Facades of béton brut (raw concrete) were a signature element of Brutalism. Take for example Marcel Breuer & Associates’ buildings for Bronx Community College, including Colston Hall. The downside of such distinctive envelopes is that their cast-in-place concrete is constantly under assault from the elements. To reverse the deterioration, SUPERSTRUCTURES is conducting a restoration of Breuer’s 1961 dormitory.

From the Bronx to the Battery, SUPERSTRUCTURES helps restore the backbone of New York City’s five boroughs. But for those outside NYC (and even some residents), the names of the boroughs can be a bit bewildering.

When our Principal, Paul and his wife adopted their dog, Shira from a New Jersey shelter, they were delighted to give her a “forever home.” But they didn’t realize they had a genius in the family. The relevance to our practice? Read on.

Time and the elements were doing an injustice to the Tweed Courthouse (aka the Old New York County Courthouse) at 52 Chambers Street. The masonry of its rotunda was suffering from water infiltration and deterioration. Our solution was to design a seamless restoration of this stately Civic Center interior.

Engineering News-Record (ENR) New York has listed SUPERSTRUCTURES first among professional firms in the region specializing in exterior restoration. Sheer volume of projects isn’t necessarily a measure of proficiency. But in our case, we’d like to think it is.

Thirty years ago, a contractor said, “Don’t worry. If you find anything amiss on this project, anything not done according to spec, you can call me any time. Here’s my cell phone number.” We replied, “Thanks, we’ll take the number, but don’t want to have to use it. You’re responsible for executing the project in accordance with the drawings and specs. We’ve done our best to make them clear and correct; it’s your responsibility to follow them and provide your own quality control…”

Medical school students are taught “when you see hoof prints, think horses, not zebras,” meaning that a doctor should first think about the more common—and potentially more likely—diagnosis. In our field of exterior restoration, there’s a crucial caveat: sometimes it is zebras. We’ve found that some conditions require our experts to look beyond the obvious.

“Closed” source versus “open” source systems can be traced back to the Roman Empire (at least). In ill-fated Pompeii, well-preserved chariot tracks demonstrate a closed-source approach. The gauge of the tracks was a standard which—as the tour guides will tell you—forced visitors to the city to rent a custom chariot to fit the tracks.

In honor of Earth Day, this post is 90% recycled (from 2022) and 10% reduced. And SUPERSTRUCTURES subscribes to the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s position that “the greenest building is one already built.”

Tuesday’s collapse of a parking garage on Ann Street (not far from our office) was a tragedy that underscores the importance of proactive maintenance and compliance with New York City’s Local Law 126.