Buildings do not always perform as expected, says Stephen E. Selkowitz, senior adviser for building science at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.
During a 2010 preconstruction meeting with the owner-developer of Seattle's super-sustainable Bullitt Center, the 50,000-sq-ft project's consulting engineer had a minor meltdown over electric-plug loads—the silent killer of green-building power conservation.
ENR McGovern (left) and Lehrer achieved renown for leading the restoration of the Statue of Liberty, pictured here in a 1984 ENR cover profile. Related Links: Pavarini McGovern Lehrer LLC Eugene McGovern, co-founder of Lehrer/McGovern Inc., died suddenly on Jan. 22. He would have turned 73 on Jan. 29.McGovern, a construction consultant based in Boca Raton, Fla., and Cody, Wyo., started his career at construction giant Morse/Diesel Inc.While there, he met Peter M. Lehrer. In 1979, the two formed Lehrer/McGovern. The firm was catapulted into the limelight after it landed the high-profile centennial restoration of the Statue of Liberty, which
"FLEXLAB came out of 25 years of trying to figure out how things work in the real world," says Selkowitz, leader of the windows and envelope materials group and senior adviser for building science with the U.S. Dept. of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL).
ENR Gene McGovern (left) rose to prominence when his construction management firm Lehrer/McGovern, started with Peter M. Lehrer (right), won the contract for the centennial restoration of the Statue of Liberty. ENR put the partners on the cover of the Sept. 6, 1984, issue. The two stood on the scaffold of the statue for the cover shot. Gene McGovern, co-founder of Lehrer/McGovern Inc., died on Jan. 22. He would have turned 73 on Jan. 29.McGovern, at his death a construction consultant based in Boca Raton, Fla., started his career at construction giant Morse/Diesel Inc., where he met Peter M. Lehrer.
Johannes de Jong just about went berserk when he heard his company, elevator-maker KONE Corp., had pulled the plug on research into ultra-lightweight carbon-fiber hoisting rope, which de Jong thought could be the biggest advance in elevators since Elisha Otis introduced the safety brake in 1853.
"Grueling ... terribly complicated ... demanding ... a burn-out kind of project." Michael Adlerstein, leader of the $2.1-billion renovation of the 17-acre United Nations headquarters in Manhattan, minces no words when describing the 2.5-million-sq-ft multi-building overhaul, headed for completion this summer after six years of reconstruction within an active U.N. campus.
