BUILT 2026: Downtown Engineers' First Annual Event

Held at Project Farmhouse inside the Hyatt Union Square in Lower Manhattan, BUILT gathered the people who shape the city's built environment for a night of conversation and a working session on what is changing in the field.

Ray Ramos, CEO of Downtown Engineers, presented his perspective on the changes to the new Energy Code, walking through what they mean for projects already in design and how teams can plan around them. The room was full of the clients and partners we work with day to day, which was the whole point: getting everyone who builds Downtown into the same space.

There was a fitting backdrop. A few steps from the event sat the Hyatt Union Square lobby, which Downtown Engineers delivered the MEP for and which had just won the 22nd Annual HD Award for interior design. Christian from Legeard Studio, the interior design firm behind the space, spoke and walked the room through how the project came together, near the award-winning lobby itself. Afterward, the evening continued at the lobby bar.

BUILT also marked a moment for the firm. The team has grown to 28 people, and in the first five months of 2026 we have already passed our full project total for all of 2025. We are now licensed in 49 of 50 states. BUILT is where we start turning that growth outward, into a community and an ecosystem of content, events, and experiences built with our partners.

We do not think an MEP design firm should deliver engineering and stop there. The name was not an accident. We want to bring knowledge to the people we work with, listen back, and build better together.

Thank you to every client who showed up, to the Downtown team, to the Project Farmhouse and Hyatt Union Square teams, to our partners Ephoca and Sanco2unit, and to the catering and audiovisual crews who made the night work.