This marks the second anniversary of the FSB Blog that launched two years ago in January of 2012. By all standards we have beaten the track record of the majority of blog launches that have not sustained this timeframe and many others that have not been able to maintain an unbroken string of a new post every week.
Thanks to all of you whether you are followers, fellow bloggers, Continue reading
Filed under Background, Design, Guests
Happy New Year
Kicking off a new year is always exciting; a fresh start, new hopes, new aspirations, getting out the black-eyed peas, remembering to put the correct new year on dated documents and making New Year’s resolutions.
“Set goals this New Year. Reflect on those things that will make a difference. Goals give your life direction. fcs”
For the Chickasaw Visitor Center the New Year was a milestone that signaled we were moving forward into another year of progress on the project. The first new year’s milestone in 2012 signaled the transition from schematic design (preliminary design) to design development (final design). The second New Year’s milestone in 2013 signaled construction was well on its way. Continue reading
Filed under Background, Construction, Design, LEED ®
What a scene to wake up to in this special and festive time of year; fresh unexpected snow on the ground for my visit to family in Greeley, Colorado. Wishing all of you a wonderful Holiday Season with your family and friends. With some reflective opportunity, let’s look at the events that shaped the Chickasaw Visitor during this time of year. Continue reading
Filed under Background, Design, LEED ®, Materials
Hindsight is 20/20; it doesn’t matter what you’re reflecting on. Compared to forecasting, the clarity of retrospect brings everything into crystal focus. Now that we are at the end of the ride for this project, the project schedule is a matter of pulling the dates of actual events and placing them into a timeline. The Gantt chart above is a documentation of those dates and events. This chart is a broad band look at the project with only the major activities noted. However Continue reading
Filed under Background, Design, Materials
Forecasting and projecting the anticipated course of a project is not an exact science. From experience, we know about how it is going to play out. But now that we are at the end of the trail, we can create an accurate reflection of exactly how we got here. We can retrace our course step by step. I am pulling together the milestones from all of the project phases we traipsed through to recreate the project schedule in reverse and see exactly what it took to get here. But let’s revisit the first activity of real substance Continue reading
Filed under Background, Design
While we continue to close the project out, there are a number of upcoming events.
Current Events
The facility has had its ribbon cutting and is open to visitors. However, we are still creating lists of incomplete items and/or items to be corrected (punch lists). The most recent visits have been to review the landscaping and landscape irrigation systems, gray water system and HVAC systems operation. There are new items to be corrected and a list of previous items that are still being corrected. The contractor still has a full-time superintendent on the job site overseeing this aspect of the work. Continue reading
Filed under Background, Construction, Guests, LEED ®
It is interesting to find parallels in cultures and experiences across the globe. I had the recent fortune to visit ancient cultures in Spain. The heart of Spain is Madrid its current capitol. It is literally in the geographic center of the country and is considered mile “0”. Continue reading
Filed under Background
Over the past year, the site has seen a major transformation from a dusty piece of property with concrete remnants left from a previous structure. It has been a while since we talked about exactly where this site is located. The site for the Chickasaw Nation Visitor Center is located in the town of Sulphur, Oklahoma. Sulphur is known as the City of Springs because of the local mineral waters and was initially named Sulphur Springs. Within twelve years of being formed as a township in 1892, the city has a unique history of being moved between three different sites. The population of Sulphur in 2009 was 4900. For you geomappers, the current location of Sulphur is 34˚30’33” N 96˚58’31”W on the globe. Continue reading
Filed under Background, Design
Piomingo-Chickasaw Pre-Removal War Chief at the Historic Capitol
We have been slogging down the path of sharing the adventure of taking a project from Vision to Reality with you for the past 92 posts which have spanned over the past 21 months. Through this time period we have explored the unfolding of a special project by sharing challenging activities along the way. However, it is easy to lose sight of why we are even able to share this project with you. Continue reading
Filed under Background
The Artesian Hotel was for many decades only a memory of a bygone era until the Chickasaw Nation decided it was time to recreate it on its original site. During its early days, the hotel was used as the Summer White House for Oklahoma’s first Governor Charles Haskell. The hotel was also a popular destination for prestigious guests that included John Wayne, Roy Rogers and Dale Evans to name a few.
The Artesian Hotel which first opened as the Winston Hotel in 1906 and was the brainchild of J.M Bayless and C.J. Webster who wanted to capitalize on the popularity of the natural springs that were a part of the new national park land that became known as Platt National Park. A significant number of interior pieces and furnishings used in the hotel came from the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair. The Artesian was in its hay day in the 20’s and 30’s and Platt National Park was only second to Yellowstone National Park in annual attendance. Continue reading
Filed under Background, Guests
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Design Matters 