GHSC - Key Persons

Job Titles:

• PARTNER, SENIOR TECHNICAL CONSULTANT

Michael Snyder came to Gordon H. Smith Corporation in 1985, after spending the previous 9 years with Trio Industries and Heritage Architectural Metals as a curtain wall designer. After an additional 35+ years with the Gordon H. Smith Corporation, Mr. Snyder brings in-depth technical and design skills related to the building envelope to bear on each of his project assignments. His consulting services are based upon actual hands-on design, manufacturing and installation experience with problem solving skills developed in the field. Mr. Snyder's tenure at GHSC has enabled him to facilitate façade design concept development along with architects and structural engineers as the building enclosure professional. Mr. Snyder's input is valued for vetting concepts with an emphasis on identifying and documenting system performance criteria. While maintaining aesthetics, he assists in developing a project specific specification for façades prioritizing system; constructability, performance, durability and future maintenance avoiding the hazard of boiler plate specifications. Mike is instrumental in the early development of a project specific "Design Assist" project delivery process that is now widely used in the industry. He is a highly specialized and experienced team member in proactive shop drawing review, leading the resolution of design challenges and understanding difficult system interfaces. Mr. Snyder's observation of nearly one hundred performance mock-up installations and testing protocols has honed his approach to quality assurance observation reporting, shop/field inspection and understanding façade design flaws and diagnostics. His experience in state-of-the-art building envelope consulting services for upgrading existing buildings and new construction include: curtain walls, window walls, point supported glass systems, precast concrete panels, dual skin façades, rain-screen panel façades, recladding and overcladding existing installations, skylights and waterproofing, all while addressing today's more stringent energy conservation requirements. Mr. Snyder's involvement in many projects as the GHSC primary façade consultant include: the New Balance Headquarters Campus with four new buildings including the Bruins and Celtics Practice Facilities in Brighton, MA; Liberty Mutual Headquarters, three residential towers at Seaport Echelon in Boston, MA; Brooklyn Federal Courthouse, 10 Hudson Yards (Building C), the Moynihan Station skylight enclosure in New York, NY; John Edward Porter Neurosciences Research Center of NIH in Bethesda, MD; Mickey Leland US Federal office building in Houston, TX to name a few. Mr. Snyder was the primary GHSC façade consultant in the development of the specialized, complex, shingled façade of several wall types for the 52-story tower 10 Hudson Yards (Tower C). The first building in the massive New York City Hudson Yards Development by Related Properties. GHSC continued the façade consulting through the Design Assist process with the exterior wall contractor. With an eye on the operational maintenance of such a stylized façade, consulting services included incorporating the building maintenance scaffold guide tracks into the shingled vertical mullion construction. This allowed the continued, safe maintenance of the building exterior. Liberty Mutual Insurance Company trusted GHSC as façade consultant on their New Corporate Headquarters in Boston, MA. The design challenge was to build a new headquarters in harmony with the existing one. To create texture, the façade consisted of elegant limestone clad precast concrete panels and punched windows. A unique all glass bridge linked the existing headquarters to the new one. The bridge was suspended on catenary cables from each end and enclosed with point supported glass. As the GHSC primary façade consultant Mr. Snyder was responsible for façade design review, shop drawing review, monitoring of performance mock-ups and field inspection. At the Beaux-Arts James A. Farley Post Office conversion to the Daniel Patrick Moynihan Train Hall, Mr. Snyder was the GHSC enclosure consultant working with Gordon H. Smith, the architect, construction manager and manufacturer during procurement, design development, performance mock-up testing and installation quality assurance. Mr. Snyder supervised the inspection staff charged with quality assurance inspection services and witnessing field water testing. The project included removing the post offices gabled skylight and transforming those areas with the installation of a massive contemporary freeform skylight for the train hall. The New York City Landmarks Conservancy awarded its Lucy G. Moses Preservation Project Award to the Moynihan Train Hall and recognized Gordon H. Smith Corp for its contribution to the project. At the New Balance Headquarters Campus which includes the New Balance corporate headquarters, the Boston Bruins Hockey practice rink and office building, the Boston Celtic practice facility and state of art Sports Track and Field Facility, Mr. Snyder engaged in an eight plus year multiple building consultancy. Each project was unique and Mr. Snyder provided consulting services for the design development, procurement, shop drawing review, observation of performance mock-up installation and testing, jobsite installation and field testing of the façade systems.

Job Titles:

• PARTNER, SENIOR TECHNICAL CONSULTANT

Mitchell Stein has worked on a host of challenging projects that have helped owners, developers and architects realize their visions in new construction or recladding projects and restore performance to problem or deficient façades to reclaim functional buildings. When he came to GHSC over 36 years ago, Mitchell Stein was already a 20-year veteran of the building enclosure and skylight industry, having worked as an engineer at Lupton Manufacturing Company, Tube Lite, SWS Industries and Ampat Eastern Corporation. In the years since his joining GHSC he has participated in the design, specification preparation, shop drawing review, observation of mock-up assembly and testing, construction quality assurance observation and field inspection of such diverse projects as; Moscone Center in San Francisco, CA, Los Angeles Convention Center & Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, CA, South Campus of Children's Hospital, Liberty One and Liberty Two in Philadelphia, PA, Cooper Union Engineering Building, 56 Leonard St., Lever House, Times Square Tower, 5 Times Square, 250 West 55th St. and Barnard College in New York, NY, 50 + 60 Binney St. and Draper Laboratory in Cambridge, MA, University of Massachusetts Albert Sherman Center in Worcester, MA, The Point in Boston, MA, the Corning Houghton Park Campus in Corning, NY, 100 College St. in New Haven, CT and the Nelson Atkins Museum in Kansas City, MO. Known for his creative problem solving and extraordinarily fine understanding of enclosure systems fabrication, assembly and sealing, Mitchell Stein has performed forensic investigation on exterior facades that have had problems with water infiltration, excessive air infiltration, condensation, structural deficiencies, as well as fire damage. At Draper Laboratory, Mitchell was instrumental in the development, application and rigorous testing of the visionless glass snow guard assembly applied to a multi-faceted skylight system. In addition to rigorous performance mock-up testing, the skylight frames with the visionless glass snow guard assembly was tested in a "Cold Room" laboratory to observe the collection and accumulation of snow and ice and to observe their performance during the melting process. At the Lever House, for which the Gordon H. Smith Corporation was honored with the Lucy G. Moses Award for Preservation by the New York Landmarks Conservancy, Mr. Stein examined the condition of the stainless steel, glass and carbon steel frame components of the curtain wall. He assisted in the design of a new concealed aluminum glazing system, specifications development and provided quality assurance observation for the re-cladding. The award was presented for preservation of the building's aesthetics while updating its performance. For the Cooper Union Academic Building Mitchell Stein assisted in the development of a double skin wall system, where the inner wall was a barrier wall system and the outer wall was a unitized framing system with decorative perforated stainless steel panels. The pattern cut stainless steel panels consisted of different sizes, shapes and challenging out of plane panel assemblies, along with operable stainless-steel panels to control light entering into the building. In addition to observations of performance mock-up assembly and testing, the decorative perforated stainless steel panels were tested in a "Cold Room" laboratory to observe the collection of accumulated snow, ice and the process of melting snow. At the Nelson Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, Mr. Stein developed the perimeter framing system to support the channel glass planks for both single span and twin span planks. He was involved in the performance of mock-up testing to ensure the channel glass system could accommodate vertical inter-story and differential movement and lateral drift. Mr. Stein participated in the analysis and testing of ballistic impact on the channel glass units. He collaborated with the MEP professionals in the closely coordinated design and installation of the unique translucent exterior skin to manage the effects of interior humidity and potential condensation.