Building Update - August 24, 2018

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“It looks like a building!” After weeks of seeing only a slab of concrete on our property, it is so exciting to see an actual structure taking shape! This week more progress was made. We held our 20th meeting with the builder (Highland Builders) on Thursday, Aug. 16. Our pattern is to hold meetings every two weeks on Thursday. Then on the off week I write a building update. Even in weeks that we don’t have a scheduled meeting, I still find myself going to the property on my way to work Thursday mornings.

The outside steel structure is mostly completed and will be finished by the end of this week or the first of next week. The windows have been framed in; the ductwork for the air-conditioning and heating has been completed; and the air-conditioning and heating units have arrived. As you can imagine, to heat and cool a building this size (17,000 square feet) requires a lot of muscle, especially for cooling. The heating is minimal when you live in this part of the country, but air-conditioning is extremely important. I counted eight large units sitting in the parking lot waiting to be placed on the roof. These should be up early next week.

Once the outside is completely framed, the outside skin will be put in place, which will be followed by the stone and masonry exterior. We are at a critical point in the building when it comes to making any changes. Several from the Media department were on the property this morning, checking out the details in the new studio. We have to make sure all electrical plugs are in the right locations and that all the walls are where they should be.

Even though the plans have been completed for several weeks, there are still details that can slip through the cracks. One detail that had to be decided was the height of the studio ceiling. The northern part of the building is actually 30 feet in height. The idea was to have the studio with an open ceiling all the way up to the roof line, but we don’t really need 30 feet in the studio, so we may lower that ceiling to 20 feet or 24 feet. Now is the time to make this adjustment and not once all the steel has been put in place. There are a thousand little details that need to be decided, and it is difficult keeping up with it all. I am so happy that we have people here in the office who can help oversee all of this. It would be impossible for one person to do so!

Take a look at the pictures below that I took this morning (Thursday) along with the drone footage from earlier this week. Chantelle Breidenthal edits the raw footage taken by the drone and turns it into a neat short film, replete with music! When the project is finished, these will make a wonderful video of how things progressed from start to finish.

 

Our next building update will be Friday, Sept. 6, which will be our last one until after the Feast!