A significant portion of the building will be clad with stone veneer. I estimate that it is equivalent to about 40% of the exterior of the Visitor Center. The stone provides an esthetic quality to the building, contributes to the overall thermal value of the wall assembly and functions as a component of the rain wall system although not the most efficient material in this application. Continue reading
Filed under Construction, LEED ®, Materials
The building envelope, the exterior skin, is slowly closing up. The exterior walls of the lower office area are getting pretty solid. The final exterior finish of stone veneer still needs to be put in place. The window openings are recognizable but the aluminum frames and glass are not in place.
The portion of the building that is still wide open is the high volume Gallery area on the upper level. While there are some solid walls in the Gallery, the walls consist mostly of large expanses of glass in aluminum curtain wall framing. While the framing is just beginning to go in, you can sense the transparency and views that there will be in the finished Gallery. Continue reading
Filed under Construction, Materials
We are picking up where we left off on construction activity. It has been several weeks and during that period we took a healthy diversion looking into LEED; how we were getting the points and where we stood on achieving our certification goal. That story is not over yet; we know pretty much where we are from a design standpoint, but the construction points are still being validated.
The last view of the project was that of the steel structure topping out and the roof decking going on creating a blanket over the roof framing in “Taking It to the Next Level.” The building was ready for the interior guts and exterior envelope to be put into place. These activities started on the lower level of the Visitor Center and will be spreading to the upper level. Continue reading
Filed under Construction, Materials
Ancient Civilizations A World Apart
Having spent the last week tromping around Roman ruins (the last post was sent to you from Roma), there is a poignant meaning to the final days. The end of an empire, the end of a life style and the end of everything as they knew it before plunging in to a dark period in history. While we are in the final days of our project, it represents not only the end, but also the beginning. The end of a long journey and the beginning of a new building giving life to the region. A celebration of sharing new experiences and adventures. The roots of this project and the culture of the Chickasaw Nation go back in time parallel to the history of the ancient European empires.
We are in fact reaching the final days of the Chickasaw Visitor Center project that we have been tracking for over 18 months. So here’s what’s ahead. Continue reading
Filed under Construction
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Design Matters 