Seinuk, Ysrael A. / 58 projects

Ysrael A. Seinuk, P.E. (1931–2010) graduated as a civil engineer in 1954 from the University of Havana. Recognized internationally as one of the foremost structural engineers and pioneers in the field of tall buildings and special structures, he served as the CEO of WSP Cantor Seinuk, and Ysrael A. Seinuk, P.C. Seinuk was a registered engineer in 19 states, and was a licensed civil engineer in the U.K., Israel, and Cuba. He was recognized for his accomplishments as a Fellow of the American Concrete Institute, The Institution of Civil Engineers in the UK, and the American Society of Civil Engineers. Following 9/11, Seinuk was the only American designer invited by the Institution of Structural Engineers of Great Britain to participate in the publication of Safety in Tall Buildings: Standards for Tall Building Design for the European Union.

He served as a member of the NYC Department of Buildings International Building Code Technical Committee for Existing Buildings, and as a member of the Construction Requirements Technical Committee to revise New York City’s building code using the international building code as a model.

In 1969 Seinuk began working at The Irwin S. Chanin School of Architecture, where he taught Structures, served as the chairman of the Academic Standards Committee, and was the acting dean of the School of Architecture in 2000.

Seinuk received over 25 personal and 80 project awards for structural engineering worldwide, including the ASCE Metropolitan Section Homer Gage Balcom Award for lifetime achievement and excellence in structural engineering (2008), the Concrete Industry Board’s Leader of Industry Award (1999), The Cooper Union Urban Visionaries Award (2004), and the 2010 Fazlur Khan Award for lifetime achievement from the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat. In 2005 Seinuk was featured in Time magazine as one of the “25 Most Influential Hispanics in America.”

In a career spanning almost five decades, Seinuk had many major projects to his credit. Among the most notable are 785 Eighth Avenue; Trump Tower; Trump World Tower; The Lipstick Building; 4 Times Square; Time Warner Center; 545 Madison Avenue; The Westin Hotel and W Hotel in Times Square; SUNY Stony Brook Center for Excellence in Information & Wireless Technology; the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts in Miami; the renovations of Grand Central Station and CUNY Graduate Center; and the Bronx Hall of Justice complex. Seinuk’s many notable international projects include O-14 Tower in Dubai, UAE—the winner of the 2010 ACEC Diamond Award and the 2010 ACEC National Award for structural systems.

A well-known author and lecturer, Seinuk was featured in several educational, documentary TV series for PBS, and made numerous appearances on national television.
Faculty Course Documents / 2 documents