June 10, 2013 · 10:05 pm

Methodical Progress – construction moves forward

Steel Rising

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 →

Leave a comment

Filed under Construction, Materials

June 3, 2013 · 11:10 pm

The Final Days – looking to the gran terminus

ancient civilizations

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 →

2 Comments

Filed under Construction

May 24, 2013 · 8:56 am

Stories through Symbols – history, thoughts, ideas, dreams

Symbols

Symbols have been around for a long time. Past cultures have embedded special meaning and spiritual significance into various symbols. We have been discovering these over time and the lasting symbols are those that were left by previous cultures in the form of art. The art has taken the form of pictographs, petroglyphs, images placed on pottery, patterns woven into fabrics and symbols carved on various surfaces.

The Visitor Center design has utilized much of the symbolism, philosophy and culture of the Chickasaw Nation. This symbolism has been incorporated subtly and boldly both inside and outside the project. Perhaps the most bold and graphic statement is incorporated into a functional element on the site. Continue reading →

Leave a comment

Filed under Background, Design

May 21, 2013 · 12:30 am

LEEDing to the Finish Line

Think Tank

The Think Tank

We are around 2 months away from substantial completion of the project. I will talk more about substantial completion in the coming weeks, but technically it is the point in the project when the Owner (i.e. Client) can take beneficial occupancy of the facility. We are down to the time of doting “I’s” and crossing “T’s.”

So, some of the I’s and T’s we need to check are where the Contractor is in their LEED due diligence for getting all the needed certification points that fall into their court. So we had a team meeting at FSB’s office to see where we all stood. The Think Tank assembled around the table is: Continue reading →

Leave a comment

Filed under Construction, Design, LEED ®

May 13, 2013 · 10:12 pm

Light Pollution – LEEDing concerns

Light Pollution from Space

Can you pick out the various continents in the images above? The difference between the night skies visible in the country versus within the city was our early clue of the excessive night-light being generated by urban environments. You could actually see the glow of the city on the horizon from the countryside. The greatest realization came with space travel when we could see the dramatic effects of light pollution in our urban environments from outer space.

Sustainability and LEED certification address this growing issue of light pollution Continue reading →

Leave a comment

Filed under Design, LEED ®

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 →

Leave a comment

Filed under Design, LEED ®

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 →

Leave a comment

Filed under Design, LEED ®, Materials

April 22, 2013 · 11:41 pm

Tracking LEED Credits – guest post / take one

 Derek and staff

I was recently contacted by a lady named Aundraya Ruse regarding the FSB Blog. She is with a company that provides software advice to clients and shared a recent article her company published about software tools that can help construction contractors track activities to properly achieve each LEED point for their project. I took a look and it was an interesting article. Our continued correspondence led to discussions about having them as a guest author on the FSB Blog.

She introduced me to Derek Singleton/ERP Analyst at Software Advice and we eventually had a telephone interview. He only had one photo of himself, so in order to make it into a collage I took the liberties of taking an Andy Warhol approach to manipulating the singular photo in my possession (sorry Aundraya). So here’s my interview with Derek. Continue reading →

Leave a comment

Filed under Construction, Guests, LEED ®

April 15, 2013 · 11:45 pm

LEEDing the Way – documentation

Cairn

It’s time to take a look at where we are on the path to LEED Certification. Early in the project going back to setting the goals with the client we collectively discussed the sustainability objectives for the project and it was decided to achieve one of the higher levels attainable. Then as a team we reviewed all the available LEED points and set a target for those points we would and could obtain. We identified the points necessary to achieve LEED Gold Certification. We initially set our sights higher than that but resolved after reviewing certain project constraints that we could handily go for gold.

The worksheet and narrative that we used to document our direction was published in our post “LEED-how green is green.” But you can go straight to the LEED Project Checklist by clicking “here.” So what happens next after you set your LEED point goals? Well at that point we incorporate the requirements whether it was energy efficiency, low-emitting materials or other credits into the design and construction documents; drawings and specifications which were explored in “Blueprints / what are they, what are they for.” Continue reading →

Leave a comment

Filed under Construction, LEED ®, Materials

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 →

Leave a comment

Filed under Background, Design