; we’re also a technology firm. We’ve always been driven to be at the forefront of technology, developing and implementing digital tools to better manage large, complex projects and offer greater value and efficiency to our clients.

Hospitals and healthcare facilities in the New York region provide essential services for the welfare of all—especially during a widespread public health crisis such as the COVID-19 pandemic. These facilities have been on the front lines of this fight, and SUPERSTRUCTURES is proud to count many of them among our major clients for individual projects and term contracts.

On this day in 1919, the U.S. Senate passed a bill giving New York and New Jersey the right to enter into a compact for the joint construction of the Hudson River Tunnel—better known today as the Holland Tunnel. SUPERSTRUCTURES completed a survey of the tunnel to locate and quantify areas of missing or visibly loose wall tile, identifying 4,095 SF of tile in need of replacement.

One of the strengths of SUPERSTRUCTURES’ portfolio is that we’ve worked on the gamut of facades—from historic masonry to turn-of-the-century terra cotta to contemporary curtain wall and glazing systems. Each type of facade comes with its own set of challenges, adding to our arsenal of restoration assembly solutions. Today, architects are innovating with surprising cladding systems and materials. Our question is: How will these experiments perform over time?