MICHAEL M. SNYDERMichael 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.
