School of hard knocks

Engineered Systems, Sept, 2004 by Matthew Napolitan

I just read Kevin Dickens' "Hard Knocks 101" article in the July 2004 of Engineered Systems (page 66), and I felt as though I was reading one of my own memoirs. While I've never experienced anything as drastic as the story you wrote, I've kicked myself more than once for not speaking up or putting my foot down when it had to be done.

When I joined Buro Happold, I was asked to lead the mechanical design team for a large, complex performing arts facility. To make a long story short, after a lengthy schematic design (SD) process and a budget overrun of about 25% (at SD), we had to completely redesign the building.

After the third architectural proposal for an MER location/configuration that was less than desirable, I wrote a strongly worded letter to the architect about our position explaining that we cannot continue along the same path without missing the deadline. Well, the managing partner of their firm called the managing partner of our firm, and you can fill in the rest. In the end, after everyone cooled down, we achieved a mutually acceptable design.

So, even though it was a bit painful to do when I did it, in the long run speaking up made all the difference in the world.

Just one question. At the end of the article, you said, "No engineers were harmed during the writing of this story." That was a big relief, but did you manage to harm any architects?

Matthew Napolitan, P.E.

Senior Engineer

Buro Happold Consulting Engineers

New York