Progress photos

The below snaps should give you a good idea of the progress so far.  The pics on top are from May 1 and the ones on the bottom are from May 21.  And if you think the bottom photos look an awful lot like your high school bedroom right before your Dad hollered at you to “CLEAN YOUR ROOM!” I would encourage you to instead think of it more like my office; I simply tell people, ”…but I know what is in all the piles…”. 

2F:

And check out how cool this is: When the drop-in ceiling was removed (Good bye, 1980’s!) it revealed a plaster ceiling above it (Uh, hello 1950’s?), and when that was in turn removed, it revealed a beautiful hand-painted ceiling (perhaps 1930’s):

Here is 2G…

…with the same hand-painted ceilings.  Do you love the green and red detail?  It’s disappointing we can’t keep these ceiling exposed, but it just isn’t reasonable given our need for good accoustics, so we’ll have to keep these photos as a memory, and just know that they’re up there, hiding, any time we want to peek.

We’re Baaaaack!

Summer trimester is here and with it we bring you another phase in the renovation of classrooms on campus: 2F and 2G.  This renovation is not as dramatic as the past ones, where we transformed classrooms from plain boxes into tiered auditoriums, but it’s no less exciting.

Classrooms 2F and 2G are getting a facelift (which, let’s face it, both rooms really need), some in-room AV, and power for the tables.   For your viewing pleasure, here are the “Before” pictures:

2F on April 23, 2009

2G on April 23, 2009

And the foyer in between them, known as “The Tanaka Gallery”:

Tanaka Gallery on April 23, 2009

Raise your hand if you know why this space is called The Tanaka Gallery!  If you said it’s because Mr. Tanaka was a former trustee and a wonderful donor, you would be correct.  Give yourself one push point.

Stop back in for more updates and pictures!  See you later!

Done!

Woo hoo, we’re done!  The final City inspection approval was received on Tuesday, and the first class in the new classrooms is tomorrow.  We’re in a phase called “punchlist” where we note minor issues that need to be addressed, like paint touchups, wall dings, lights that don’t work, and that sort of thing. 

Check out the ‘before’ and ‘after’ of 2B (well, ok, the order below is ‘after’ and ‘before’…):

Zowie, what a difference 4 months makes!

Here’s the new 2D:

…and the new 2C:

The rooms are so quiet thanks to the accoustical panels and windows, and serene due to the color scheme…We can’t wait for the students to move in!  But now: we finally sleep! )

At this point, Red Bull is your friend.

This is not an advertisement for Red Bull, but I think that the construction crew and subcontractors have bought out San Diego’s supply of the stuff, because spent cans are strewn throughout the renovation space.  We’re down to the wire, and the team is working around the clock.  Friday night the fire and mechanical inspections were passed, and today the electrical inspector is coming.  The team is doing final touch-ups to the A/V systems, and a cleaning crew is here vacuuming, cleaning windows, and dusting.

Here’s a pic of 2B this morning:

The final inspection is expected tomorrow morning, then we can occupy the space!

Here’s 2D this morning:

Click on the Flickr badge to the right for more pictures.

Down to the wire

The construction team has been quietly working around the clock as we come down to the wire on the renovation.  The A/V people have been here nights and days, as have the HVAC folks.  Right now it doesn’t look like much, but soon it will.  The tables and chairs go in on Wednesday night. 

Here’s 2B as it was this morning.  It looks a fright with all the boxes and stuff, but it’s just evidence the A/V guys & gals are doing their thing.  If you look closely, you can see the accoustical panels on the walls, the blinds over the windows, the ceiling lights are in, and the LCD projector is hanging from the ceiling. Almost done!

New Carpet! New Markerboard! Enough said!

Pictures taken this morning, 7/28/08.

Carpet:

Markerboard:

Warm and inviting

The result of the “plyboo” bamboo wainscott treatment, combined with the green/grey paint treatment is a very warm space.

The above picture is a view of 2D looking south, taken around lunchtime. Doesn’t the wood look lovely?  The color of the paint doesn’t really translate too well, and looks a bit washed out in this picture, but in reality it’s quite nice.  It’s the kind of color which doesn’t seem to be a color until you look at it next to something really white.  (OK, no jokes from the peanut gallery about me standing next to the paint.  I know I haven’t been to the beach enough lately, thank you.)

In the meantime, we look forward to the markerboard in 2B going in this week, carpet going in next week (already?!), and HVAC also being completed in the few days, as well.  Classes start in just a month, so we’re in the final lap!

Mmmm, fresh paint

I’ve noted before that I like the smell of fresh paint. The contractors have been spraying the classrooms and you can’t smell it outside in the hallway, but when you walk into the room it envelopes you. It’s like the smell of a new car – it’s always sort of sad when the smell goes away because it means it’s not so new any more.

They bagged the newly installed wainscot to protect it, and they’ve been painting the classrooms.

You can’t say it without looking like a dork.

Ply-boo.  Try to say it without looking like you’re aiming for your straw.  It’s a goofy name, but it’s a cool product.  Ply-boo is what the wainscot in the classrooms is made of.  Wainscot is a weird name for paneling, and why they don’t just say PANELING which I CAN SPELL and which I don’t have to explain all the time, is beyond me.  Not only that, but it’s pronounced wainscoat, just to confuse you further.  But, it makes me look Smart when I use the word, and that’s never bad.   We’ve used Ply-boo in previous renovations and it’s quite nice, and we’ll be using it again this time:

2B is coming along nicely, and tonight the rumor from the Construction Superintendent is that the motorized markerboard is finally going to be installed.  Here’s a picture of 2B looking east, where you can see some of the panelling wainscot has been installed:

You can see it there in the background.  You have to look past the grey trash bin marked BEST which refers to the name of the contractor that owns it awesome work product in the room.   Naturally <wink!>.

Ceiling work, and more

Picture: Classroom 2B, 6/30/08, 5pm.

It’s been a while since the last post because nothing really exciting has been going on.  We have a saying in Facilities Management that “nobody knows what I do until I don’t do it”, which pretty much sums up the last month.  Just because the stuff happening behind the scenes isn’t worth noting due to a low blog excitement level, doesn’t mean it’s not important!

The construction superintended has been handling a lot of inspections and such.  The “hard-lid” ceiling in 2B was installed (as can be seen above) and he successfully obtained an inspection on the nail work (yes, the nails). The interior electrical has been inspected and approved, and now it’s time to install the “grid” which is the word for the T-bar ceiling. They have to install the grid work before they can drop the individual ceiling tiles in (which won’t go in until much later).

We next have some more electrical and HVAC work to do.  The architects are busy picking paint colors and handling other detail work.  The classroom tables have been ordered, and everything is still on schedule!