Peopleverse 015: William Mandara Jr

Special guest William Mandara Jr, AIA of Mancini Duffy joins the Peopleverse to talk about a project that is sure to become an icon. It’s called TSX Broadway and it’s located at Times Square in New York City.

Peopleverse 015: William Mandara Jr

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About Bill:

William Mandara Jr., AIA, is the chief executive officer and co-owner of Mancini Duffy, a national design firm with a 100+-year-old history and tech-forward approach based in New York City. Bill comes from a family in the business: his father and grandfather were general contractors. He got the most thankless tasks during his teenage summers at his father’s job sites. In retrospect, it was a great way to instill understanding and respect for the profession. It was also a not-so-subtle hint from his father that he should be thinking about architecture school instead.

In this episode we discuss:

  • Bill’s journey of becoming an architect after working within a family lineage of construction workers
  • Why Bill chose architecture even though his passion for music was so strong
  • The story of TSX Broadway which includes:
    • navigating the challenges including the physical logistics and sequencing of such a project
    • demolishing an existing hotel that stood above the historic theater
    • digging 2 basement levels below the historic theater to install caissons 
    • why they decided to lift the iconic Palace Theater box 30 feet
    • building a new 3-story pre-function lobby to create opportunities for new audience experiences
    • building a new hotel
    • building the world’s largest LED-covered operable doors that reveal an elevated stage above Times Square
    • stories of collaboration and coordination of the complexity of the project between various stakeholders
    • how various stakeholders can add value to projects to make them extraordinary if they think outside “normal” boundaries
    • what working on “an iconic, kick-ass project” could do to people over such an extended project time line
    • an idea of the sheer number of building products in the project
    • the value of immersive software and physical mock-ups during the design process
    • teams of people with the daunting task of dealing with the thousands of building products on the project and their interface with other parts in assemblies
    • what Times Square was like when the COVID-19 lockdowns happened
  • Bill’s favorite part of the architecture & construction process
  • Bill’s answer for why someone should consider becoming an architect
  • Bill’s answer for why someone may want to consider becoming a leader of a firm
  • Bill’s insight into why someone may not want to consider becoming a leader of a firm
  • Bill’s megaphone message for the building industry to stop beating the crap out of each other

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