Actually, SAFE. This “zipper” installation in Milan by British artist, Alex Chinneck and SITE’s postmodern facades for Best Products have been engineered to appear to be failing on a monumental scale. SUPERSTRUCTURES’ practice, on the other hand, focuses on restoring facades and the structure that supports them.

Here’s a haunting challenge: Can you check all the boxes containing gargoyles? Actually, it’s a trick (or treat) question…First, you’d need to know what makes a gargoyle a gargoyle.

Recently, the Alexander Hamilton US Custom House saw its first pour of self-consolidating concrete (SCC). The century-old masonry apron in the building’s subcellar is being restored with the application of new waterproofing, as part of a $55 million restoration of the landmark building.

A handy mantra for anyone facing a FISP* filing is “Fix, then file.” In other words: if you attend to the condition of your building’s envelope regularly, then periodic filing of a FISP report becomes a formality—rather than a rude awakening.

According to Polonius in Shakespeare’s Hamlet, “brevity is the soul of wit.” It’s also a virtue in the practice of exterior restoration. Avoiding jargon and using straightforward, concise language—plain English—is a best practice when writing reports and specifications.

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.

SUPERSTRUCTURES is familiar with this 748-unit cooperative complex—and not just from our recent work to restore the envelopes of its six buildings. Our two founding principals toured the complex under construction when they were architecture students at Cooper Union.

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.

Do you have the particular set of skills we’re looking for? They include the ability to craft construction documents (drawings and specifications) that are correct, complete, clear, concise, and consistent.

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.