It has been a little while since we've posted anything on this project. If you need a refresher the original post is here. 

The penthouse/ light shaft is...

Very tall! The new structural elements are exposed throughout in homage to the exposed bar joists of the existing roof. This also allows visitors to "read" the building and understand the changes that have been made to it.

As the new beams go down the length of the corridor they also form the top of the office walls and are visible from inside and outside.

Within the office the new last new beam is visible adjacent to the first existing bar joist. Again the structure was left exposed. The structural elements also bring the only bits of color into the space in order for the production space to have the most neutral light possible. Remotely operated shades will be installed at all new and existing windows to allow all natural light to be cut off.

Above is a view of the production space and the projection wall / "green" screen. A pair of salvaged existing bar joists will be added at either side to facilitate the track to raise and lower various backgrounds and to versitility in the attachement of light at either side of the wall. A large high-power digital projector is mounted on the ceiling opposite the wall so that it can be used as a giant projection screen. This projector and the associated audio compnants can be controlled from any of the offices and the conference room.

To make that happen in addition to allowing all the offices/editing suites to be interconnected there is a lot of data wiring running all over this building. The above photo shows just a hint of whats required to have a fully connected work space. This is a great looking space and we'll be posting more photos as it nears completion of the first phase. Check out the Facebook page for some more pictures of the progress!

There are a lot of cool things out there, products especially, that we come across in magazines, blogs or just cruising around the web and its tough to keep track of them or recall them when you might be able to use them in a project or show them to a client. Sure you could bookmark them on your computer or create a list of links on the server somewhere but this is architecture and we are visual people. We wanted a way to display these things that was better than the average tack board or white board so we called up a steel fabricator that we've worked with before to see if he had any scrap we might be able to use...

He had some sheets of thinner sheet metal that had already been cut for another project but were not used in the end.  We had planned on some kind of hanging panel but were thinking thicker stock that we'd be able to bolt through of tack weld a tab on the back of to hang it. The thinner material had a little flex to it so to correct that and to give us a way to hang them we had them bent at the top and bottom.

We spanned cable from the floor to ceilng and used cable stops to hold them in the right place and turn-buckles at the floor to keep them from swining into the wall. Building things in the office is a lot of fun, it is nice to get out from in front of the computer every once in a while. The installation turned out really clean and we're thinking this is certainly something we could use in a project some time...

We haven't quite figured out what to do with the second set (we were only planning on having one set but there were 8 pieces of steel and we got a really good deal on it so ...) yet, maybe images of completed projects, construction photos or photos of our pets? Who knows?

We love them and are excited about filling them up. If you've got something you think needs to go on them come on by the office, we love having visiters and looking at cool things!

A beautiful day for a site visit out at Lake Quivira. The warm weather means construction hasn't skipped a beat.

The front isn't a whole lot more complete with the exception of the stone work. Because there is a belt of cast stone between the stone and stucco, the mason can only go so far and the stucco can't be started until that is installed. 

The stone work on the base has also advanced as fas as it can until the cast stone is installed. We're reviewing shop drawings and trying to speed that process along as mush as possible but there are a lot of different pieces and shapes.

A closeup of the weeps at the base of the wall and a cool image. Look at the color of that stone!

Just to give you an idea of the scale of this project, here is the electrical service coming into the house. There are over 7 miles of electrical, data and cable installed already. These are divided among 240 different circuits, some of which will also be on the back up generator. There are some busy electricians on the jobsite...

A panoramic photo from the street below to go out on. Stone on the house is just about done, the chimney and the exterior fireplaces are complete already...whew!

As always we'll add the photos to the Facebook page. Got take a look and let us know what you think.

With the pool issue resolved, Hurst Construction has taken advantage of the unseasonably warm weather to pour the foundations and start the framing.

The screened porch foundation is sitting on a pool full of concrete.  

The retaining walls on the south side of the house create a lawn that will help replace some of the backyard that will be taken up with the new screened porch and patio.