Restoring serenity: conservation of Minoru Yamasaki's North Shore Congregation Israel

ABSTRACT The North Shore Congregation Israel complex was designed by modernist architect Minoru Yamasaki and completed in 1964. Yamasaki's notable work includes the Pacific Science Center (1962), World Trade Center (1971), and many other significant large scale projects. North Shore Congregation Israel exemplifies his early work, which included low-rise modernist structures with decorative concrete facades. Yamasaki was very interested in the design potential of precast and cast in place concrete and the materials versatility as both a structural and decorative material, as illustrated in this complex. After several decades, spalling was observed along the edge of the architectural precast concrete panels. Previously installed concrete patch repairs were visually apparent and many were no longer serviceable. Wiss, Janney, Elstner Associates, Inc. was engaged to perform an assessment of the existing architectural precast concrete, document the extent and types of distress, and develop repair documents. The paper will describe and illustrate the process of developing concrete repairs for North Shore Congregation Israel, including an overview of the assessment process and development of repair details, concrete cleaning procedures to address soiling and biological growth present on the building, and concrete mix design and finishing procedures to blend the repairs with the existing concrete.