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Charmaine Josiah, Azer Kehnemui, DSc, PE, Founding Principal, and guest contributor (Cetin Karabulut, PE, retired Senior Principal) discuss what our firm and the building industry were like in the 1980s:

What was the atmosphere like in the 80s?

The 80’s were serious growth years for SK&A. We started the decade in a brand new office building (designed by SK&A), and occupied a larger space than we needed in anticipation of growth. Our client base expanded considerably, as did the number, size, and types of projects we were awarded; some being very significant projects.

Within DC and the MD & VA suburbs, was construction booming during that decade?

Unlike the dull 1970’s, there was a growth surge for most of the 80’s throughout the DC suburbs and Baltimore, where we had most of our work.

What was working at SK&A like? About how many people?

Work was fast-paced; many projects; tight schedules; demanding clients; quite a bit of overtime. The 80’s was an era of gradual computerization of SK&A.

Our overall staff size probably numbered from a low of 15 or so at the start of the 80’s, increasing up to 40-plus (including ETI) in later years.

The DC Office opened around 1982.  Was there a lot of activity back and forth between the two offices?

Our DC office was a very small branch office. I decided to open it in order to create a physical downtown presence for us, in the proximity of those clients who thought of us as a suburban company.  So the Rockville office dictated which projects should be sent to the DC office. Despite its later growth it remained a branch office until 2005, when we decided to incorporate the DC operation as a separate business entity.

Was smoking still allowed?

Yes, smoking inside the office was allowed (I used to smoke a pipe) until  the late 80’s when Marcia threatened to quit if we didn’t do something about it.  We converted a separate room to a “smoking room”, but that didn’t work either; aside from being unhealthy, some people seemed to spend more time in that room than in their cubicles. We finally banned in-office smoking per the law, though this was probably in the 90’s.

What was the building industry atmosphere like in the 80s?

The interest and participation of local engineering firms, SK&A included, in business-related engineering societies (such as ACEC and specifically ACEC-DC) was down during the 80’s. 

What type of construction was popular then? More residential vs. office? Retail (shopping malls) vs. mixed-use?

All of these, though we definitely were more involved with commercial office and retail work than multi-family residential.

Research & development (R&D) industrial parks were also a big part of our work.  All of these buildings were steel construction.

What was structural engineering like then?  What was the process of design like?

More precise!  As mentioned above, during the 80’s we were transitioning from using slide rules and calculators to computers for our engineering work. A considerable amount of new engineering software was developed commercially during those years, which we purchased or leased and used for our work.

In the mid-80’s we decided to computerize our preparation of plans and details in the mid 80’s, and started CAD training and transition from hand drafting to CAD-work. SK&A’s computerization activities were led by Dr. Khalil Khozeimeh, who retired last year after some 35 years at SK&A. 

Memorable buildings during that time period?

In 1981, SK&A was awarded Crystal Park, in Arlington, a multi-phase mixed use office/residential project with 9 buildings. With an overall area of 5.5 million sq.ft., which I think ranks as our largest project ever!

A few other notable projects were:

• C&P Telephone (later Bell Atlantic) Co. Headquarters, Silver Spring, MD
• Courthouse Plaza Complex, Arlington, VA
• National Press Building Renovation, DC
• Baltimore Federal Headquarters, Baltimore, MD
• Canal Center, Alexandria, VA
• Sheraton Inner Harbor, Baltimore, MD
• Washington Business Park, Lanham, MD

Memorable clients?

• Architects: DNC Architects; HTB, Inc.; Weihe Partnership (now WDG); CHK, Inc.(now Torti Gallas)
• Developers: Charles E. Smith Cos., Artery Organization; Richmarr Construction Corp; Giant Food, Inc

What technologies were used?  New materials/building methods?

Use of EIFS (Exterior insulation and finish system) as non-load bearing building cladding

The construction industry, including architects and engineers, started using mobile phones, and also working with personal computers.