Technical Services

The moment a building is completed, it starts to deteriorate.  Then what?

For those who like spy stories, this specialty is about clues often hidden in a building’s infrastructure.  Soon after Helpern Architects began, owners of existing buildings asked for help with their underperforming building systems and technologies.  I grouped our most technically-oriented architects into Helpern Technical Services [HTS] and set them to solve problems.

To protect your investment, HTS can audit for compliance with ADA, LL10, or Public Assembly requirements; find asbestos and mold, or the source of a leak; scope out masonry or roof failures; or anticipate climate damage – and then devise the remedy.

Similarly, HTS has served as executive architect, where the design architect doesn’t have the right staff to produce drawings and monitor construction, and as owner’s representative, tenant reviewer, or “second pair of eyes” for maintenance issues.

Con Edison has relied on our expertise for four decades of building inspections and repairs for roofs, walls, windows, and empty facilities.  Repairing the amazing, century-old domes of Columbia’s Low Library and City Center are other great examples.  I personally regularly advise attorneys in their legal cases involving zoning or construction.

We also proved that where there’s a will, a public project that might have taken years can take only a few months.  Do read the case study of how we created a temporary campus from scratch – in four months! – for the Borough of Manhattan Community College [BMCC], a brick-and-mortar victim of the 9/11 attack. We were called “Trailer Heroes.”

David Paul Helpern, FAIA