Typically by Thanksgiving, we can look back on our CANstruction sculpture competition and know that we have helped to feed our fellow New Yorkers. This year, of course, is different. We cannot build our designs in person, but GMS is still supporting @canstructionny and @CityHarvest online.

CANstruction New York has donated nearly 2 million pounds of food to City Harvest through an annual design/build competition where design professionals compete to design and build giant structures made entirely out of canned foods.  This year because of COVID-19, teams will be competing by fundraising and submitting digital designs of canned food sculptures.

Check back soon to see our digital design, and in the meantime, please donate if you can.

At GMS we are thankful for the continued support of our clients and colleagues, and we look forward to building more structures, facades and canstructions in the future.

Click here to donate.

On Friday, November 6, 2020, GMS Associate Partner Jessica Mandrick, joined several prominent structural engineers to present ASCE 7, Minimum Design Loads and Associated Criteria for Buildings and Other Structures at the National Council of Structural Engineers Associations (NCSEA) Structural Engineering Summit. NCSEA in partnership with its Member Organizations supports practicing structural engineers to be highly qualified professionals and successful leaders.

817 Broadway and Fotografiska are among this year’s Lucy G. Moses Preservation Award winners from the New York Landmarks Conservancy.

Our work at 817 Broadway included the redevelopment of a 14-story newly landmarked building just south of Union Square, measuring approximately 140,000 sf including one subgrade level.  The redevelopment included an upgraded lobby, restored exterior, common roof deck, new windows, and a retail curtain wall on the ground floors. GMS provided structural engineering and special inspection services for the replacement of the retail storefronts and punched windows on all sides of the building, new lobby and freight entrance, new/upgraded elevators, and a newly accessible roof terrace.

Owner: Taconic Investment Partners

Architect: Studios Architecture

Façade Restoration: Loci Architects

Fotografiska and Owner RFR Realty redeveloped the historic building at 281 Park Avenue South, formerly known as the Church Mission House.  An extensive probe program was coordinated with the Client’s Contractor to investigate the existing conditions and the framing connections in order to convert the office floors to retail/gallery use. The six-story, 45,000 sf building was originally built circa 1900 and is landmarked.

GMS also served as the structural engineer for tenant fit-out for the Swedish organization, Fotografiska International, a photography museum with a café, bookstore, restaurant, and event space.

Architect:    Cetra Ruddy

Eugene Kim, GMS Associate Partner, was inducted as the President-Elect for the Structural Engineers Association of New York (SEAoNY) for 2020-2021. The ceremony occurred during SEAoNY’s Annual Meeting, held virtually on September 22, 2020.

The Woolworth Tower Residences won this year’s Excellence in Structural Engineering award from the Structural Engineers Association of New York in the category of Forensic Analysis / Renovation / Retrofit / Rehabilitation of Structures.

The Cantilevered Work Platform at 730 Fifth Avenue won this year’s Excellence in Structural Engineering award from the Structural Engineers Association of New York in the category of Other Structures.

The competing factors governing structural design and dimensioning of reinforced concrete slabs create opportunities for optimizing the cost and performance of reinforced concrete flat-plate slabs. Using a slab prototype from an existing building, this study compares designs using different strengths of reinforcing bars and concrete.

GMS is excited to begin the next phase of the renovations at Yale’s Peabody Museum of Natural History, as they undergo a $200 million renovation starting now!

Centerbrook Architects, Reich + Petch exhibit designers of Toronto, arup providing mep services and Turner Construction round out the team. When work is completed in 2023, the museum will feature 50 percent more gallery space and new lighting, audio-visual and casework systems. The Peabody will have 15,000 square feet of new galleries across three floors, so visitors will be able to view objects from the collections that have never been exhibited before. Display systems will be designed to make it easy to rotate content and provide new exhibits. Our structural engineering includes the design of the building addition as well as the design of new displays and vitrines.

The GMS team includes Gary Steficek, Jessica Mandrick, Alissa Oelsner, Zoe Champion, Christian Vargas, Lizhong Wang and Miryam Varona Rogel. Image courtesy of Centerbrook Architects and Planners.

For more information, https://www.newhavenbiz.com/article/midnight-at-the-museum-yales-peabody-goes-dark-this-spring-for-a-three-year-200-million

Dear Friends and Colleagues,

During this unprecedented and challenging time, we wanted to reach out and share our current plan for the evolving COVID-19 situation, and how we plan to manage going forward.

Our priority is everyone’s safety and well-being as we continue to deliver on our business obligations with professionalism. While our offices in New York, New Jersey and Los Angeles remain open and accessible for essential personnel, we have encouraged our entire staff to work from home as much as possible. We have implemented remote working protocols that will allow our staff to perform their job functions efficiently, enabling GMS as a whole to move our projects forward minimizing disruption.

Additionally, we will cautiously continue to perform field visits and required inspections, until otherwise directed. We know these visits are critical and time-sensitive, and it is our goal to continue to perform these duties with additional precautions and protective measures in place both for our staff as well as our colleagues.

Finally, we intend to keep all meetings with our team and clients as scheduled, utilizing services such as GoTo, WebEx, Zoom and other services in lieu of face-to-face meetings in accordance with Social Distancing recommendations.

We continue to monitor CDC and Government directives constantly and will evaluate our response to this situation on a daily basis. Should anything change in the plan outlined above, we will send a follow-up to this email with further detail.

Working together and with a strong communication plan in place, we believe we can overcome the challenges of these times. If you have any questions or concerns, don’t hesitate to reach out to any of the GMS partners.

Wishing you all good health, and please stay safe.

GMS Team

GMS joins NYCares in their yearly coat drive campaign. This well-known nonprofit collects new and slightly used coats from all over the city and then distributes them to social service agencies, public schools, transitional housing, and more.

Winter temperatures can be extremely low in NYC and at the same time, the number of people in need is on the rise, so we are extending a hand to those who are the most vulnerable – this is the season to give back.

Thank you to all the staff at GMS, as well as their families and friends who have helped us gather 18 coats! These coats will help children, young adults and adults stay warm this season.

#coatdrive #actsofwarmth #nycares