Archive for January, 2011

The beam early this afternoon. The underside had already been covered with the signatures of students, faculty and staff.

ACU’s students, faculty and staff had the rare opportunity Friday to make their mark — literally — on the new Royce and Pam Money Student Recreation and Wellness Center.

One perhaps little-known tradition for major construction projects is the “topping out” ceremony, the moment when the topmost piece of steel in a new facility is lifted into place. That day is coming soon, perhaps as early as next week, for the center.

Most ceremonies include placing a tree on top of the beam for a short while before planting it on the grounds of the new building. ACU plans to do that, as well, but added its own twist to the tradition this morning, when the steel beam was painted purple, brought onto campus, chained to a tree and left for students to sign however they saw fit.

Mark Lewis, assistant dean for Spiritual Life and Chapel programs, told students during Chapel that immediately afterward, they could immortalize their names, doodles, artwork, inspirational quotes or Scripture verses on the purple-painted steel.

Clint Coulter, junior exercise and sports science major from Celina, and his fiancée, Briana Sastre, junior psychology major from Carrollton, were the first students to sign the beam.

The immortalization will be mostly symbolic. As Physical Resources Director Scot Colley noted shortly before students swarmed the steel, it will be coated with gray fireproofing material, then placed at the very top of the structure and covered with drywall, brick and other materials. That knowledge didn’t stop Colley himself and several of his colleagues, including this blogger, from signing their names before Chapel ended.

Clint Coulter, junior exercise and sports science major from Celina, and his fiancée, Briana Sastre, junior psychology major from Carrollton, were the first students to discover the surprisingly unassuming piece of steel as it lay chained to a tree in the mall between Moody Coliseum and the GATA Fountain. Fittingly, Coulter will work in the center once it opens in the fall.

Within seconds, dozens of students were swarming the steel, and less than two hours later, signatures covered all eight surfaces of the I-beam, many of them simple names, but also social club braggadocio, messages to friends, even a duck.

Students — a trickle now, rather than a flood — continue to stop and add their names, append comments to others’ and continue a sort of campus conversation, one soon to be preserved for decades to come.

ACU's chancellor and the new facility's namesake, Dr. Royce Money, signs the beam.

It wasn't long before students made their permanent mark on the new facility.

The east-facing side of the building.

We will be posting updates on the construction of the Royce and Pam Money Student Recreation and Wellness Center at least biweekly beginning with today’s post. This will be one of several regular blog features we will roll out in the coming month.

Brickwork on the northwest corner of the center, future home of the Medical and Counseling Center for Care.

Northwest corner

• Medical and Counseling Center for Care
• Near Teague Special Events Center

Crews are installing brick on the outer wall (at right) and erecting drywall in what will become the new home of the ACU Counseling Center. The Medical Clinic will begin to take shape as crews will soon begin erecting the steel framing for that area.

Southwest corner

The southwest corner of the site, including brick on the exterior wall of the first floor and steel surrounding the future track on the second.

• Basketball gym, running track
• Near Moody Coliseum

Walls have been erected over the new basketball gym, and crews are installing the sprinkler system for the facility. On the second floor, portions of the running track have been poured.

Brick has also begun going up along the southwest side of the building that faces the campus mall. The outward appearance of the facility — especially the overhang that will cover a sidewalk along the center’s perimeter, similar to the south side of the Hunter Welcome Center — is becoming clearer.

Southeast corner

• Main entrance
• Near McGlothlin Campus Center and Chapel on the Hill

The main entrance and lobby of the SRWC will be in this area, which also includes the intramural offices and the juice bar. The cement floor has been poured, and crews have begun erecting the steel frame for the welcome area.

Further inside the building, the cardio/weight floor also has been poured, with crews erecting steel framing there, as well.

East-central face

The scaffolding provides an outline of what will become a giant wall of glass facing east. The skeleton of the center's southeast corner of the center in the background.

• Pools, bouldering wall, offices
• Faces ACU Drive and the Hunter Welcome Center

Perhaps the most anticipated part of the Student Recreation and Wellness Center is the entirely new east-central face, which will include the new leisure pool and bouldering wall, as well as new classrooms, faculty and staff offices.

The construction is also the most dynamic here, as scaffolding rings what will be a massive, curving glass wall separating the new pool from an outdoor patio. The top of the building here will be the highest point on the entire structure, and crews are erecting steel in this area, as well.

The northeast corner of the center, which will feature newly constructed lockers and showers.

The new pool has taken shape, as its concrete walls have been poured. The original pool is being renovated, and it will be used for competition and training.

Northeast corner

• Locker rooms, showers, racquetball courts,
• Near Eager Tennis Pavilion

Crews are installing electrical lines and plumbing, as well as erecting walls in this area.

Photos by Steve Butman (east face, northwest corner) and Paul A. Anthony (southwest and northeast corners).

A worker helps a crane guide a beam into place along the southeast wall of the new center, near Chapel on the Hill.

Construction on the Royce and Pam Money Student Recreation and Wellness Center continues to provide a striking alteration to the campus skyline. A crane working on placing beams onto the $21 million facility can be seen from miles away, and the expansion of the Gibson Health and Physical Education Center’s old footprint is now readily visible.

With so much activity taking place on the physical site, it only makes sense for activity to resume in earnest on this virtual home of the center. This blog will resume its weekly (and, we hope, more frequently than that) updates about the center but expand them to include not just progress on the construction, but also progress on the numerous other facets involved in opening a new facility. These include:

• Personnel changes and additions
• Curriculum adjustments
• New features
• New technology
• And many more.

We hope this blog will be a way for the building’s donors and prospective donors to see how well their money is being invested, as well as a way for those who eagerly anticipate using the facility to get something of a sneak peek as decisions are made and policies finalized heading toward the projected August 2011 opening.