c o m i n gx i n t ox b e i n g |
part three of eight - the third week
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| This week we will begin to gear up for greater production. The most difficult work is behind us. The AE crew will join us from Switzerland. Forcellini will focus on making wire chases, multimedia brackets and several pieces of WorkFurniture (12 Media Trees, etc) which we are building here. AE will prepare the Armature to receive the suspension system. |
| Assuming shipment #3 arrives on schedule we will start placing the masts of the suspension system and erecting the Center Master’s POD this weekend. Next Sunday/Monday, we will move the mini-Navcenter on to the third floor so that on site work can begin on the January meeting and the setting up of the NavCenter and Unimanagement Training facilities. This gives us the following week to set the spars and rig the wire rope of the suspension system before the Christmas break. |
| The key deadline of this period is to get everything off the floor by the Christmas break. On the 27th, the floor will be sanded, sealed and finished. We will have to stay off of the floor into January and the space will have to out-gassed during this period. |
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...Sunday - 10/Dec/ 06
1 month and 10 days to Opening |
Things moved fast today as the rest of the standard components were placed. How the Armature fits into the space now becomes clear. Paola came to the job site late in the day and we reviewed the next weeks work. She will be in a DesignShop in Lesmo and not here..
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Throughout the weekend Permasteelisa worked on the wood floor throughout the rest of the first floor space. They also built the stone bases around the existing columns. The multimedia team worked on their equipment room and panels.
The outer ring is setting nearly perfectly with the eight columns it circumvents. If this would work has been a great concern of mine. The Armature was designed for an entirely different space and it is amazing how well we were able to adapt it for this use. It looks like it was designed for this application.
There remains a large amount of grit on the Armature pieces. They will have to be partially disconnected, cleaned and reassembled several time before the project is finished. |
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| This evening, at diner, Mike and I refined the Installation Schedule through the first ten days in January. Of course, the environment piece is just the first task of many necessary to launch a NavCenter and hold an important Corporate meeting. |
| Monday, first thing we will clean up the site including getting under the protective cover over the new wood floor to remove any materials that may have penetrated and accumulated there. |
...Monday - 11/Dec/ 06
1 month and 9 days to Opening |
| The AE Swiss crew is here and preparing the Armature for the suspension system, the first element of which arrives this week. The Forcellini crew is working on wire chases, brackets and hangers for the multimedia system. Permasteelisa says they will be substantially out of the space by the end of this week - they are in high high gear now. Everyone on the project seems to be highly focused. The “exterior” part of the Garden is almost closed in and ready for waterproofing, earth and planting. This will feature eco the interior courtyard so typical of European cities and provide a reflection place for reading and contemplation. It also provides an interesting sourse of backlighting to the Radiant Room. |
| Forcellini, the media team and I worked out the majority of the mounts and brackets for the multimedia equipment We also worked with the Permasteelisa electrical people to develop the strategy and details for wiring the Armature. There is at least twice the wiring and three times the equipment going on this Armature than for it use at Davos in 05 - a great deal more than it was initially designed for. This is more complexity, more visual issues to resolve, and significantly more weight on the structure. To detail on paper this level of integration would take excessive time and, in the end, would still be inadequate. This requires real-time design in the field with the input of each interested party - often this is as many of a dozen people who have a pieces of the necessary knowledge. This is not to say that extensive work was not done on paper. There was including 3d models. In the end, all this work just prepares you for is the final design-build step. The often neglected and misnamed “field supervision” aspect of architecture is in my experience the factor that makes the difference between a quality work and a want-to-be also-ran. |
| We started a massive clean up of the space around the Armature, the Armature itself and the new floor below it. Although there is still plastering and painting going on around us, for a few more days, we will attempt to keep this a “finished” feeling environment. This seemed to have an effect on the project - maybe to everybody it has become “time” to shift to finish mode. |
...Tuesday - 12/Dec/ 06
1 month and 8 days to Opening |
| As I had thought, the outer ring will not be able to form a reverse curve at the Garden POD as the radius that it was established from the cent of the POD but remained the same as the outer rings other sections. I have decided that we will run it around the column as the other sections are and have it “embrace” the POD. I believe the height will work out to do this. We will check the drawings tonight. Meantime we did assemble the ring. The reverse curve was never that good an idea and then having to angle it to align with the suspension wires made it more complex. Then, having the same radius as the large airfoil ring, rather than from the center line of the POD made a mobster of it. This is a case where one design decision can lead to a number of poorer ones until all rhyme or reason is lost. In addition to this not working well in terms of framing the Garden POD, it would have also weakened the very powerful effect of the the outer airfoil encircling the entire Radiant Room. |
| Worked with Focellini and the Media team on the first brackets for monitors being mounted onto the Armature. AE was adding cross bracing, a temporary compression ring and leveling the Armature. The chases (widened from the original) for the electrical runs through the Truss and legs will be delivered to the site Wednesday am by Forcellini. |
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The first media wall goes up on the inside of the Armature Truss supports. It is made of 4, 42 inch Monitors. Six monitors will hang on the Octagonal airfoil, four projection screens between the octagonal and 20 foot circular airfoils, and four monitors on the 30 foot outer airfoil. There are 5 additional projection screens to be mounted on the structure surround the Armature and radian Room. In this way physical and virtual architecture merge.
Some members of the media tea team discussing an aspect of installation. Sight lines, accustics, recording and display, mixing and media production all are issues to be considerated.
The last section of the out airfloil going into place - the ring is completed - 60 feet in diameter and within 3/32" of a perfect circle. |
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| Reviewed the 3rd floor. The super told me the room will be ready for us next Monday. We had hoped to move the WorkFurniture this weekend. This still gives us one day to get set up. Close. Anna was right to put the core staff move-in off until Tuesday. This single act will be one of the most significant benchmarks of the project - taking possession and making place! The way of working intrinsic to this enterprise can begin with one month to go to the opening event. |
...Wednesday - 13/Dec/ 06
1 month and 7 days to Opening |
| A very good day. Nearly had a clash at on point between the Italian and Swiss contingents but that was ironed out quickly. Someone coming in the morning and returning in the evening would not see a great deal of difference. The work accomplished was almost invisible but critical. Forcellini’s team put the new wire chases in place. These, per the request of the Permasteelisa electrician, are 30 percent larger than the originals. The AE team put on most of the additional brackets, designed to reinforce the airfoils, and started the final squaring and leveling of the entire structure - these are minute adjustments but necessary for the suspension system to have a level base. Mike cut access holes, for wires to “skip” from one channel to another, for the electrician. Bolts were tightened everywhere. The Armature is just about as good as it can be and it ready for the next phase: putting on the suspension components. |
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Forcellini putting in the truss wire chase which sits on the top of the “X” bracing and turns down at the ends of each truss. All wiring from the basement comes up through four slots at the bottom of each chase down turn. There will be two place, which I located today, where the wire chases in each horizontal run can connect cross-truss to each other. From these feeds, the wires spread out though the beams at each quadrant and into the three airfoils. In this way all devices and lighting fixtures are served.
Because the live load of equipment has been considerably increased, from its original design assumptions, we have beefed up the structure considerably. This work includes blocking, gluing and screwing what were sections that could be disassembled, added steel plates, support brackets to existing columns and the suspension system yet to be erected. The beams and the suspension system are locked by a new compression ring that ties the two trusses together at their center. The load from the outer airfoil ring is transferred to the center of the trusses to act against the deflection imposed by the beams and the trusses own spans.
After the weekend work, the Armature was fairly close to theoretical line and plane - now everything is near perfect.
Mike is drilling the access holes for wires to run from the main chase out through the beams to the three tiers of airfoils. There will be several kilometers of wire in this structure and all of it will be accessible for upgrades and changing equipment. The majority of this wire will be not visible and the wires that are will be “managed” to be visually pleasing.
On the walk back to the hotel I pass by some of the many light displays that are redone every year by selected artists. This is an Armature like quality in the sense that Greene originally conceived it. Very pleasant in the crisp Fall air.
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| The media team, Forcellini and I worked out the mounting and hanging details for the projectors, speakers and translators. At this point, Almost every device is “solved” in terms of its placement, angle, how it will be wired and physically mounted. This has gone faster than I expecteded and the results are gratifying. The Armature is a big structure. It was conceived to carry technology. This is the first heavy duty test of this concept. A smaller structure would become overwhelmed and lose its architectural presence. Improper attention to detail and the result could be clutter. It does not appear that this will happen here. The balance is holding. The last test of it all will be when the suspension system goes up. At this point the Armature, and the space which contains it, should become inseparability one. In a week, I am told, we will have live music. The reverb in this environment is going to be mighty. I am getting my iPod ready. What piece would you play to the wiring of a suspension system? |
...Thursday - 14/Dec/ 06
1 month and 6 days to Opening |
| The day started with good news and bad news. The good news is that the electrician is running wires and intends to be done with power, lighting and media cabling by Monday. The light track and fixtures are due on site later today for placement. Further good news is (was!) that shipment #5 is at Customs. The bad news is, one hour later, it was decided that the shipment had not left the United States. According to an online search the shipment was to arrive on 13 December at 1400. The further make life more fun, because the voucher for the hotel was just through this Thursday so the EA crew concluded that they were to go home for the weekend and made plans accordingly. Two can stay so my capacity is cut in half to deal with the Masts if they do come in. We can, in this circumstance, set the base sections of the Mast and then use the rest of the time to erect the first POD. |
| There are times when wires are beautiful and this is one of them. I saw the final lighting plan late today - which had a few surprises in it - and the light fixtures. They are the same series as I was shown over 6 weeks ago with two significant changes: it is a two track system now (one for power and one for control) and there is a box with each hanging lamp. A considerable increase in bulk. What is driving this is the contol which now is provided to each indiviual light. I am to meet the designer in the morning to discuss further details. The electrician told me that there will be 22,000 meters of wire in the Armature alone - a considerable increase form before. |
| When we remove the shores from the 20ft. airfoil ring we get an 1/2 inch deflection because of the tight curve. We ran a test of the bracing between the 20 and 30 ft. rings and this took it out. This diagonal bracing will greatly strengthen each ring. We are going to have to manufacture it here as we are out of shipping time by any means. The bracing has to be installed before the load is put on the suspension system. |
| I was told at 1630 that the shipment is on today’s flight, which is running late, will be in tonight after business hours. Every effort will be made, by UniCredit, to get it through Customs and to our storage by mid Friday afternoon.We may be facing a state-wide trucking strike just to make things interesting. We will see if the just-in-time magic holds. We have laid out work for all contingencies. |
| The AE crew has just about finished leveling the 20 foot Armature ring and tying down the structure in every way possible. It is very solid now and ready for the suspensions system. We talked through the process of erecting the system and the issues related to working this high in the air. The wiring and brackets have left the US with instructions and tools necessary to do the rigging. The anticipated delivery date is the 21st - this will be very close. However, this work should not take more than two days to do. The wire rope has been mostly precut with hardware attached. There were necessary last minute changes to the brackets which I do not understand but the Butch thought necessary. It is good to have a ship Captain as a member of the team. |
| I approved the location and hanging of the speakers. Forcellini is bring brackets tomorrow and the media team is aiming for Monday to have the equipment mounted and wired. |
...Friday - 15/Dec/ 06
1 month and 5 days to Opening |
| Friday was a long day that did not end until after 2130 with the unloading of the first part of the last air shipment from the US. Apparently this shipment was divided into two parts. Also, the last two crates were nearly 5 meters laong and the truck could not hold them all, yesterday. By mid morning, tomorrow, we will have it all unpacted and sorted out so we can see what we have. We also, received and placed on the third level, most of the materials from the RDS which has been working at Lesmo. The round WorkWall panels did not come with this load - nor chairs. |
| Had a long onsite review with the Permasteelisa lighting designer. The lights have changed from what I was shown in late October. These changes were shown on a drawing which was never sent to me. The changes call for two tracks instead of one and a box, which was not show on the fixture picture which I was given, to be placed on the hanger with each fixture. Much more bulk than I had wanted or expected. The reasoning that drove this was to have controllability for each fixture. This was more than I asked for. The system now is 220 as to accomplish the same functionality with low voltage would have required twice the wiring. This was all initially upsetting to me but Permasteelisa won me over in the end. Because of the commingling of displays and lighting, the control of each lamp will be useful because we can dim ones that are interfering with people’s sight line to a monitor or projection screen. Once again, when we put up an example, the Armature proved its ability to absorb a great deal of equipment and fixtures while still reading as a “room within a room.” We relocated several runs (off of the Octagonal airfoil) to better integrate with the media displays. In all this will be a very robust system and it can be controlled from a wireless laptop from anywhere. The number of fixtures are redundant. These fixtures cannot be moved more than ten times in a lifetime. Track lighting is rarely truly flexible [link: mgt lighting system]. With redundancy and individual control, we can find the right locations to deal best with the greatest number of space set ups. Once again Permasteelisa astounds. They are through designers and builders and think things through to great depth. Their drawings are extremely detailed and clear. Even when I do not agree with their solution or I am not totally happy with the result, two things are evident: they gave it thought with consideration of all issues and the made the best trade-offs possible given all these circumstances. |
| This is the picture of the day. At the peak of work over 40 workers from Permasteelisa, UniCredit media and subcontractor IBM, Forcellini-MG Taylor-AE were working in a 8,000 sq. ft. area: plastering, electrical, lighting, media equipment, carpentry, waterproofing, painting, laying flooring, cleaning. The energy at times like this can be felt, physically. This is building. |
| As Payola was off the project from Monday afternoon until this morning, I needed to have a project review with her, Mike and Forcellini and tried to set this up for 0800. Circumstances and priorities, more important in other’s minds delayed, this throughout the day until it never happened. We are now scheduled for 1300 Saturday. There were possible circumstances - the shipment not arriving for example - that, failing to have this review in time to order material and equipment, we would have lost the entire weekend’s work. We were lucky. We will be limited this weekend, however, because we did not get some material and scaffolding planks here. We have secured, adequately, the weekend - next week, the most critical one, is yet not organized. We are at the point that a 4 hour delay can jeopardize finishing what is necessary before the Christmas break. It is a common paradigmic belief that it is either improvising or system. True synergy requires improvising and systemic integration in real time. |
...Saturday - 16/Dec/ 06
1 month and 4 days to Opening |
| Morning notes: today is one of those days you wait for for a long time. We start the POD and the suspension system for the Armature. These are ideas and designs which go back several years and now finally coming to first expression. This weekend’s effort will be a fitting end to this week and beginning of the last push of this year. How these next few days go will have a profound effect not only on the quality of the end result but also on the ease of the January transition from building to using. |
| Evening Notes: The rest of the Lesmo RDS and the last of the shipment eat our time today. Basically, we have lost one day out of the last two unloading and moving material and WorkFurniture - it was, more or less, dropped at the doorstep. In addition, we ran into the first major screw-up of the project. The cavities for the PODs are not deep enough. I do not know if this is because I gave Permasteelisa the wrong dimension when asked or they got it wrong. I remember 22 cm while what we have is 14 cm. If I had to guess, I would trust that they did what I gave them even though 14 cm does not ring a bell. At any rate it does not matter. At the time we were discussing this we needed the 22cm to house the electric motor mechanism. Now that we have gone to hand, we need far less. For a man-day of time we can cut the under floor base down on the POD we have and we may be able to have the Garden POD under floor base cut down at the shop before it is shipped. Disappointing because the POD will be delayed a few hours if we can get the tools we need, on Sunday, and another day if we cannot. I guess I can wait one more day. |
Unpacking the POD - the long waited latest generation of our personal workplace. The entire aspect of the space will change when this goes up. All the parts are here with the exception of the sliding screens which will be here just a few days before the opening event. This is the last delivery we will be holding our breath on.
The damage to one of the skins achieved right through a heavy crate reveals what a fork list and a bad attitude can get done. It also reveals the risks of just-in-time shipping. This has been our only damage of new goods this project. A near miss - if this had happened in another place we might of had a big setback.
Our first Woops of the project. We will have to cut the sub-base down. |
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| Had the look-ahead review with Paola, Mike, Forcellini. Massimo also participated. It is tedious to go through 21 issues, that have accumulated over the better part of a week, and trying when what everyone wants to do it get back to work. We got through it, not altogether happy with one another, but we at least, now, have all of the remaining issues (until January) on the table. All construction management tasks are equal but some are more equal than others! At least I think this was Orwell’s point. |
The street side balcony is getting its final touches. It creates two areas off of the radiant Rooms each with a distinct feel and use. The balcony is slick, high tech, streamlined and bold. A good counterpoint to the original building and the wood of the Armature and WorkFurniture. Directly opposite the Garden will be a place of refuge, organic and natural - plants, moving water and light.
Earth will be coming in soon perhaps Sunday or Monday. The Garden layout is undergoing revisions - I saw the latest drawing in Permasteelisa’s project room, yesterday. We talked and they send the designer a message: “Matt wants it natural.” It will be new to have such a large, planted-in-earth, space in a NavCenter. Long dreamed of - finally realized.
The first “wire-jumps” at the outer ring and columns are in place. We will have a great deal of exposed wiring and several different conditions - they all have to be carefully managed. |
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| The electrician, Massimo (and his team) and I worked through the rest of the wire box location issues for the multimedia devises. Forcellini brought a number of the brackets - the rest are slated for monday. Getting the brackets, designed, made and finished has delayed the media installation a couple of days from their objective. This was not this weeks delay - it was the consequence of last week. The bracket production cycle can not be done faster than Forcellini is doing it and it could not have started, in Ernest, until media and electrical folks could see the Armature in a fully erected state. We had wanted to begin this phase a week ago Wednesday - not this Monday. However, all issues are now resolved except for the location of the speakers on the outside airfoil ring. Mike has all of the remaining holes drilled for the exposed main run wire loops Unless there is something we do not know, we are on the path to done. |
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| This week has been a bridge in two ways. First, between the slower pace of getting the basic Armature in place to the multi-crew work of integrating all of the systems within it. Secondly, by starting the set up the mini-NavCenter on the 3rd floor, taking the first steps toward using the NavCenter capability to finish the building work, while also setting up the Center, planning its first event and starting down the path necessary for meeting its mission. |
| It has also been a week of mixed feelings. Certainly exhilaration as there are few things to compare to a building going up full steam. Yet... also fatigue and disappointment in the lack of belief that there is any valid reason for the conditions that are driving this schedule and a falling confidence that the end-use will justify what has happened to some 150 people. I think that there should be a party - when all of this is done - where the people who created this can bring their spouses (so they can see why their mate disappeared for several months) - where these builders will be recognized and treated like people; where they can see what they created whole and complete; where they can be told what it is they made and why it is important and not just another monument to someone’s ego and ability to spend millions. |
| We live in such a strange time - so glorious and so perverted. It is a paradox that the effort to make a place capable of changing the deep seated, failing habits of our time, so often becomes victim of those habits in the making of the potential solution. Is it worth it? I suppose this question can never be fully answered. I do know that failing to ask is over and over is certainly the loss of all humanity. |
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GoT0: part one of eight - the first week
GoT0: part four of eight - the fourth week |
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| GoTo: UniCredit Handwritten Notebook |
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Matt Taylor
Tornio
December 10, 2006
SolutionBox
voice of this document:
BUILD • TACTICS •
EVALUATION
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posted:
december 10, 2006
revised:
December 16, 2006
• 20061210.771511.mt • 20061212.876511.mt •
• 20061215.989801.mt • 20061216.451210.mt •
(note:
this document is about 95% finished)
Copyright© Matt
Taylor 2006
Leonado Images copyright© Leonardo3 2006 |
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