Campus Construction

[HelmutVII]

Rose Garden work continues to progress.

This is the second building as seen from the east Harris Hall fire escape. University Ave is to the right. They were cleaning off the slab so they could layout the interior walls this morning.



The second building as seen from the north Harris Hall fire escape. University Ave. is to the rear.



The second building as seen from the north Harris Hall fire escape. University Ave is to the right. The first building is to the rear.



Starting to frame the third floor walls of the first Rose Garden building. The yellow wall adjacent to the elevator shaft to the right is a fire wall. University Ave is to the right and Randolph hall is behind the new building.



The future alley way between the two new rose garden buildings. In a few more weeks we will really start to see what the final product will look like.



Third floor framing has begun on the first rose garden building. Buchanan Hall is to the rear of the camera, Randolph Hall is to the left. (This is where Huger hall used to be).



Another view of the first Rose Garden building. Buchanan Hall is to the right. Randolph Hall is to the rear.



A view of the first Rose Garden building. University Ave is to the left, Randolph Hall is to the right and McKinley is to the far rear.



The first concrete block and brick courses on the first building. This has covered the water proofing shown last week. I would guess that the ground level weep holes will be in the next brick course. This should get them above the proposed finished grade around the building. They have sealed the water proofing membrane to the Tyvek building wrap placed around the first floor. Tyvek is the third level of water proofing placed on the building. Tyvek is good stuff, it's kind of like GoreTex for a building. It lets the building ventilate without letting moisture enter.




They have started to move students out of Buchanan and Harris Halls and they will start the renovation of these buildings soon. I don't know how much longer I will be able to access the Harris Hall fire escape. I might have to pull some strings.

[HelmutVII]

OOPS posted one photo twice.

[Turbine]

Does UL expect to make money or just pay for the buildings cost with future dorm income?

[Boomer]

Well with T-Joe's strategy of low cost build it now and very low interest build it now ---We might just do both!!!!!

[HelmutVII]

The Baker-Huger complex is finished. All areas are open and the parking lot behind Hamilton Hall is cleaned and being used by faculty and staff of Hamilton Hall. These photos will be the last of the Baker Huger complex I will post unless I see something going on. The area is very nice. When you out of town folks get into town, you should stop by and take a peek, it is really nice. Photographs do not give the scale of what has been done.

This is the entrance to the Bake Huger Common area from Hamilton Hall. Taft Street is to the far rear of the photo.



This is a patio in the Baker Huger common area.



This is the entrance from Taft Street. Hamilton Hall is to the rear of the photo.




This is Baker-Huger as seen from the top of the new parking garage (Olivier Parking Tower)

[HelmutVII]

Rose Garden construction continues.

This is a view of the construction from the top of the Olivier Parking Tower. Buchanan Hall is to the left and the roof of Harris Hall is to the right.



First floor framing of the second building continues. They will be starting to deck out this week if all goes well. As seen from the east Harris Hall fire escape. University Ave. is to the rear and right .



Another view of the first floor framing of the second building. As seen from the north Harris Hall fire escape. University Ave. is to the rear of the building. This is where Bonin Hall used to be.



The remainder of the first floor of the second building. Still plenty of framing to do . The stair well to the left is where Evangeline Hall used to be.




The elevator shaft and stair wells of the first building are being swallowed by wood framing. To the right of the building is the third floor framing. One and a half more floors to go.



First building to the left and second to the right. Alley is between the two. University Ave is to the far rear of the photo. This is as seen from the Student Union service drive.



First building as seen from the University Ave/Hebrard Blvd. Intersection. Randolph Hall is to the right, University is to the left and Taft is to the far rear of the photo.




Lots of cut offs at the cutting station. Plenty of saw dust too. they will be here for a while.




OOPS, somebody hit the corner with a piece of equipment. I guess there might be a brick layer or two hanging around to fix it The plywood with caution tape in the background is protecting Buchanan Hall from the same. It's a pretty tight squeeze between Buchanan and the new building.

[RaginFan2]

What amazing progress in a year's time!

[HelmutVII]

They were really smoking yesterday, Saturday Jan. 21, They started work this morning Suday Jan 22 but apparently a neighbor must have complained about the noise and they were shut down tight as a drum by noon. They started with the renovation work on Harris and Randolph Halls this past week and as a result placed fencing around both buildings. Since they were shut down all the gates were locked and I couldn't get into my usual view points. So some different views this week.

This is a view of the first building from the corner of Hebrard Blvd and University. They are up to the fourth and final level at this location of the building and started to place roof trusses. Tyvek wrap continues to get higher.




This is a view from the Student Union Service Drive off of Boucher Street showing building 1 on the left and building 2 on the right. It looks like the combined both crews to concentrate on building 1. They are probably looking to get it out of the weather so they can work through the rest of the winter.



Building 2 showing not much progress over the last week.



Another view of building 2 with Harris Hall on the right. I usually take photos from the Harris Hall fire escape.



Another vier of the two buildings from Boucher Street. McLaren Gym is to the left and out of sight of the camera and Harris Hall is to the right of the photo.



A view of building 1 reaching the fourth and final level.



More water proofing of concrete masonry units. They will continue this the full height of the building.

[ulforlife]

this commercial construction is a whole different ballgame, I can't imagine the scheduling it takes

[HelmutVII]

Scheduling in commercial construction is the key. The Framing contractor has the electrical, mechanical and plumbing contractors chasing him with rough in. They in turn have the sheet rock and finishing contractors after them who have the electrical, mechanical and plumbing contractors after them so they can do installs. They in turn have the painting contractor after them so he can finish. It looks like a a bunch of ants crawling all over the place but they eventually get it all done. Along with the general superintendent there are at least 4 or five other guys in the job shack making sure that everybody is doing what they are supposed to do. Every sub contractor has a superintendent that not only makes sure he has enough people on the job but has all the materials he needs and a place to store it. He also needs to make sure that there is equipment and tools on site too. Labor, materials, equipment where and when you need it and the space to work and store "stuff" when you don't.

A big problem on jobs like this is if a sub shows up early (because he doesn't have anything else to do and he needs to keep his workers busy) or if he is late because he is busy trying to finish another job. Early is bad but late is worse.

Today I had a call from a contractor on one of my projects needing layout staking for a drainage project so he could work TODAY. It's a good thing he called early this morning and I could reschedule and get it done. It's not that he showed up early it's just that he showed up unexpectedly. It would have been nice if he would have called on Thursday or Friday but that's the way it is.

[HelmutVII]

Renovation work on Randolph and Harris Hall has started. Randolph Hall is having asbestos removed, they haven't started asbestos removal in Harris Hall yet.

This is a view from the University Ave Hebrard Blvd intersection. Randolph Hall is to the right and University Ave is to the left. Roof trusses are on this section of the building and the roof is decked as you will see later.



View of the first building as seen from the steps to the Saucier Clinic building.



View of the first building as seen from the North Harris Hall fire escape.



Nailing OSB sheeting on the exterior of the fourth floor. At least he had his safety line on but it needs to be closer to him.



View of first building from the top of Olivier Parking Tower. Roof of the student union is in the foreground. Buchanan Hall is to the left. Roof is decked on both sides and should be felted in the next few days.




View of second building from the north Harris Hall fire escape.



View of second building from the east Harris Hall fire escape. This is where Bonin Hall used to be. The trees behind the building are along University Ave.



Another view of the second building from the east Harris Hall fire escape. Trees to the right are along University Ave.



Wind bracing on the first floor of the second rose garden building. As seen from the north Harris Hall fire escape.



View of construction from my driveway. The traffic cone is from the University Ave overlay project.



The oak trees are so large I really can't see any more of the new buildings then the old buildings.

[HelmutVII]

Three inches of rain on Saturday February 4 put a damper on work this past week but they still have made good progress. It looks like the two Rose Garden buildings will be named Bonin and Corona Halls although I don't know which one is which. Corona Hall is one of the eyesore buildings in the student union complex. I was expecting one of them to be named Evangeline Hall.

This is Building 1 as seen from the University Ave. Hebrard Blvd intersection. University is to the left and Randolph Hall is to the right.



The first building as seen from the Saucier Clinic steps.



The first building as seen from the Student Union service drive.



The first building as seen from the top of the Olivier Parking Tower. (Olivier hall is another of the Student Union eysore buildings)



Half of the roof is totally shingled and that portion of the building is getting windows installed. Looks like they are really trying to get out of the weather.

The second building as seen from the Student Union service drive.



The second building as seen from north Harris Hall fire escape. University Ave is to the rear of this building. (where Bonin Hall used to be).



The second building as seen from the north Harris Hall fire escape. The first building is to the rear.



Here are some building components up close.

These are the "eyebrow" convection roof air vents. One of the workers at the fab shop wrote "Made in USA" on it. I should have taken a photo of it.



Fan driven roof discharge air vents.



A pallet of what was about 60 Precast stone sills.