Archive for ‘Construction’

You’d be hard-pressed to find many relics of Viking heritage in West Texas, but for the next few days, one sits atop the newest building at Abilene Christian University.

In a ceremony born from ancient Scandinavians’ love for evergreen trees and carried through the generations to America by the immigrant ironworkers who helped build New York’s tallest skyscrapers, ACU and its contractor celebrated Friday the installation of the top-most piece of steel on a sprawling new wellness center.

“Mark this date,” said Dr. Jean-Noel Thompson, vice president and dean of Student Life. “Feb. 18, 2011, is one to remember. Today marks an important milestone in the life of the Royce and Pam Money Student Recreation and Wellness Center.”

Crews lifted the tree into place using the massive crane that has dominated the Abilene skyline for months — and which has captivated campus residents as it has lifted beam after beam of steel into place on the $21 million facility — as members of the ACU community, ranging from students to members of the Board of Trustees, applauded during what is known in the construction industry as a “topping-out” ceremony.

The topping-out beam itself was visible from the parking lot in front of the construction site, its purple hue standing out from its neighbors at the top of the structure’s east face. The beam spent nearly a week on the campus mall earlier this month, allowing hundreds of students, faculty and staff to sign their names before crews hoisted it to its place 35 feet above what will soon be a new leisure pool in the facility. The signatures, however, will soon be invisible; the beam is set to be covered with fireproofing material and buried within the walls of the wellness center, which is scheduled to open in late August or early September.

Phil Boone, vice president of Advancement, introduces four members of ACU's Board of Trustees, all of them among the lead donors to to the wellness center (l to r): Dale Brown, Billy Busch, Rick Wessell and April Anthony. Dr. Jean-Noel Thompson, vice president and dean of Student Life, and Students' Association president Samuel Palomares look on.

The brief ceremony also recognized some of the facility’s lead donors to date: April Anthony, Dale Brown, Billy Bush and Rick Wessell, members of the Board of Trustees who collectively have given more than $8 million to the project.

“We’re inching closer to going over the $15 million mark” in funds raised for the facility, said Phil Boone, vice president of Advancement. “Our next topping out ceremony will come when we go over full funding.”

The 113,000-square-foot expansion of the Gibson Health and Physical Education Center has been enormously complex, said Brian Cook, vice president and Texas division manager for HOAR Construction, the contractor for the project. Cook cited as an example the pouring of a concrete base above the new pool at the top of the building, 35 feet above ground.

Thus far, crews have expended more than 100,000 man-hours in constructing the facility, Cook said.

“We have had no major incidents or injuries,” he said, “and that’s an amazing success so far.”

The evergreen tree — which Thompson said he sees as a symbol of “the life God gives us,” as well as the university’s mission to “nourish mind, body and soul” through the wellness center — ultimately will be planted on campus, leading Thompson to address ACU’s grounds crews.

“Do all you can to keep the tree alive,” he joked, “or it will kill my analogy.”

Photos by Gary Rhodes.

Crews have begun installing yellow sheetrock over the fireproofed steel beams of the center's southwest corner.

The Feb. 1 snowstorm, which shut down most of Abilene for four days, had its affects on the Royce and Pam Money Student Recreation and Wellness Center, as well.

Work on the facility was set back four days because of the icy conditions, pushing the projected opening into the first week of September, said Dr. Jean-Noel Thompson, vice president and dean of Student Life.

“Our goal is to have the certificate of occupancy in mid August,” Thompson said. “In terms of moving in for a turn-key opening, we’re looking at the end of August or the first week of September.”

The original completion date in ACU’s contract with the site’s contractors was Aug. 1, with leeway built in for weather delays to push that deeper into the summer. Thus far, weather — including this month’s historic ice, snow and bitter cold — has delayed the project between nine and 13 days, Thompson said.

With warmer, sunnier days here again, construction has resumed its seemingly frenetic pace. Crews continue to erect steel beams all over the facility in hopes of placing the last beam before the end of the month. Here is a brief update on where construction stands as of Wednesday:

Northwest corner

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

Steel framing has begun forming the facility’s medical space, with fireproofing materials following shortly behind. Work on cast stone and brick continues in this area, which remains the furthest along — at least by appearances from the exterior.

Southwest corner

• Basketball gym, running track
• Near Moody Coliseum

Work continues on installing bricks and cast stone, and the second floor, which includes the elevated running track, continues to take shape.

Southeast corner

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

Crews continue to erect steel framing in this area.

East-central face

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

Steel framing continues to go up here, capping with the placement Friday of the top-most beam in the facility, the reason for tomorrow’s topping out ceremony. Crews continue to cover the steel with fireproofing material, the grayish white substance that now covers many of the beams visible at the site. Structural concrete for the second floor will soon be poured, and crews have begun installing drywall in what will be the facility’s classrooms and faculty/staff offices.

Northeast corner

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

Steel is going up in this area, as well, with roof installation to begin shortly.

The topping out ceremony — the moment when the top-most beam in the Money Student Recreation and Wellness Center will be added to the steel skeleton that sprawls east of Moody Coliseum — will take place Friday.

The short ceremony will be emceed by Dr. Jean-Noel Thompson, vice president and dean of student life. Attendees are expected to include ACU’s president, Dr. Phil Schubert; members of the Board of Trustees, including the facility’s lead donors, April Anthony (no relation) and Dale Brown; and the facility’s namesake, chancellor and former president Dr. Royce Money with his wife, Pam.

Festivities are scheduled to begin at 11:40 a.m., giving interested students time to make their way from Chapel.

The highlight of the ceremony will be the placement of a ceremonial tree atop the beam, which was signed by ACU students, faculty and staff over several days last week. The tree eventually will be planted on campus. We’ll bring you photos from the ceremony shortly after its scheduled completion at noon Friday.

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).