For students at the NYU SPS Schack Institute of Real Estate, New York City serves as the ideal laboratory for gaining an understanding of the latest trends and innovations in the real estate and construction industries. Recently, students in Schack’s MS in Construction Management program had the opportunity to visit an Upper East Side construction site that is being converted into a retail space for a major home improvement company.
Richard Lambeck P.E., clinical associate professor and chair of the Construction Management program, took a dozen students in his “Construction Methods & Technology” class to the site of what was a former Bed Bath & Beyond store on 61st St. and 1st Ave. in Manhattan.
Lambeck believes in a hands-on, immersive approach to teaching, which provides students with an academic understanding of construction methods, building systems, and material and equipment selection that is then illustrated through real-world applications. To inform his lessons, he employs props, such as a no-hub connection used to join ductile iron pipes with rubber gaskets and clamps. “Most individuals are visual learners, so it sticks in their mind when you show them something physical that relates to what they are absorbing in class and through readings,” he stated.
To amplify this approach even further, each year, he also takes his students on site visits, which resumed recently after a two-year hiatus due to COVID-19 restrictions. “Experiential learning is the key,” said Lambeck. “I think it is very important for students to gain an appreciation of how components are actually used in construction.”
Thanks to Lambeck’s industry connections, the tour of the former Bed Bath & Beyond site was conducted by the project manager, Macs Carberry-Santacroce, of Schimenti Construction Company, which is developing the space. “The project manager gave my students an overview of the construction process, while I showed them the specific elements of construction that are being covered in the classroom,” noted Lambeck. “This included electrical layouts and panels, different types of plumbing and sprinkler pipe connections, and roofing details and structural systems that were used to reinforce the existing concrete structure.”
The group included (from left to right): Matthew Agulta, Hatem Alkhathami, Chang Li, Solomon Behar, Krutik Patel, Macs Carberry-Santacroce (the Schimenti project manager), Richard Lambeck P.E., Hunter Meyer, Meet Mayani, Richard Hi, Kateryna Klymets, and Amogh Redy Deshmukh Lingala.