Editorial Writing for Built Environment Publications

As a construction editorial writer, Sean tells the story of amazing projects and the people behind them. Writing editorial involves encapsulating technical specifics related to architecture, engineering, and construction into compelling, factual, reader-ready articles. Quality editorial informs, inspires, and entertains in equal measure. Consequently, every publication has a distinct market focus and brand ethos that must be imbued in the content. 

From education to infrastructure

This work requires knowledge of the built environment’s many facets, as well as the people reading the articles in each publication. Understanding the audience begins with understanding the readers’ interests, challenges, and commonalities. Then it expands to the publisher’s workflow, capacity, and expectations. Assuring that the writing is informative, factual, and non-biased is a delicate exercise. It involves a combination of experience, intuition, and finesse not easily obtained. Having authored hundreds of features, thought leadership pieces, roundtable conversations, and paid advertorial pieces, Sean writes stories that align with the tone, tempo, and tacit nuances of the subject and situation subliminally. 

and the MEP in between

After Sean is briefed, the interview participants are introduced by the editor. From there, the research, interview, and review coordination are seamless. Once written, factual reviews with participants assure accuracy. Somewhere in-between journalism and marketing, the fundamental thesis of my writing across all forms and functions of the Built Environment is that People Make Projects. Sean’s work is turn-key. He accepts architecture and construction editorial assignments, coordinates interviews, executes, reviews, and returns to the editor a Reader-ready article, generally in a non-iterative process. 

Sean O’Keefe Communications and Strategy knows the AEC industry inside and out.

Assignments include thoughtful, informative editorial and dynamic, engaging round table conversation with industry leaders, and compelling, client-sponsored content with third-party subject matter experts. from education to infrastructure and the MEP in between, Sean knows the AEC industry inside and out. For more than a decade Sean has filled construction and design editorial assignments for dozens of publishers without a single missed deadline.

If you need a construction editorial writer, you will not find a more qualified resource than Sean O’Keefe Communication and Strategy.

Custom Residential Technology Magazine
Concentrating on custom residential and technology, Technology Designer funnels up to one of the home building industry’s largest tradeshows. Features articles profile projects and the people behind them.  Product articles share insight into market innovations. A win-win, this publication deftly informs the industry while increasing tradeshow attendance and sponsorship. Feature articles profiling products, firms, and projects at the intersection of custom residential and cutting-edge technology.

Ripple Effect: Architectural Editorial

exploring the principles of passive house design with Shape Architecture Studio

By Sean O’Keefe

Primary among the prevailing principles of residential design, the first choice a custom homeowner must make is which way to go. Be it a site and a dream, or a vision and a budget, before choosing between countertops and faucets, lights, and range hoods, the process for custom residential architecture begins with hiring a trusted advisor. Some elect to start with a builder, others hire an architect, but all who wish to own a home built for themselves must begin the journey by choosing an expert in the type of home they want and building a relationship with them.

Steve Scribner, AIA, LEED AP, CPHD, Principal of Shape Architecture Studio sees the first step as the most important.

“The first conversations with a client, discovering their site, their dreams, and vision is exhilarating,” says Scribner of a process that is often so exciting for clients that they have a hard time containing themselves. “Honestly, it’s important to try to slow them down a bit. Anybody can point out the site’s amazing views or their picture-perfect kitchen pulled from the pages of a magazine, but in a client-driven process there are deeper questions about how homeowners are going to spend their time in the house.”

Click lower image to read full article as published in Technology Designer.

Public Works and Infrastructure Magazine 
Focused on Colorado’s public infrastructure and the firms, suppliers, and associations that provide industry support, CPWJ is recognized for thoughtful, informative, news desk content. From large-scale civic infrastructure like Central 70 to ambitious maybes like the Front Range Passenger Rail, CPWJ keeps a pulse on what’s happening, what’s possible, and who is in charge on all things infrastructure. Feature articles have included project profiles of complex construction and design assignments including Central-70, National Western, and the Colorado Power Pathways project. CPWJ’s long-running editorial series, Industry Insights connects Coloradans with state infrastructure leaders across all segments of public-private investment from the heads of CDOT, DEN, and RTD to the leadership from Xcel Energy, Denver Water and many more.

Vision 100: Infrastructure Editorial

taking a long view, DEN expands significantly

By Sean O’Keefe

When Chief Executive Officer Phil Washington took the helm at Denver International Airport (airport code DEN) in July 2021, he became the first mayoral appointee through the Denver City Council’s new voter-backed confirmation process. Once the fanfare settled, Washington turned to the team of some 30,000 badged DEN employees and proposed a singular mission-driven vision for the future of DEN, the great gateway to the sky that it is.

“The airport opened in 1995, so we are in our twenties now,” says Stu Williams, Senior Vice President of Airport Expansion. In the 27 years since the airport has grown from 33.1 million annual passengers to a pre-pandemic high of 69 million. “When Phil came in, he put forth Vision 100, an ambition to grow DEN to one hundred million annual passengers. The Concourse Expansion Program adds 39 new gates to the airport. For perspective, this expansion alone is bigger than Ronald Reagan International Airport in D.C.”

Click lower image to read full article as published in Colorado Public Works Journal

Regional Design Magazine
Easily mistaken for a Conde Nast product at Whole Foods, Modern In Denver is the coolest, small-scale publication around. Focused on modern architecture in any form, this publication appreciates energic, vibey writing that connects readers to the now of design with lyrical intent. Morden in Denver makes its mark by concentrating on design with a big D. The publisher puts every effort into sourcing the finest images and premium copy before hand-mixing them in an alchemy of space, place and purpose that looks better on the page than in reality. Feature articles profiling Colorado’s coolest architectural innovations, practices, and personalities with a thoughtful appreciation for the craft and consequence in the choices made.

Sweat Equity

BOSS.architecture riffs on the rhythm and rhyme of design

By Sean O’Keefe

Building a business is a lot like building a building. Both require perspective, perseverance, and a pragmatic understanding of what either is designed to do. At BOSS.architecture the mission is simple – handcrafted architecture hewn from context and consideration. It’s an authentic ethos; one that permeates the firm’s presence and people now residing park side in a workplace respite that proclaims neither old nor new.

The firm started in 2009 as Kevin and Chris, Stephenson and Davis, respectively, but has now become something more. Though Stephenson begins the telling, Davis slides in synchro-harmoniously, not as though finishing a thought, but rather adding depth by driving it in a different direction altogether – like the Beastie Boys of Architecture.

“We carry different workloads and sort of bicker back and forth like an old married couple most of the time,” says Kevin, who admits that he’s sort of the Technical Director, though mostly he’s an architect.

Click lower image to read article as published in Modern In Denver Magazine.

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