Source: CONCRETE CONSTRUCTION MAGAZINE
Publication date: 2008-12-15

By Joe Nasvik

The five honorees who significantly influenced the concrete industry in 2008 weren't chosen by the sophisticated polling methods we've heard too much about during the presidential campaign. We didn't ask our readers to vote for their favorite candidate either. Our choices evolved through a series of roundtable discussions with the CONCRETE CONSTRUCTION editorial staff and were based on our visits to numerous jobsites, attendance at conferences, and talks to countless people by phone throughout the past year.

Our choices this year include a contractor team who are challenged by high-rise construction every day; an architect who appreciates concrete as a building material and uses it in creative, cost-conscious ways; a materials specialist who likes to transfer research knowledge to practical applications involving concrete mix development; a consultant who has developed practical ways to specify gloss numbers for exposed concrete floors—popular with big box retailers; and a person whose influence in designing mixes extends to just about every project in the United States that uses mass concrete.

When the subject of concrete is brought up, it's Dave or Dale

At a time when most companies are wondering where they will find work for 2009, McHugh's schedule is full, so long as their projects can secure the funding they need.

David Alexander is the senior vice president and Dale Hendrix is the senior vice president of concrete field operations for McHugh Construction, Chicago. Together, they have helped to make the company the biggest constructor of super-tall buildings in the United States, building five of the top 12 on the list maintained by the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat. Trump Tower is one of their projects and is the tallest structurally reinforced concrete building on the list. Alexander focuses on management and estimating, while Hendrix manages field operations. Together, they create a great working climate. When you talk to employees, they note how much they like their work and how long they've been there. Some have never worked for anyone else. Hendrix is one of those. He started more than 40 years ago as a laborer and has never wanted to work anywhere else. Alexander celebrates his 23rd year, starting work as a project engineer after graduating from college in a construction management program.

Dale Hendrix, Jeanne Gang, and David Alexander bring the concrete industry to a higher level.

Fascinating use of concrete as a design material

Jeanne Gang started Studio Gang, Chicago, in 1998. Today, they are a group of 35 architects and design staff with a national outreach in terms of projects. After completing a Masters of Architecture from Harvard University and gaining work experience in Europe, she came to Chicago to work for Booth Hansen Architects, teaching a “concrete studio” course at the University of Illinois. She credits the teaching experience for cultivating an interest in concrete as a material. This interest in materials caused her to start design work on a project by considering what materials to use in constructing the building.

Studio Gang is building a reputation for designing very creative and unusual building facades at reasonable prices. This isn't easy because curtain walls are usually one of the most expensive elements in a building construction. On the Aqua Building project for example, (see Going Up) they extended the floor slabs beyond the glass facade of the building in an undulating, irregular way to create the aesthetic architectural look of the structure. For another project, with the help of an engineering firm, they designed irregular openings in a solid, flat concrete shear wall wherever structural support wasn't needed, reducing the amount of concrete and reinforcing steel needed and providing the aesthetic appearance.

Quantifying gloss

Rick Smith is vice president of operations and a senior consultant with Structural Services Inc. (SSI), Richardson, Texas. The issue of gloss started in 2006 when he recommended diamond polishing to correct numerous finishing deficiencies on a high-profile project. At the conclusion of the project, the polisher validated his work with a gloss meter—an instrument commonly used in the paint industry, but not necessarily recognized or endorsed by the concrete industry. Being able to objectively measure gloss could have a dramatic impact in the flooring industry much like FF and FL numbers did years before. Smith embarked on a study about how variables in floor construction affected gloss readings.

Today, several retailers and speculative developers specify gloss numbers to reduce subjectivity in what constitutes an acceptable finished product, to maintain the aesthetic expectations for retailers moving away from floor coverings and toward exposed polished concrete, to add a little extra “zing” for developers who are competing to lease space, and to reduce lighting expenses for the end user.

Smith's passion is learning and sharing knowledge. He credits his achievements to his employers who were committed to continuing education, his clients who listen and embrace new ideas, and all of the industry experts who have shared and contributed to his knowledge. He participates in ACI, attends World of Concrete to learn and share new ideas with his clients, and reads and attends seminars when he is not conducting seminars for others.

A technology transfer expert

There are few people in the country who know more about designing concrete mixes than Kevin MacDonald, as evidenced by the I-35W Bridge reconstruction in Minneapolis. Mac-Donald's company, Cemstone, Mendota Heights, Minn., received their contract only two weeks before the first ready-mix delivery—little time to develop the several complicated mixes needed—all with specified 100-year service lives or better (see “Bridge to Tomorrow” in December 2008 CONCRETE CONSTRUCTION). Normally several months of testing is needed to research mixes.

MacDonald has been around concrete as long as he can remember. His father taught concrete technology at the university level, and his own education started in high school working for a testing company. After he received his Ph.D. in engineering materials and working for three materials and testing companies, he moved from Canada to the Twin Cities to join Cemstone. He says that he almost took a teaching position a couple of years ago but decided his first love is “technology transfer”—adapting applied research for practical use in the field.

Our country's mass concrete expert

At CTLGroup, Skokie, Ill., John Gajda works with anything that involves temperature and heat transfer, but his specialty is mass concrete. He designs concrete with low heat of hydration and develops cost-effective placement-specific measures to avoid excessive temperatures and thermal cracking issues. Projects include buildings, bridges, refineries, water treatment plants, and government projects—anything with large volumes of concrete. He is so well known for what he does that it's hard to find a mass concrete project in the United States that he hasn't been involved.

Gajda's involvement can be initiated by owners, ready-mix producers, or contractors. His involvement with owners usually focuses on mass concrete specifications and related constructability issues. Contractors and ready-mix producers call him during their bid development, or after they are contracted and required to submit thermal control plans prior to construction. He especially likes working with contractors because he can get deeply involved with detailed construction activities and issues, and has the satisfaction of seeing a project from initiation through completion.

Gajda recently authored a book for the Portland Cement Association (PCA) titled “Mass Concrete for Buildings and Bridges,” and currently is working on a related publication with others for ACI. He is a member of ACI 301 and 207.

The editors of THE CONCRETE PRODUCER magazine announce their own influencers of 2008.

For about eight years, the AltusGroup has been introducing the benefits of carbon reinforcement to the architectural design community. What began as a solution to concrete failure due to steel corrosion in critical anchorages has led to a new approach to structural concrete design. They launched a patented technology platform, seven new products, and a national branded marketing campaign with 800 help lines, technical collateral, a Web site, and structured sales presentations. The AltusGroup is led by chairman Chris Pastorius, Harold Messenger, John Carson, Gary Graziano, and Harry Gleich.

During Patrick Murphy's eight years as president of American PolySteel, he led the insulating concrete form (ICF) manufacturer and the industry, into a new era of green building. PolySteel, Albuquerque, N.M., was the first ICF Energy Star partner and the first ICF system to achieve Cradle to Cradle (C2C) certification—a designation that identifies products that can be completely reused or recycled to reduce waste and maximize the value of materials. PolySteel's Silver C2C certification proved that plastic foam can be used in ICFs without creating an environmental hazard.

Twenty years ago Frank Kozeliski, former owner and president of Gallup Sand & Gravel in Gallup, N.M., concocted a simple concrete mix that didn't require an admixture or fine aggregate to be shipped 150 miles. “Open-grated, no-fines concrete” is what he called it. This discovery is one of concrete's greatest contributions to sustainability. Since then he has spearheaded innovation in other ways: active with the New Mexico Ready Mix Concrete Association, is an ACI fellow, and has been involved with ACI's New Mexico chapter. Last year, he was appointed chairman of NRMCA's Pervious Concrete Promotion subcommittee.

In 1998, Steve Parker became chairman of the ASTM C09.40 subcommittee —the body in charge of ASTM C 94 Standard Specification for Ready-Mixed Concrete. During his tenure, Parker led the committee through several technical challenges, including adopting specification language that enables producers to increase the use of recycled water in batching; including an approach to properly use returned fresh concrete; and provisions that will help producers encourage design engineers to adopt project specifications that are performance-based and ensure quality.

John Chrysler's continuing efforts ensure that masonry construction, especially as it relates to concrete block, remains a preferred building material. For more than 15 years, Chrysler has been leading the effort as the executive director of the Masonry Institute of America (MIA) in Torrance, Calif. Chrysler has provided a persuasive voice in the California building code development effort, supporting masonry by updating the 2007 Masonry Codes and Specifications for California. He promoted the nationalization of the masonry special inspection program, developed by the Masonry Society to help inspectors, engineers, and building officials identify and check key quality assurance masonry construction on the jobsite.