Category Archives: Design

May 6, 2013 · 11:26 pm

Optimizing Energy Performance – the big score

grass, earth and sky

Counting LEED credits can be nerve-racking. Do we have enough to get the LEED certification level that has been our goal. The closer the project gets to completion, you begin to find out that you either have the credits or you don’t. And if some credits are becoming questionable, you may be running out of time to make sure that you have them bagged.

Well, we are in the final tally stage of the project and we find ourselves asking questions like, “I thought we had that point. How did it slip through our fingers? Or, can we still find a way to get that one? Or, Yes! We’ve got that one in the bag.” Continue reading →

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April 29, 2013 · 11:22 pm

LEEDing Us to Water – minding conservation

Water Conservation

In the developed world where most of us reading this post live, we tend to take clean water for granted. And we are often wasteful. We even pay crazy prices for it packaged in plastic bottles. Natural mineral water has been elevated to a gourmet status with bottling and labeling rivaling what we find on fine wine racks.

We don’t think much about water consumption in general when in fact globally water is scarce. This is a cruel fact when you consider that nearly 1 billion people in developing countries across the globe do not have access to it. For them, clean, safe drinking water is seriously scarce. Continue reading →

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April 8, 2013 · 9:38 pm

Purpose and Place – what is it about

Chickasaw Warrior

Chukma (welcome)

We have been discussing the Visitor Center project now for over a year and reviewing the progress of the construction for the past 6 months. But it’s easy to lose sight over what the project is about and who it’s for. I thought we would refresh ourselves on both of these subjects.

Who is the project for… Continue reading →

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April 1, 2013 · 10:45 pm

Taking It to the Next Level

cover beam

While the Visitor Center overall is a split level, each of the two levels is basically a one story structure. The level above the floor slab in our case is the roof plane. So taking it to the next level and for us the highest level of the project means topping out the building with the roof structure. Continue reading →

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March 26, 2013 · 9:27 am

Composite Construction – materials acting in unison

IMG_4667

Concrete slabs on grade are one thing, but elevated concrete slabs are quite another.  Concrete slabs on grade are supported by the earth over which they are poured. There is attention given to preparing the sub-grades for proper support and stability. Elevated slabs must be supported by a structural system of beams and columns or load bearing walls. In our case, the elevated slab of the Gallery area is being supported by beams that are supported by a combination of interior steel columns and cast-in-place concrete load bearing walls around the perimeter of the building. Continue reading →

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March 18, 2013 · 11:16 pm

Making the Connection

CN-VC Workmen

The project is in the stages of steel erection and the vertical columns are pretty much in place. As the steel members meet with other steel members or portions of the building, it’s all about making the connections; how the members fasten to one another. The horizontal steel is now going in and the first order of business is installing the floor beams for the Gallery space. In the sketch above, there are workmen that are part of the steel erection team and in the background is the familiar sign for the local business serving morning sweet deights; the Donut Shop. The floor beams are installed and the metal decking is being put into place over the beams. The elevated concrete slab will be poured over the metal deck and will become the floor surface for the Gallery. Continue reading →

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March 4, 2013 · 10:54 pm

The Vertical Ascent – steel rising skyward

Reaching Skyward

The structural steel and its installation at the job site is one of the major construction activities that have been ongoing in recent weeks. The steel pieces had been previously delivered to the job and were being stored in available open areas on the very space constrained site for the Visitor Center. Two groups of steel have been placed first. The vertical steel columns surrounding the high bay Gallery area and the horizontal beams that will support the raised floor slab in the same high bay Gallery area. Continue reading →

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February 11, 2013 · 10:05 pm

Transparency – seeing through it all

Gallery-west end

The Gallery space is surrounded by exterior walls of glass. The configuration of this space and the resulting amount of glass was by design. The concept for this space and the goals for the building as a whole go back to the Visioning phase of the project. Continue reading →

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January 22, 2013 · 11:50 am

Other Underground Movements

Floor Plan

There are other things moving about underground at the Visitor Center. Within the assembly of the building, there are several other systems moving about under the floor slabs.

  • Storm Drain Lines
  • Sanitary Sewer Lines
  • Grey Water Lines
  • Conduits for Power
  • Conduits for Communications/Data

Throughout design and the development of construction drawings there is a lot of planning that goes into systems integration and coordination and how all these building systems are woven together in a tidy manner. Within the construction sequence, the building must be layered from the ground up and there are certain systems that must go into the ground before being covered up. This post focuses on the systems that are placed underneath the concrete slab on grade. Continue reading →

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January 7, 2013 · 10:26 pm

Infiltration – an underground movement

WP Photo-1

One of the feared and dreaded infiltration movements in architecture is the movement of moisture into a building. Keeping water out of buildings is a constant vigil within the industry. We’ll take a look at how stopping this movement below the surface, underground, has been addressed. A fair amount of the underground waterproofing has been installed at the Visitor Center at this point; particularly on the north side of the project where the building is tucked into the sloping site.

No one wants to hear the words “roof leak, window leak, wall leak or any other kind of leak” that shows up as stained ceilings, stained walls, wet carpet or worse. However, one of our more noted colleagues, Frank Lloyd Wright once said, “if the roof doesn’t leak, the architect hasn’t been creative enough.” Frank is certainly known for his creative architecture, but may also have a share of famous buildings that have experienced water infiltration.

Aevar Hardarson, an architect and research fellow at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, took a shot at providing insights to this problem area in a doctorial study Continue reading →

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