My article on the 70-story Frank Gehry-designed Beekman Tower, with its creased and folded curtain wall, has generated some buzz and at least one or two "fan" letters. I have been encouraged to post these on my blog and am doing so to express my appreciation for the feedback and to ask for more. Letters like these validate what we try to do at ENR. It is good to know when we succeed at our jobs. It is also good to hear what we can do to improve ENR.
 
It has been my ambition since I began writing for ENR more than 30 years ago to present articles that inform, inspire, motivate, intrigue and air the issues affecting design and construction. We send articles out into the world, often without getting the kind of feedback we need to improve ENR content.

So, how am I doing? What are the issues you would like to read more about? What types of project stories do you find most beneficial?

My next planned special report is on integrated project delivery--the good, the bad and the risky! I will soon be posting questions on my blog, and asking for input for the report via e-mail to nadine_post@mcgraw-hill.com. (My first special report that used ENR.com as a reporting tool was "Botched Plans," mentioned in one of the letters below. That was in the year 2000.) 

I invite you to chime in about integrated project delivery and about ENR buildings coverage in general, as did the two readers whose letters are posted below:


"Nice job on the Gehry apartment building article. As soon as I started to read it, I thought it had to be your writing.
You may be interested that I discussed your article today in a blog post at ConstructionKnowledge.net. 
 
All the best.
 
Thanks,
 
Ned Pelger, P.E.
Pelger Engineering and Construction Inc.
Lititz, PA"    

Here's the portion of the ConstructonKnowledge.net blog post, referred to by Pelger:
"...Something that is good, though, is the cover story in ENR about an innovative apartment building now being constructed in Manhattan. Designed by architect Frank Gehry (think the curvy metal of the Disney Theater in LA or the Guggenheim Museum in Spain), this 70 story building is on time and budget. Nadine Post writes yet another wonderful article outlining how the various players work together to design and build this complex project. She also makes the astute observation that the cooperative design-build team kept much of the project simple (to control cost) and only added the curves and complexity where it showed."


Here is another letter that came in soon after the Beekman Tower piece:

"Ms. Post,
 
I have been a practicing structural engineer for almost 30 years, and I started reading ENR while I was still in college. I don’t know at what point I became aware that the articles in ENR that I enjoyed most were the ones that were written by you.  I find that you are able to take sometimes complicated subjects and describe them in terms that non-engineers can understand.
 
You seem to have an affinity for building construction and the issues the building team faces on each and every project. While there are frustrations and disasters in building projects, your stories most often single out and illuminate those aspects of building projects that challenge, inspire and motivate us every day.  I have kept a copy of your article, “No Stamp of Approval on Building Plans” (ENR, May 1, 2000) in my desk drawer since the day I read it, and I require every new engineer and drafter who comes to work here to read it.
 
I can’t tell you what prompted this email, today, but I can tell you that I hope that you will keep doing what you do so well for as long as you can.
 
Good luck, and keep writing!
 
W. Gray Hodge
Principal
HODGE Structural Engineers
Evansville, Ind."

Thanks, Ned and Gray. And to everyone else: Please drop me a note below or a line at  nadine_post@mcgraw-hill.com.

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