The Fitzgerald Gym is Queens College’s signature athletic facility built in 1958. SUPERSTRUCTURES has conducted multiple restoration projects to make the building safe and welcoming to students and staff. Having previously replaced the gym's roof, we're currently conducting a restoration of the building’s facade.

Our prior “strategery” post was based on a term concocted for an SNL skit spoofing Geroge W Bush’s debate performance in 2000. But “misunderestimate” was a word Bush actually spoke during the campaign. It’s also a useful concept in the practice of exterior restoration.

Our principal’s rescue dog, Shira is a “genius dog” and an exemplar of the practice of continuous improvement—a quality that’s inspiring to SUPERSTRUCTURES’ work. This is our second Shira post because she’s celebrating a milestone: identifying 200 different toys through her daily dedication to continuous improvement.

SUPERSTSRUCTURES’ work includes the restoration of masonry, stone, concrete, terra cotta, steel, and numerous other materials. But you could say (conceptually at least) that paper is primary to our practice. Why? Because successful restoration projects address all restoration issues systematically, on paper (or in pixels), before a contractor begins work on the building.

Strategery isn't a word you’ll find in Webster’s,* but it could be a new term for our process of keeping a restoration project—and clients’ interests—ahead of the curve. Exterior restoration considerations go beyond analysis, design, and execution of remedial measures—from strategy to…strategery, if you will.

A mother sends her son to deliver a complaint to the baker: “Mom says there’s a fly in the raisin bread!” Eventually, unable to ignore the boy, the baker looks up and says, “Fine. Bring me the fly and I’ll give you a raisin.” It’s a classic joke, but there are two professional lessons here...

Thirty years ago, a contractor said, “Don’t worry. If you find 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 and for providing your own quality control.”

In our practice, we meticulously match masonry—brick, stone, or terra cotta—to that of an existing facade. Why? In many cases, the repair is only seen by the birds. Well, it matters to us that a masonry repair high on a facade is just as successful as a more prominent one on the ground floor. Just because it’s out of sight doesn’t mean it’s out of mind for us and, often, the building owner.

Medical schools advise students, “When you see hoof prints, think horses, not zebras”—meaning that a physician 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.

Last week, our team gathered for a lunchtime status report and demo of SUPERSTRUCTURES’ drone-based “reality capture." Since our founding, we’ve dreamed of photographically capturing a building’s facade, creating a “digital twin,” and bringing it back to the office for inspection, analysis, and formulation of a restoration strategy. That dream is becoming a reality thanks to the advent of advanced drones.