A wish for a less ‘momentous’ year

May you live in interesting times. So goes the traditional Chinese proverb/curse.The year 2001 was certainly an odyssey, but one I feel most of us would rather not revisit. In fact, I feel fortunate just to be able to move on to next year, and hopefully back to business as "usual."In some ways, I'm reminded of 1968—another year of great national pain: MLK and RFK's assasinations; ...

By Jim Crockett, Editor-in-Chief December 1, 2001

May you live in interesting times. So goes the traditional Chinese proverb/curse.

The year 2001 was certainly an odyssey, but one I feel most of us would rather not revisit. In fact, I feel fortunate just to be able to move on to next year, and hopefully back to business as “usual.”

In some ways, I’m reminded of 1968—another year of great national pain: MLK and RFK’s assasinations; the Tet offensive in Vietnam; the Chicago Democtratic convention, to name but a few of the year’s horrific events. But 1968 did end on a positive note, with Apollo 8’s first successful orbit of the moon and, of course, Frank Borman’s famous Christmas broadcast that perhaps, in some way, helped the healing process begin.

In a smaller way, but in that same spirit, it’s our wish to also end this year on a positive. With that we respectfully present our annual Integrator Awards, issued to those firms who demonstrated true teamwork in delivering projects that best exemplify integrated M/E/P engineering.

This year we had several excellent candidates—more than we could feature as awardees—including our two honorable mentions, that were so interesting, I feel compelled to add their stories to our editorial coverage this coming spring. And in fairness to those projects that did meet our criteria in the commercial and institutional categories, the staff felt it was not appropriate to issue an award in the industrial category. Further, none of this year’s winners are as bedazzling as a Frank Gehry design, but all present what any owner could truly want: buildings that well serve the function they were intended for.

With that, CSE tips its hat to Madison, Wisc.-based Arnold O’Sheridan and their design of the Supermax prison in Boscobel, Wisc.; H.F. Lenz of Johnstown, Pa., and its Mellon Client Service Center in downtown Pittsburgh; and West Hartford, Conn.-based van Zelm Heywood & Shadford for their modernization of Hartford Hospital.

As we transition into 2002, it’s my wish to bring more stories of good integration to the forefront. I strongly encourage readers to drop me a note or brief outline of some of the projects that might be worthy of exploration in the publication.

It’s also my wish for our readers to have a happy new year—or at least an uneventful one—filled with the spirit of our Integrators, whose teamwork and commitment lead the way to solving even our most difficult problems. And as our 2002 forecast points out (p. 20), we may need each other now more than ever.