2. Connections
CONNECTIONS:
[kuh-nek-shuh nz]
Trends
Markets
Opportunities
Expanding Market Opportunities in China:
A Dispatch from Syska Hennessy, China
Growing Resources and Opportunities in
the Central United States
2
4
Aviation and Big Data
Our Client’s Voice: A Conversation with
Andy Cohen, FAIA and Gary Brennen, PE
Introducing SENSE: The Syska Employee
Network of Support and Education
Engineer Development Training: Bridging
the Gap Between School and Career
6
10
16
18
C Spire Data Center
Uptime Certified Tier IV Design
Trading Floor Master Planning
Innovation in Aviation: LAX Tom Bradley West
International Terminal
Lessons Learned: Islanding Hospitals During
Catastrophic Events
Did you Know? Aviation by the Numbers
21
20
22
24
8
1. the act or state of joining,
linking or uniting
2. the state of establishing
communication,
making contact
3. creating a link or bond: an
electrical connection.
3. iv CONNECTIONS 1
Cyrus J. Izzo, PE (left)
Gary A. Brennen, PE,
LEED AP (right)
ability to deploy strategically, bringing globally
benchmarked expertise to projects in all geographies.
Another critical ingredient to building that bench of talent
and knowledge is the strategy of creating new talent from
the ground up by identifying recent graduates, committing
to help them realize their potential and train them to the
level of professional excellence that our legacy demands.
We share that vision in our Engineer Development Training
(EDT) story, explaining the transaction of commitment with
training and access for recent college graduates.
Reinvention: The alchemy created from blending talent
and understanding into new expertise and mastery is
the process of reinvention. Our client’s voice, this issue,
features Andy Cohen, FAIA, Co-CEO of Gensler, as he
shares their process for envisioning and creating new
markets and design studios to address possibilities and
relationships with their clients.
In these pages we share with you some of the strategies
that build successful collaborations with our clients: where
we collectively harness the power of reinvention, make
informed decisions about investment and deploy resources
when and where opportunity is most abundant. There are
great opportunities for those willing to embrace the process
of reinvention and create a greater, more viable future.
W
e find ourselves in a global marketplace that
is filled with dynamic shifts and enormous
potential that both challenge and inspire us.
As with every new endeavor, there are learning curves
to navigate, along with the possibility of great rewards.
Success lies squarely within our ability to anticipate,
strategize, and adapt to change with close attention to
performance and results every step of the way.
Trends: Identifying trends that illuminate the path ahead
allows us to prepare for, and seize, opportunities for our
clients. For example, it is not enough to have created
the capacity for collecting big data, it then becomes our
responsibility to leverage it to refine and retool the built
environment across a broad spectrum of the industry:
from aviation hubs and data centers to healthcare
facilities. A revitalized global economy beginning to surge
ahead refocuses our attention on vital resources, such
as water and energy, and how they play a major role in
the social, economic and political vitality of regions. That
makes it more important than ever to reinvent mission-
critical functions, create flexible telecommunications
infrastructure and deploy contingency planning for
healthcare facilities.
Investment: Smart investment means building and
mobilizing a team of professional experts, creating and
nurturing a culture of investment in their professional
growth, and expanding genuine collaboration and cross-
pollination of ideas and expertise across the firm. Our
firm’s Syska Employee Network of Support Education
(SENSE) program does exactly that; founded on bedrock
values of innovation and engagement, it builds in the
Messagefromour
Co-Presidents
Cyrus J. Izzo, PE
Co-President
Gary A. Brennen, PE
Co-President
REINVENTION:
[re·in·vent] verb
1. to make major changes or
improvements to (something)
2. to present (something) in a
different or new way
/ Message from our Co-Presidents
4. 2 CONNECTIONS 3
Expanding Market
Opportunities in China:
A Dispatch from
Syska Hennessy,
China
Ing Lim,
Senior Vice
President
“As more Chinese families access wealth and resettle in
urban hubs, there is an increased need for transportation
facilities, especially in the aviation sector,” Ing said. The in-
creased wealth has driven a demand for more sophisticated
spaces. “Clients are now interested in space flexibility, sus-
tainability, and expandability for their growth in the future.”
With more disposable income and a newly discovered taste
for international consumer goods, mixed-use development
and high-end retail have popped up to serve fast-growing
population centers. There is also a demand for high-tech
healthcare facilities to serve the growing affluent population
of China who expect world-class medical care.
The demographic shifts are also putting pressure on the
region’s technology infrastructure. As the population’s
engagement with the online environment grows exponen-
tially, there is a critical need for expanding mission critical
facilities and data centers, as well.
Syska Hennessy, Shanghai has answered the increased
demand of these growing markets, combining an
internationally recognized technical depth with an intimate
knowledge of local building codes and standards. Today,
the Shanghai team is known for applying the latest energy
modeling and simulation tools to drive world-class design
solutions. With a rapidly expanding office of almost
40 professionals, Syska Hennessy’s Shanghai office is
positioned as a hub for the Asia Pacific region, ready to lead
the way.
On the horizon, we see the enormous
impact of energy and capital reserves
on the national and global economies.
China’s population is on the move, both economically and physically,
driving major changes across the entire Asia-Pacific region. In such a
rapidly shifting landscape, what are the implications for the engineering,
construction, technology sector? We caught up with Ing Lim, the head
of Syska Hennessy’s Shanghai office, to find out.
/ Expanding Market Opportunities in China
5. 4 CONNECTIONS 5
Sustainability and Technology
According to Syska Hennessy Vice President Bob
Stickney, the central region has seen “major growth in
the commercial and corporate markets, with many
Fortune 5000 companies relocating or expanding their
presence here.” Along with the economic growth, Bob
has noted a parallel interest in sustainability. “Our
clients continue to look for ways to become more energy
efficient, helping the environment and lowering energy
usage — a win/win scenario,” he says.
Vice President Joseph O’Sullivan agrees. In addition to
sustainability, he notes a surge in technology-focused,
growing firms. “In particular, the Chicago market is
emerging as a technology center, with lots of startups
becoming large companies very fast,” he says. “These
companies have growing needs and a different way
of working from traditional companies.”
In the Midwest’s new, diverse marketplace, forward-
leaning organizations are looking to partner with
engineering firms that can help make future growth and
sustainable development a reality. Expanding service
offerings to meet demand in the region, Syska Hennessy
is positioned to help these clients with continued asset
development. Today, the firm offers an elevated level
of expertise and consulting in the following areas:
ICT (Information, Communications, and Technology);
security; vertical transportation; healthcare; commercial
real estate; and BIM (building information modeling).
Keeping Pace with Change
Syska Hennessy will continue to invest in additional
resources and opportunities in the central region,
including pioneering innovative technologies for smart,
energy-efficient, flexible spaces. With the
economy of the central region expected
to expand even more in coming years,
Syska Hennessy is committed to investing
in its future.
Today, Midwestern companies seek
a more sophisticated and complex
level of expertise and consulting,
with a focus on sustainable and
healthy buildings, flexible space, and
technology.
Thanks to a recent surge in energy production and distribution,
the economy of the U.S. central region has skyrocketed, causing
a ripple effect into new sectors such as healthcare, technology,
and green energy. As clients respond to these opportunities, they
seek a more sophisticated and complex level of expertise and
consulting, with a focus on sustainable and healthy buildings,
flexible space, and technology.
GROWING RESOURCES
OPPORTUNITIES IN THE CENTRAL
UNITED STATES
/ Growing Resources Opportunities in the Central United States
6. 6 CONNECTIONS 7
F
orecasts point to continued
explosive growth in passenger
traffic, with an annual 5%
increase over the next 20 years.
By 2017, 3.9B passengers will pass
through airports every year, with
the greatest increase in the Asia
Pacific region.
Increasingly, airport operations on
both the landside and the airside are
highly dependent on big data. On
the landside, airports must be able
to handle the logistics of moving
passengers through check-in, security,
departure gates and, finally, onto
their planes. On top of passenger
and security concerns, there are the
airside operations: monitoring flights,
maintaining aircraft mechanical and
safety procedures, and tracking airline
crew schedules, weather conditions,
and more. The ability to deftly
handle all of this activity, monitoring
conditions and responding in real
time, is imperative.
On top of the growing volume of
passenger traffic, recent economic
pressure in the aviation sector has
made all of this activity more intense.
Globally, the aviation industry has
experienced carrier consolidation,
increased passenger density on
flights, and expediting aircraft
turnaround. In this environment, it is
more critical than ever that airports
are equipped to deploy jets and
crews, accommodate ever-changing
conditions around gate capacity and
ground crew, and respond to myriad
factors that impact and improve
airline performance metrics.
To answer these challenges,
airline operations rely on big data,
using complex algorithms to track
thousands of datasets, powering
the predictive models that help the
complex decision-making process.
Infrastructure critical to continuity
in aviation operations—the ability
to migrate datasets from a broad
range of sources to reside on a
robust common platform, to create
a common language for data input,
and to establish reliable systems
uptime—will require diligent planning
and implementation. Clearly these
data sets will profoundly impact the
built environment in ways that have
yet to become clear, but everyone in
the aviation marketplace is closely
tracking this trend to retain vitality in
a changing space.
The aviation industry is a competitive
one, with many critical factors
involved beyond the passenger
experience that is necessarily front-
and-center. In order for travelers,
crewmembers, and employees to
experience airports as a safe, healthy,
and positive environment, effective
and powerful management of big data
will continue to be essential—now
and into the future.
Each day, more than 1.7M travelers pass through
airports, making their way to destinations around
the world. They embark on over 50,000 aircraft,
transport untold amounts of luggage, and navigate
through security checkpoints in more than 1,520
commercial airports. And those numbers are only
going to increase.
Each day:
More than 1.7M
travelers travel
on aircraft
More than
50,000 aircraft
are in use
More than 1,520
commercial
airports in use
Aviation
and
Big Data 1.7M
travelers
1,520
airports
50K
aircraft
/ Aviation and Big Data
7. CONNECTIONS8
China 1.3 B
U.S. 319 M
Japan 128 M
Germany 82 M
U.K. 64 M
Italy 97 M
Spain 47 M
UAE 9.2 M
Hong Kong 7.2 M
Profits per passenger per flight
1. http://www.datanami.com/2014/01/03/how_big_data_helps_airline_profitability/
http://www.bloomberg.com/visual-data/industries/q/market-leaders
2. http://www.datanami.com/2014/01/03/how_big_data_helps_airline_profitability/
3. http://www.iata.org/publications/Documents/Example_Top_10_Projected_Markets_2016.pdf
4. http://www.cnn.com/2014/06/03/travel/how-airlines-make-less-than-6/
5. http://fortune.com/2014/06/19/big-data-airline-industry/
6. http://fortune.com/2014/06/19/big-data-airline-industry/
DID YOU KNOW?
Aviation by the Numbers
130M bags will be checked for a single
carrier in 2014
Aviation is a $743 billion global industry,
behind Advertising/marketing and
Aerospace/defense industries.
One carrier analyzes more than 150
collected data points about passengers
when they check in for their flight to
market to them in real time.
2014 Airline industry profits were $20 billion.
2004 Airline industry loss was $10 billion.
$30 billion spread in 10 year’s time.
-$10B
$20B
2004
2014
9
Big Data Sources:
$2.05
$5.42
2012
2014
Number of
travelers
per annum
Population
SPAIN
HONG KONG
UK
UAE
CHINA
JAPAN
GERMANY
ITALY
UNITED STATES
223 M
135 M
73 M
87 M
103 M
70 M
201 M
97 M
173 M
/ Did You Know?
8. 10 CONNECTIONS 11
A CONVERSATION WITH
Andy Cohen, FAIA and Gary Brennen, PE
OUR CLIENT’S
VOICE
GB The theme of our biannual is “reinvention” relative
to business practices and workspace; what is your
experience related to reinvention? How has Gensler
reinvented itself and navigated the economic cycles over
its 50-year history? Can you talk a little about the process
of reinvention?
AC As a global design firm, Gensler is developing trends
that will shape design’s impact on our clients’ success
for the future. Knowing what’s next will matter more in
tomorrow’s design economy. When design is the difference
between a great outcome and something less, a design
perspective on the future is a competitive advantage. So
it’s completely natural and intuitive for us to focus on the
transforming aspects of our clients’ businesses and the
global design trends shaping their world.
We’re also very focused on our “one-firm firm” philosophy.
We are a single, integrated, networked, global firm, where
the whole is greater than the parts; an innovative fluid
organization that delivers great design for our clients
anywhere in the world. And if you are thinking that sounds
very philosophical, it plays out in a very tangible way each
and every day around the globe.
Functioning as a one-firm firm significantly impacts our
operations and our ability to REINVENT ourselves and how
we work. For example, we accelerate delivery for our clients
as our one-firm philosophy allows us to seamlessly design
projects around the world. At any given time, we might be
working on a project simultaneously in four or five offices,
allowing us to move proactively and expeditiously forward.
Our “one-firm firm” approach also enables our firm to grow
world-class talent, by providing opportunities for people
who are interested in exploring ideas and concepts. It also
positions us to excel with global client accounts, because
we are where our clients need us to be. We’re a global,
integrated firm, and we share work, research, and best
practices across our networked organization.
GB Gensler is renowned for their client focus – as you are.
What do you believe clients should be seeking from us in
the AEC industry as they undertake [large scale] capital
improvement plans?
AC Let me just state this simply; we believe that everything
begins and ends with our client relationships.
We focused on that client-centric approach from day
one, 50 years ago. Art Gensler, our founder, created an
entrepreneurial mindset. He had an excessive curiosity to
study and understand his clients. With this mindset we
glean new insights and develop business acumen through
conversations with our clients, clients who happen to
number among the most innovative global Fortune 500
companies in the world. That approach has become an
important part of our DNA, and it translated into our
design innovation strategy. We listen to our clients in
order to understand the underlying business performance
opportunities that drive design innovation. Our goal is to
become our clients’ trusted advisor.
For example, we are in the middle of an incredible, radical
transformation in what our workspace looks like. Clearly
the impact of greater densification is being felt by all of
us, and technology is now ubiquitous. We are creating
spaces that support the social transactions that are at the
heart of creativity and collaboration as our clients look to
reinvent themselves to handle transformative trends in the
marketplace. The revolution is about design. This is a time
of profound change in how design supports work in all its
varied forms. Old ways are being set aside, as organizations
look at work and its settings holistically. There’s a demand
for new approaches and real estate products. The AEC
industry should be providing this insight and bringing these
The theme of our biannual is “reinvention” relative to business practices and workspace;
what is your experience related to reinvention? How has Gensler reinvented itself and
navigated the economic cycles over its 50-year history? Can you talk a little about the
process of reinvention?
The revolution
is about design.
This is a time of
profound change
in how design
supports work
in all its varied
forms.
Gary A. Brennen, PE,
LEED AP (left)
Andy Cohen, FAIA (right)
/ Our Client’s Voice
9. 12 CONNECTIONS 13/ Our Client’s Voice
trends to the conversations with our clients to help shape
their real estate and design decisions.
GB What considerations go into strategic decisions to
embark on new specialty practices? Is there a tipping point
or is the decision-making process more organic than that?
AC We take a very strategic approach to embarking on
new practice areas, ensuring that we have the right talent in
place and that diversifying into this new specialty will bring
a greater insight to our work and to our clients. We believe
that our practice area specialization differentiates us as
experts in the competitive global market and that our ability
to cross-pollinate differentiates us as innovators.
It’s our ability to cross boundaries and bundle services that
bring new ideas and design thinking to every client. This
year we have taken significant initiative toward aligning
our practice areas with our clients’ industry groups.
Simultaneously, we have created several incubator practice
area task forces that are focused on key markets that we
have identified as “Gensler growth opportunities.”
GB There is a lot of discussion about collaboration and
the role that it plays in reinvention. How do you see the
convergence of architecture and engineering in creating
great design?
AC We enjoy our partnerships with engineering firms, like
our great long-term relationship with the Syska Hennessy
Group, that bring their global expertise and industry
knowledge to the table on complex Gensler projects.
of managing our resources in a mindful way, and the
importance of not contributing to the problems we all face.
And as long as buildings continue to be the number one
contributor to CO2
emissions, it is our responsibility
as designers to create solutions that are both long lasting
and resilient.
GB Certainly we enjoy a high level of trust and
collaboration with Gensler. Having this history and trust,
paired up with talent and innovative tools, we see the
impact we jointly have on the built environment. As
you say, this is truly an exciting time to be a consulting
engineer, where in real time we are imagining near net-
zero solutions to the challenging energy environment
we live in and spaces that are wonderfully daylit and
passively cooled and heated. This collaboration of thought
leadership is how we WIN when we work together, and
EXECUTE at a high level once we win.
Andy, what do you see as the top 3 trends that you see
impacting aviation going forward?
AC People want their airports back. After 9/11, passengers
have been trapped in airports that just weren’t designed
for modern travel. People are frustrated, and looking for
more pleasurable air travel. They remember the joy of
flying, and want it back. That’s compelling airports to cater
to passengers’ varied needs and wants. We’re going to
see new levels of comfort and calm in the best-designed
airports that will elevate the total experience.
Airports are more than airports. They’re multi-modal
transportation hubs, retail centers, hotels, workplaces,
and even places where people seek new ways to foster
their health and well-being. So airports are looking beyond
aviation, finding inspiration in hospitality, entertainment,
retail, and brand design to meet passengers’ raised
expectations.
Airports are civic gateways, so they should feel indigenous.
If you capture the spirit of a place in an airport, through
design, you connect people to a specific location, enable
them to connect with the place that they’re travelling
through, and create an environment that people feel great
in. One of my favorite examples of this is the Jackson Hole
Airport. With materials that relate to the local vernacular
and a deliberate focus on mountain ranges outside the
building – it functions as a true gateway to the national
parks surrounding it.
GB One last question. Circling back to the process of
reinvention; in your experience, is there a “right time”
to reinvent, or is it a part of an ongoing continuum of
evolving and visioning?
Collaboration allows us to learn and innovate with one
another, making the final project even stronger for our
clients. And with new technology, including advanced BIM
tools, we are able to work together much more seamlessly.
Gary [Brennen] and I first collaborated 25 years ago on
Epson America, one of the first large-scale office building
in California, to use an underfloor air system for energy-
efficiency and greater employee comfort. We both continue
to work together to articulate top design and engineering
trends and find ways to design innovative, integrated
solutions for our clients.
GB What one specific development in sustainable
design for buildings do you find most interesting and/or
encouraging?
AC We are continually inspired by sustainable design
innovations occurring across the AEC industry and we
are always looking internally to push our teams beyond
traditional sustainable design benchmarks. We seek
to change the way we conceive, design, and judge our
projects to maximize the positive impact they have on
our communities, the environment, and our clients. From
the 67-acre CityCenter in Las Vegas, the world’s largest
sustainable development, to one of the world’s tallest
buildings, Shanghai Tower, Gensler has demonstrated our
commitment as a global sustainability leader. We decided
long ago that sustainable design was not an add-on, but
rather it was imbedded in everything we do.
Our talented designers are redefining what is possible.
A case in point is Shanghai Tower. The second-tallest
building in the world is a breakthrough in super high-rise
design, combining new ideas about creating community
and fostering sustainability with streamlined, cost-effective
delivery. A critical aspect of Shanghai Tower’s design is
the transparent, second skin that wraps around the entire
building. This double skin allows for the development of
seven “vertical parks” with fourteen-story atrium spaces
all meant for public use. Additionally, the continuous
glass skin will admit the maximum amount of daylight
into the atriums, reducing the need for artificial lighting.
The glass also has a spectrally low-E coating that will help
reduce heating and cooling loads. These, and many other
strategies, have set the bar for sustainability in super
high-rise building design.
We need to work as an industry to create breakthrough
solutions where whole cities become sustainable in nature.
Soon we will begin to see the emergence of Net Positive
buildings, those that don’t require any external power, and
also provide energy back to utility grids to support their
neighborhoods and cities. We are all aware of the criticality
AC Over the history of our firm, which was founded by
Art Gensler in 1965, we consistently created a strategic
vision at 10-year milestones. These strategic visions are a
big picture look at Gensler’s culture, our people, our clients’
growth, and our practice area diversity.
The visioning process charted a course on how we would
get there and created clear guideposts to measure our
progress along the way. We have been doing that every
decade since, which has propelled our firm’s tremendous
growth and practice area diversity.
Our most recent firm visioning process occurred in 2010
as a bottom-up and top-down interactive dialogue, with all
of our offices, regions and practice area leaders together at
the table to imagine what our firm’s future could and should
be. We created what we refer to as our “big hairy audacious
goals (BHAGs)” for the future, naming them “Vision 2020.”
This interactive process enabled our entire firm to align and
coalesce around “Vision 2020” with the same common
purpose and vision. We have been able to exceed many of
our goals, with still six years to go. We have always focused
on a long-range strategy and what helps sustain us through
the peaks and valleys inherent in the business cycles in the
design world.
An example of the result of this long-range strategy was
at the depths of the economic downturn in 2009/2010.
We certainly had to make painful decisions early, but we
continued to hire exceptional talent whenever it became
available. As other firms struggled to keep from closing
their doors, we stayed close to our clients and thrived.
Having the confidence and sense of purpose, this long-
term roadmap has propelled our firm’s tremendous growth
as we emerged from the great recession. Keeping a laser
focus on our vision, investing in top talent, and fostering
a strong one-firm firm culture is essential. As a result, we
emerged from the recession with a more prolific, more agile
organization that’s focused on our clients, their needs and
business performance.
We seek to change the way we
conceive, design, and judge our
projects to maximize the positive
impact they have on our communities,
the environment, and our clients.
We need to work as an industry to
create breakthrough solutions where
whole cities become sustainable
in nature.
10. 15CONNECTIONS14
“Our ability to cross boundaries and bundle
services brings new ideas and design thinking to every client.”
Cyrus J. Izzo, PE
Syska Hennessy
11. 16 CONNECTIONS 17
The Syska Employee Network
of Support and Education
I
n response to a recent period of growth and hiring,
Syska Hennessy’s leadership saw the need to implement
structures and processes for developing staff, sharing
technical knowledge, and fostering communication and
culture across all levels of the company.
“As engineering professionals focused on delivering
excellence to our clients on a daily basis,” Co-President
Cyrus Izzo said, “it’s easy for us to forget about other
important internal processes, like career building and
sharing technical expertise.” The co-presidents’ vision
gave rise to SENSE, the Syska Employee Network of
Support and Education, launched in January 2014.
The SENSE program provides leadership opportunities
for team members with 2-12 years of experience, who
are encouraged to apply for positions in local or national
SENSE committees. Lisa Gonzalez, local representative
for the New York chapter, has been enthusiastic about the
program from the beginning. “SENSE has already promoted
team bonding and a community spirit, connecting us to the
rest of the company,” she says. “I am looking forward to
more challenges, learning experiences, and collaboration
amongst the SENSE community—I’ve loved every minute
of it so far!”
SENSE will rely on a variety of interdepartmental activities
to achieve its goals. These activities include one-on-
one meetings between mid-level and upper-level team
members, networking and professional development events,
the creation of a corporate booklet delineating career
opportunities, and a series of social engagements where
team members can get to know each other outside of the
formal work environment.
“We wanted to positively engage with our talented team
members to create both the guidance and the opportunity
to further their careers,” said Co-President Gary Brennen,
“and we want to ensure that innovations and technical
expertise are being shared, companywide.” Having a formal
calendar of events will ensure that these critical activities
take place. According to Gary, that is a
triple win: “good for our team members,
good for the company and, ultimately, good
for our clients.” And in the end, that’s what
really counts.
Our Vision
Creating exceptional
environments
built environments
people environments
our global environment
Our Mission
Consult + Engineer + Commission
Integrating the best minds and
technology to create
high performance solutions for the
built environment.
Syska Hennessy’s Core Values:
Quality. We aspire to be the best.
In all aspects of our business—our
people, our design and our client
service—we continually strive to
be the best there is. This is our
philosophy, the basis of our repu-
tation and our success.
Collaboration
collaboration
Open commu
to understand
and integrate
and strengths.
from creating
our clients to d
solutions.
Innovation. W
tive technolog
Our drive to e
and appropria
for our clients
future growth
Goals
The SENSE program was developed to enable the
sharing of innovation, camaraderie, career-building,
and technical know-how.
SENSE accomplishes this mission through five goals:
1. Promote professional development and
mentorship programs.
2. Foster an atmosphere for open communications
between all experience levels.
3. Broaden the interface amongst the Syska
community.
4. Expand the opportunities for social events at both
the local and national level.
5. Develop peer-to-peer learning opportunities at
both the local and national level.
Syska Employee Network of
Support and Education
SENSE Mission
To create a community that
supports learning and provides
guidance for professional
development while promoting
collaboration and building on
Syska Hennessy’s culture of
technical excellence.
Visit us on www.syska.net/SENSE
LinkedIn Syska Hennessy SENSE
Foster open communications
among all experience levels.
Promote professional
development and mentorship.
Develop peer-to-peer learning at
local and national levels.
Broaden social engagement
within the Syska community.
Provide technical assistance
with a “lifeline” of expertise,
technical education and
collaboration.
Grow problem-solving skills.
We want to ensure that
innovations and technical
expertise are being shared,
companywide.
Introducing
/ Introducing SENSE
SENSE has already promoted team bonding
and a community spirit, connecting us to the
rest of the company,
12. 18 CONNECTIONS 19
F
or four years, Syska Hennessy’s Engineer Development
Training (EDT) program has been bridging the gap
between school and career for new hires, shortening
their learning curve, building camaraderie within their peer
group, and exposing them to thought leadership through-
out the company. EDT team members graduate from the
program with the knowledge and skills they need to imple-
ment world-class engineering practices. They also have a
strong, foundational base on how the firm operates.
The EDT program continues to attract top engineering
students from some of the country’s premier engineer-
ing colleges and universities, exposing them to a range of
subjects. Structured around regularly scheduled training
classes and webinars taught by in-house experts, students
access a wide variety of topics, including cross-training
in the mechanical, electrical, and plumbing disciplines,
energy modeling, LEED® and sustainability, and industry-
specific management and communications skills. Job
site visits are also an important aspect of the program,
allowing EDT team members a hands-on look at projects
in construction. Additionally, meetings with the firm’s
senior-level executives allow EDT trainees to learn directly
from experienced industry leaders.
Syska Hennessy is committed to the development and
education of young engineers as future leaders of the firm
and our industry. By exposing recent graduates to the
very best across the firm and helping them
identify their strengths and interests, the
EDT program empowers them to become
more focused, passionate, and dedicated in
their careers.
EDT team members graduate from the
program with the knowledge and skills they
need to implement world-class engineering
practices.
Engineer
Development
Training
BRIDGING THE GAP
BETWEEN SCHOOL
AND CAREER
/ Engineer Development Training
13. Designing a financial trading floor today requires integrating
multiple and sometimes conflicting needs. The primary
challenge of creating a mission-critical space that can easily
accommodate hundreds of employees has remained the
same over time, space allocation, equipment housing/cooling,
trader collaboration, trading floor security etc. Forward-
looking financial firms now have stronger expectations
around issues of comfort, atmosphere, and sustainability.
More than ever, it is critical to obtain a clear understanding
of the business plan and forecasted growth of the trading
activity, including number
of users, daily business
activities, support structure
requirements, corporate
culture, and future needs,
all of which must be
factored into the Trading
Floor Master Plan.
As part of the trading floor’s IT infrastructure design, user
profiles, such as standard user, moderate user, super user, etc
should be created. Where a standard user may use one PC
with two monitors, a super user may use four PCs and eight
monitors. These conditions, including the amount of thin
client provisioning and virtualization deployed, will drive how
much and what type of physical space, electricity, and cooling
is needed on the floor.
Designing the layout and interior space requires balancing
issues of comfort, needs, culture, security, and compliance.
For example, some trader groups may want line-of-sight so
they can collaborate while on calls, while others may deem
it a distraction. Some groups may be required by regulatory
bodies to be separated by “compliance walls,” where others
may be required to be in a different location altogether. These
regulations are generally driven by regulatory entities or by
the firm’s internal governance teams. Above all, the security of
the staff and the business conducted on the floor should never
be in a position to be compromised.
While rapid technological changes make it hard to predict
what a trading floor will look like years from now, engineers
need to anticipate change, building flexibility into designs
that allow for adaptation over time; a solid core with modular
components makes changes/upgrades possible without
major impact. Accommodating for what may come in the
future is perhaps the most important trading-floor-design
consideration of all.
Project Design:
Financial Trading Floors
CONNECTIONS20 21
As the 6th sixth largest wireless services provider in
the U.S. , C Spire needed to create an exceptionally
robust and reliable data center at the Tier IV level, in
order to secure mission critical functionality at 99.99%
availability. Understanding the complexity of the
project and the importance of its investment for the
success of their performance and competitive profile,
C Spire selected the design-build delivery process for
their project.
The project site was master planned by the design-
build team to support two additional phases of
expansion as demand increases, providing both
modularity and scalability options for C Spire. The
new 24K SF facility, will house internal C Spire
business functions as well as provide synchronous,
asynchronous and active-active colocation services
for their clients.
Challenged with meeting Uptime Tier IV Certification,
Syska Hennessy evaluated multiple options and
technologies to provide the optimal solution Balancing
considerations of capital expenditures (CAPEX) against
operational expenditures (OPEX) our designers focused
on providing the solution that was the most reliable,
robust and easy to operate. Our fundamental “Keep it
Simple” principle drove design solutions throughout
the project.
The final design used a complete compartmentalized
2N electrical distribution system and an N+2 Liebert DSE
with EconoPhase mechanical solution, allowing C Spire
to take advantage of the economizer feature to reduce
overall energy consumption.
The final design received an Uptime Tier IV Certification.
With construction completing in October 2014, the site
has received an Uptime Tier III Constructed certification.
Provisions in construction were made to allow Tier IV
compliance in the future.
C Spire Data Center
Uptime Certified Tier IV Design
14. / Section 23CONNECTIONS22 23
The Tom Bradley International Terminal (TBIT) at the Los Angeles
International Airport (LAX) is the busiest wing of one of the largest
airports in the world. So when the Los Angeles World Airports (LAWA)
authority decided to renovate the entire terminal, including a one
million SF addition (Bradley West Modernization/Expansion), they
were faced with a unique set of challenges. Impressed with
Syska Hennessy Group’s energy innovations in other airports,
including the success of the recent Dulles Airport Z Gates terminal,
which is cooled and heated primarily through the use of displacement
ventilation, LAWA selected the firm to design and engineer the
mechanical, plumbing, and vertical transport infrastructure for the
entire terminal.
Sustainability was a key feature of the development program, with
Syska Hennessy’s engineers incorporating design features to promote
energy efficiency and mitigate environmental impacts. As part of
the design process, the engineering team used Building Performance
Modeling to ensure comfort and stratification verifications, reducing
energy usage. They incorporated many other sustainable and energy/
water-saving features into the TBIT project, including external shading;
pre-piped recycled water for toilet and urinal flushing (resulting in a
40% reduction of water usage), and displacement ventilation.
The resulting 1.0 million SF Expansion terminal, achieving a higher
certification than the targeted LEED Silver. The project won Syska
Hennessy Group the Engineering News-Record’s coveted “Best of
the Best” award for “Best Airport, Transit Project, 2013,” offering a
special ending to a story that began when Syska Hennessy engineered
the building systems design during the construction of the original
international terminal, 30 years ago. Today, TBIT is considered the
“crown jewel” of the overall LAX Capital Improvements Program, the
biggest public works project in the history of the City of Los Angeles.
Innovation in Aviation: LAX
Tom Bradley West International
Terminal
“Today, TBIT is
considered the
‘crown jewel’
of the overall
LAX Capital
Improvements
Program...”
Sustainable Innovations at
the Tom Bradley International
Terminal (Bradley West)
CFD Modeling of airflow and
temperature stratification for
the iconic Time Tower Media ,
bon voyage, and welcome
wall medias
Energy modeling performance
verifications for North and
South Concourses and Sterile
Corridors
Pre-piped recycled water
for water closets and urinal
flushing
External shading for glare and
solar gain control
Enhanced Indoor Air Quality
(IAQ) with energy efficient
displacement ventilation,
CO2
monitoring, and 4-stage
filtration including UV and
bipolar ionization
Integrated building automation
system for HVAC, lighting,
vertical transportation, power
usage, and utility metering for
concessions and retail
15. 24 CONNECTIONS
ISLANDING HOSPITALS DURING
CATASTROPHIC EVENTS
When it comes to caring for patients and supporting medical staff during
a catastrophic event, such as one of the recent weather-related events we
have seen happening nationwide, hospitals need to continue to function
and provide care. Here are a few things to consider when islanding
hospital power systems:
PRIORITY LIST
Review your current list of equipment and
departments that are connected to emergency
power. Compare that to the latest FGI Guidelines
or state healthcare code that applies to you to see
if you meet the latest requirements. These two lists
will merge to become your priority list.
COMMON SENSE LIST
Assuming the hospital will be without power for
days, think about those areas of the hospital that
will need to be on emergency power, but which
are not required to have emergency power by
code. Consider non-care environments such as
the loading dock, the lighting of all utility corridors
from the loading dock to the various areas of the
hospital, the kitchen, and etc.
GENERATOR SYSTEM SIZING
Now that you have developed the two lists above,
where does the size of your plant stand compared
to the combined lists? You may find that your
generator plant requires an upgrade.
SYSTEM TESTING
The code requires monthly testing of the
generators. What testing is being provided beyond
that? Are you planning for any contingency
scenarios?
Today’s critical care facilities must have an enhanced plan in place in order to continue close-to-normal
operations during a catastrophic event, preparing not only to care for the existing patient population, but
also to triage additional potential patients. Executing the above steps will help you prepare for whatever
events may impact your community.
25
Lessons
Learned
/ Lessons Learned
![Connections
CONNECTIONS:
[kuh-nek-shuh nz]
Trends
Markets
Opportunities
Expanding Market Opportunities in China:
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Growing Resources and Opportunities in
the Central United States
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4
Aviation and Big Data
Our Client’s Voice: A Conversation with
Andy Cohen, FAIA and Gary Brennen, PE
Introducing SENSE: The Syska Employee
Network of Support and Education
Engineer Development Training: Bridging
the Gap Between School and Career
6
10
16
18
C Spire Data Center
Uptime Certified Tier IV Design
Trading Floor Master Planning
Innovation in Aviation: LAX Tom Bradley West
International Terminal
Lessons Learned: Islanding Hospitals During
Catastrophic Events
Did you Know? Aviation by the Numbers
21
20
22
24
8
1. the act or state of joining,
linking or uniting
2. the state of establishing
communication,
making contact
3. creating a link or bond: an
electrical connection.](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)