Babar en avion -- November 21, 2011

Babar was discovered behind the loft in the former First Grade Classroom. He will soon be behind wallboard again preserved for the next renovation project.

Chimney -- November 21, 2011

Poof, the west chimney is no more.

The loft area is quite spacious without the center core chimney. Our makeshift skylight of plastic adds the designer touch.

Chimney bricks have been partially cleaned and stacked under the library skylight. The core support below the roof line will be built of masonry block and the bricks will be recycled to complete the portion of the chimney extending above the roof line.

Now that the temporary steel supports buttressing the chimney have been removed the crew can install the final loft roof support. These steel I bars enable us to remove all the former wood ceiling supports and provide more flexible classroom space. Monarc was able to sell the wood supports to a carpenter who will recycle the posts into furniture.

Interactive White Boards -- November 21, 2011

The School has selected Epson Brightlink Interactive Projectors for the renovated classrooms in the Dent Building. Thanks to the teachers that helped in evaluating the product:

Second Grade: Krysta French
Third Grade: Sydney Daniels
Fifth Grade: Beth Nalker
Mathematics: Cheryl Fricchione

Coordinating the installation requirements to provide guidance to the Monarc Construction team are John Duffy, Vice-President, Computerware, Robin McGrew, cox graae + spaak,the School's lead architect, Tom Patterson, President, Dancing Wave Media Systems, and Mark Bellingham, Project Manager, Monarc Construction. Even with renovated classrooms each installation required a slight tweak here or there to get the boards installed in the most effective manner.

At Grade Access -- November 11, 2011

Work continues on the at grade access to the School through the rear entrance connecting to the sidewalk on 2nd Street, SE.

Chimneys Ahoy! -- November 7, 2011

4th Floor, West Chimney. The library is to the right and the corridor leading to the former Humanities classroom is on the left.

The Library.

The Library.

West side of the School looking across 2nd Street, SE. The chimney tilts towards South Carolina Avenue, SE.



In my October 19th post I included a photograph showing the masonry beginning to bulge on the 4th floor's west chimney. The situation quickly deteriorated as the wall began to fail. With the wall bulging out to the north not unsurprisingly the chimney above the roof line began a serious tilt south. Monarc Construction was quick to provide progressively more substantial supports to buttress the wall and hold the chimney in place.

Initially in the design process the School's architects and engineers planned to take down the chimneys as we rebuilt the structural supports through the center of the School to open up space for enlarged classrooms. The chimneys would then be reconstructed. As the project underwent the value-engineering (VE) process we decided on a different approach, one that would retain enough of the chimneys' core to support new structural steel and the existing chimneys. This approach, we expected, would save time and cost less than dismantling and rebuilding the chimneys. Once the wallboard was removed from the west chimney on Levels Three and Four and the cutting began Monarc Construction concluded the remaining bricks and very old mortar were not stable enough to carry the load. When the wall on the 4th floor began to buckle and the chimney began to tilt work in this area was stopped until the experts completed their review and proposed solutions.

Linton Engineering LLC examined the crumbling structure, the original architectural plans, completed then reviewed its recommendations with cox graae + spaak, the School's architects, Monarc Construction,the contractor, and the School's project management team. For the west chimney, then, we return to our original design: the chimney above the roof line will be taken down and the interior chimney supports will be dropped down to Level 3. Level 4 supports will be rebuilt with reinforced masonry block of sufficient strength to support a reconstructed chimney. The east chimney, which was damaged in the earthquake, will also be reinforced.

At Grade Access -- Progress! November 7, 2011

One of the more difficult issues in adapting a turn-of-the century structure for contemporary use has been at-grade access to the Dent Building and each of its four levels.

The School considered several alternatives to access through the front door within the guidelines provided by the Historic Preservation Review Board (HPRB) and found none satisfactory. We opted to revive an old design dating from the 1998-2000 renovations, an at-grade entrance to the lower level of the Dent Building off 2nd Street. We will install an elevator in the building to serve all four floors. When the renovations are complete Dent will be fully accessible and the School will be in voluntary compliance with 2010 ADA Standards for Accessible Design for Commercial Facilities.