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?

Fans of “The Office” may recall Dunder Mifflin’s ironic tagline: “Limitless paper in a paperless world.” Like many firms, SUPERSTRUCTURES became accustomed to collecting a lot of paper, helping to keep the Dunder Mifflins of the world in business. But the pandemic and our upcoming move to 14 Wall Street has encouraged new thinking when it comes to the accumulation of drawings and records.

This overly literal dog owner makes a good point: Words alone leave room for misunderstanding. A drawing, on the other hand, could make the same point without ambiguity. In our business, misinterpreting specs in narrative form can cause costly mistakes and delays. That’s why we developed our RAD (Restoration Assembly Detail) tag system and draw every detail to be employed on a project.

SUPERSTRUCTURES is proud to have been selected by the United States General Services Administration (GSA) to perform Architect-Engineer services for water infiltration remediation at the Alexander Hamilton U.S. Custom House, a National Historic Landmark designed by Cass Gilbert.

SUPERSTRUCTURES is excited to continue this third season of the Frost Jacking Day Tracker. "Frost jacking" is what happens when freezing temperatures cause rain or snow to turn to ice and expand cracks in a facade. As cycles of freezing and thawing accumulate, the cracks continue to grow and exterior hazardous conditions or interior water damage or leaks can occur.

SUPERSTRUCTURES’ restoration of 151 East 25th Street—Baruch College’s Newman Library—helped preserve J. William Schickel’s 1894 facade for generations to come and the building has an intriguing backstory.

As discussed in this series of posts thus far, many of SUPERSTRUCTURES’ roof projects in New York City are flat roof restorations that hinge on designing the right type of membrane. But we’re also adept at restoring pitched roofs covered with standing-seam metal or slate shingles. A good example of the latter is our project for the Jewish Theological Seminary building (Gehron, Ross & Alley Architects, 1929, with later addition). It required a seasoned sensitivity to matching materials and precision in replicating copper components.

On this day in 1831, New York University (NYU) received its charter from the New York State Legislature and was incorporated as the University of the City of New York. Now a world-class institution with many notable alumni, NYU’s main campus in Manhattan comprises more than 5 million square feet of space in buildings dating from 1835 to today. SUPERSTRUCTURES has a long-standing relationship with the University, executing several projects since our first in 1996.