Case Studies Engineering

Robotics has revolutionized manufacturing, and companies say the trend will continue. For contractors serving those manufacturers, it’s a case of get on board or be left behind. Jeremy Abbott’s electrical contracting business has chosen the former approach. DECO has a long history of partnering with Boeing Commercial Airplanes and the companies that supply Boeing’s Washington-based […]

When Mike McGrath is on a plane, he’ll flip through the inflight magazine. Inevitably, once or twice a year he spots a project MG McGrath Inc. has worked on. “Thankfully, a lot of the work we do ends up being iconic for various cities,” Mike says. It’s not uncommon for MG McGrath projects, like the […]

Russ Ellington remembers installing his first set of flood panels. It was 2013, and a post-Hurricane Sandy and Katrina world. The U.S. government, in response to the hurricanes, required larger geographic areas to have flood protection in order to be federally insured, and general contractors and engineers were scrambling to include such protection for buildings. […]

Science and art meld when Mid-Am Metal Forming Inc. undertakes a project, an example being when the Missouri-based metal-bending specialists were contracted to top off the Milwaukee Art Museum’s vast reception hall in 2001. In designing his first U.S. building, as well as his first museum anywhere, the esteemed Spanish architect and structural engineer, Santiago […]

Institutional clients like schools and healthcare providers are increasingly willing to invest long term, both with the incorporation of renewable energy and sustainable design. That makes them ideal clients for architecture firms like NK Architects. NK Architects is a full-service architecture, interior design, planning and structural engineering firm based in Morristown, New Jersey. It works […]

Originally the nation’s first public high school for African-Americans, Dunbar High School in Washington, D.C., had fallen into such disrepair that in 2011, the district opted not to renovate but to raze and rebuild. “A dark, dingy and nearly windowless high-rise,” the Washington Post deemed it. Its principal likened it to a prison. Its replacement […]

In psychology, there is a German term, “gestalt,” that has no direct translation. It refers to the idea that, often, objects or systems are perceived as greater than the sum of their parts—for instance, an image made from paint strokes isn’t just a blob of many colors, it’s a portrait. Urban infrastructure has long been […]

While pursuing industrial engineering at Rutgers University, William Amann worked for a mechanical contractor and couldn’t believe how little attention was paid to energy. In one instance, he found a huge two-inch gap between the walls and roof that went completely around a large commercial building. But it wasn’t until March 28, 1979, when the […]

The developer of Spaulding Green, a 400-acre housing community in Clarence, New York, realized target buyers preferred homes built into hillsides with walk-out basements. The land being developed was essentially flat, though. To make the walk-out basements possible, Greenman-Pedersen Inc. (GPI) got creative and turned flat land into varied terrain with ponds, hills and elevated […]

Apple Tree Contractors fills a tough niche in the construction industry—it handles the hard stuff. Specifically, it takes many projects where building and zoning code compliance are called into question and then works with officials to resolve them. “It’s a double-edged sword,” jokes Chad Simpson, project manager and corporate secretary. “On one hand, it’s great […]