Degenkolb 

Greenbuild Day 3

Today was the final day of the Greenbuild 2011 conference in Toronto. This morning I attended a session entitled “Solutions for Healthy Cities: Resiliency and Regeneration.” This session grouped a presentation on a healthy city initiative with two presentations on disaster resilience, a pairing that I was delighted to see. The healthy city presentation was about a project initiative in Mexico City to restore their main river (out of about 45 major rivers running through the city, ...


Degenkolb 

Degenkolb Engineers #1 Mid-Size Structural Engineering Firm to Work For

This year marks the second year in a row that Degenkolb Engineers was named the best mid-size structural engineering firm to work for by Structural Engineer Magazine. The firm ranked #4 in the overall category of best structural engineering firms to work for.

The magazine states, "Reports of pay cuts, slashed benefits, and longer work days have filled the headlines, but not all firms are convinced a profit comes by extracting the most from employees while giving the least – ...


Community / Degenkolb 

EMI Dominican Republic – Reconnaissance

EMI Dominican Republic – Reconnaissance

Today we took some time off from our regular schedule to talk a walk around the city and get a feel for what life is like in the Dominican Republic. In the morning, we walked around the local neighborhood with Pastor Elbin of CCR to witness firsthand the community's needs as he explained to us the different ways that he hopes the church can grow to strategically meet them in the near future. Meanwhile, Aaron ...


Community / Degenkolb 

eMi – Dominican Republic

Why are we here?

Why has eMi organized a design team composed of 18 engineers/architects to work in the Dominican Republic? eMi projects are typically in economically challenged, developing nations. The Dominican Republic does not exactly fit that general descriptions when some think of the nice vacations resorts that are currently being constructed. However, the water here is not suitable to drink, there are many parts of this country that are poverty stricken, and some of the construction ...


Community / Degenkolb 

EMI DOMINICAN REPUBLIC – INTRODUCTION & ORIENTATION

EMI DOMINICAN REPUBLIC – INTRODUCTION & ORIENTATION

You're Going Where…?

It's September 24th, Aaron Quaresma (Project Engineer from our Oakland office) and I arrived at Santo Domingo (the capital of the Dominican Republic). For those of you (like me) who aren't quite sure exactly where that is, the Dominican Republic (DR) is located in the Caribbean and shares the eastern portion of the island with Haiti. Aaron flew in from Haiti after finishing up his work with Build Change (see ...


Community / Degenkolb 

Build Change Haiti – Day Five

Build Change Haiti - Day Five

This has been a great week and a great experience. The people at Build Change are awesome. They have a culture of learning, caring, and a desire to keep improving Haiti through people. This morning I was invited to the weekly Friday morning prayer group. There are a number of people who arrive around 6:30 and spend an hour together reading scripture and praying prior to starting work. It was great to ...