Google’s NYC Office by Interior Architects Has Eye-Catching Features at Every Turn

In view of the High Line park and the Hudson River, Google has a new home. With space split between two Chelsea landmarks, and revamped by Interior Architects, the search engine’s sales team enjoys impressive digs that are nevertheless decidedly understated. The goal here was to play against type by celebrating the low-tech and the local.

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Mexico City, Day 5 – Structural Monitoring and Reconnaissance Review

On Friday, the members of the ATC reconnaissance team reviewed their individual observations. Specific buildings were also identified for ongoing monitoring.<!–more–>

Having reached out to local engineers, building owners and residents, the team received helpful information about the earthquake itself, as well as the consequent building performance. Some residents invited our team members into their apartments to see the damage in person. The 9/19/17 earthquake caused structural damage — damage to buildings — precipitating 44 collapses. Many buildings also experienced non-structural structural damage (i.e. the shaking of contents within the buildings), or damage caused by geotechnical failure.

On this day, Laura Hernandez also assisted University at Buffalo Professor, Andreas Stavridis, with the instrumented inspection and measurement of a damaged building. Prof. Stavridis, member of the ATC team, conducted instrumented investigations of one building each day throughout this reconnaissance trip.

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Mexico City, Day 3 – Teams Investigate Building Damage

On Wednesday, the ATC reconnaissance team sub-groups were rearranged. Ramon and Jennifer’s group visited the Condesa neighborhood in the northern part of the city. Here the team assessed two buildings, one of which suffered some damage, and the other nearly none. Another group, including Laura Hernandez, focused on the southern area of Mexico City where they saw several structures with distinct damage

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Mexico City, Day 2 – Engineers review Seismic Standards and Inspection Procedures

GMS engineers and the other members of the Applied Technology Council (ATC) reconnaissance team arrived in Mexico City and coordinated their plan of action to study the effects of the 9/19/2017 earthquake on building structures. The first morning, they met at the WSP office to organize the reconnaissance for that day. In order to maximize the use of the researchers’ time, the team was divided into three smaller groups. Each went to a different section in the city to evaluate damage.

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Mexico City, Day 1 – Engineers Embark on Post-Earthquake Reconnaissance Mission

GMS engineers departed for Mexico City on Monday to be joined by remaining members of the Applied Technology Council (ATC) reconnaissance team reviewing the aftermath of the 9/19/2017 earthquake. The goal of this reconnaissance mission is to perform detailed assessments of reinforced concrete structures with all levels of damage. The reconnaissance will focus on identifying the likely cause of collapse in concrete buildings that performed poorly, and the likely cause of good performance in non-collapsed buildings in the immediate vicinity.

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GMS Engineers on ATC Reconnaissance Team Deployed to Assess Mexico City Aftermath

Mexico is one of the world’s most seismically active regions, sitting atop several intersecting tectonic plates. On September 19, 2017, a magnitude 7.1 earthquake hit the Greater Mexico City area killing 370 people and collapsing 40 buildings. The quake occurred on the 32nd anniversary of the 1985 Mexico City earthquake, which killed around 10,000 people. The 1985 quake was commemorated, and a national earthquake drill was held, at 11 a.m. local time, just two hours before the 2017 earthquake. Twelve days earlier, the even larger 2017 Chiapas earthquake struck 400 miles away, off the coast of the state of Chiapas.

In support of ongoing U.S. Government-funded research and development projects in earthquake engineering, the Applied Technology Council (ATC) Endowment Fund is sponsoring a team of experts to investigate the performance of buildings in Mexico City following the event.

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White & Case Featured in Interior Design

GMS provided structural engineering services for this 440,000 SF interior renovation and re-stack of 9 floors in the McGraw-Hill Building at 1221 Avenue of the Americas. Project included structural modifications and reinforcement for a monumental stairway, health club, full service kitchen and dining area, UPS and data center, as well as roof dunnage and shaft openings for new HVAC equipment.

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529 Broadway Featured in the New York Times

This new 6-story commercial building in the SoHo Cast Iron Historic District replaces a two-story taxpayer building. The new steel framed structure, designed by BKSK Architects, features a terra cotta rain screen and glass curtain wall facade system that transitions along the building perimeter from punched windows representative of an earlier masonry era, to a more open open frame emblematic of SoHo’s later cast-iron era. The entire 52,000 square foot building is leased by Nike. According to the New York Times, “design fans should soon be recognizing it as one of the most exciting and intelligent structures to be built for decades, anywhere.”

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