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<\/a>\u201cI thought, \u2018Hey, this is really nice,\u2019\u201d says Burgau. While the plaza was built as a place to contemplate the impacts of war and honor the service of Bates\u2019 military veterans, she notes, its comforts stand on their own.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cBut if you\u2019re going for those purposes, I think we met the goal \u2014 especially,\u201d she adds, \u201conce the trees become fuller and give a little bit more privacy. Right now, obviously, they\u2019re still young. But it\u2019ll just become more of an oasis over the years.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In early August, the two elements that really define the site were placed: the focal object, which is a sculptural centerpiece combining natural and polished basalt, and a steel marker designating the plaza entrance. The construction fence surrounding the site came down at the end of the month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The plaza will be dedicated at 11 a.m. Friday, Oct. 9, in a virtual ceremony whose speakers will include U.S. Navy Capt. J.J. Cummings \u201989, commander of the world\u2019s largest aircraft carrier, USS Gerald R. Ford<\/em>; and U.S. Rep. Jared Golden \u201911, who served with the U.S. Marine Corps in Iraq and Afghanistan. To register for this Zoom event, please click here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Room to run<\/strong>: It could be the title of a song that Bruce Springsteen didn\u2019t quite write. But instead, says Bates project manager Chris Streifel, \u201c\u2018room to run\u2019 is kind of the catchphrase of the last month or so\u201d at the Bonney Science Center construction site.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThere\u2019s this intricate dance amongst all of the exterior work,\u201d he explains. Making room to run is \u201cjust basically clearing space so that each individual trade can do their own work unencumbered, unimpeded.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n From the top down, that exterior work includes:<\/p>\n\n\n\n So \u201cwhen the masons are going to a certain area of the building,\u201d for example, there shouldn\u2019t be \u201cwork overhead that\u2019s complicating it, making it dangerous, or just creating conflicts,\u201d Streifel says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For Consigli Construction, the firm that\u2019s managing the building of the science center, \u201clooking ahead and keeping all those different pieces aligned is the biggest trick, I think \u2014 orchestrating those moves so that everybody has work to do consistently. It can be a little tricky given how tight\u201d quarters are on the site.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Consigli\u2019s planning, Streifel adds, \u201cis a collective function. There are regular meetings to talk schedule and logistics, and to understand how things have to come together so everybody\u2019s moving in the same direction. And everybody has an opportunity to voice their opinions.\u201d That being said, the day-to-day direction falls to Consigli\u2019s Lee Follett, project superintendent, and Matt Rose, executive field supervisor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So what\u2019s up with the roof? As we\u2019ve previously noted<\/a>, the Bonney lid is a complex design that ultimately will be topped with a charcoal-gray copper product. Now visible on the roof are weatherproofing membrane and DensDeck roofing panels, both medium gray, and plywood-colored plywood. But soon the dark copper will appear along the gutters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe\u2019re getting close,\u201d Streifel says. \u201cThey\u2019re working through some issues on the corner near Bardwell Street that are giving them pause, to make sure that everything is understood, just because of how specialized, intricate, and challenging that work will be. But I hope to see some copper on there very soon.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n As for windows, the Bonney center will have two varieties. One is the floor-to-ceiling style that, repeated in quantity along all four walls, will someday dazzle students and faculty with generous views. For those, all the steel frames and panes have arrived at the construction site, and at least half of the frames have been installed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Better still, installation of the glass has begun, its reflections and refractions giving passers-by a frisson of new visual interest (at least until the windows are temporarily covered with protective foam panels). When we visited on Sept. 22, window glass was evident on the Bardwell Street and Campus Avenue sides, and around the corner on the south wall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We were interested to learn that although these are all essentially the same window, the frame and glass are custom-fitted to each window opening, thanks to subtle, unavoidable size variations from one opening to the next.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The other type of Bonney window is what industry folks call a curtain wall and what we call something that we wouldn\u2019t want to wash, because those windows are just plain big. Affording dramatic views both inward and out, Bonney will sport a few of these glassy expanses. (Which leads one to wonder why “curtain wall” became the name of this configuration, since both curtains and walls block the view.) <\/p>\n\n\n\n One, spanning three stories, will enclose the so-called Monumental Stairs that face Carnegie Science Hall. A third-floor classroom will have a glass wall facing east. And then there\u2019s the signature Beacon, sited at the northwest end of the building and overlooking the Historic Quad and Campus Construction Update\u2019s usual parking place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n With the Monumental Stairs still being built, the Beacon will come first. Its frame is being fabricated now, with the metal components resembling the floor-to-ceiling frames.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Insider trades<\/strong>: In the basement, those bus-sized air handlers have been tested and were due for inspection this week, although they won\u2019t actually start huffing and puffing in earnest till next year. Metalworkers are nearly done fabricating air ducts, and electrical and mechanical technicians are still running their pipes and conduits from here to there. Similar work continues on the fourth floor, the so-called penthouse that like the basement is jam-packed with big machines serving the entire building.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In between are floors one through three, and they\u2019re following, more or the less, the same progression. All the mechanical, electrical, and plumbing infrastructure that needs to be placed up high, snug against the decking above, is installed first. (Pros call it MEP, pronounced M-E-P \u2014 as opposed to \u201cmep\u201d infrastructure, which is fine but nothing to get excited about.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThen that stuff gets sprayed with acoustical soundproofing or fireproofing, depending on where you\u2019re at in the building,\u201d Streifel explains. \u201cThen the walls go in, and then the drywall tops go around all the upper big infrastructure.” Next comes the in-wall MEP stuff \u2014 cables and conduits and pipes, oh my! \u2014 and those are installed while a given wall still has one side open for access. Then MEP infrastructure is run into the ceilings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The first floor is ahead of the second and third. There, MEP crews are finishing up ceiling installations. The bigger news is that painters have arrived \u2014 that is, drywall installers have made enough progress that there are walls ready to prime, and in fact there are now discernible offices, storerooms, and corridors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On the second floor, the focus is on hanging drywall, but enough progress has been made with MEP rough-ins, and their accompanying inspections, that the drywall crews are closing up both sides of walls started previously. And on the third floor, the in-wall MEP is getting underway.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In short, to quote Fats Waller, the joint is jumping. Streifel describes a Sept. 16 visit to the science center: \u201cIt felt busy. \u2018Commotion\u2019 is almost the right word. There was a lot of action. I was mostly on the second and third floors, and you didn\u2019t even have to really see it \u2014 you could just kind of feel progress being made inside.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt was really encouraging.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Can we talk<\/strong>? Campus Construction Update welcomes queries and comments about current, past, future, and aspirational construction at Bates. Write to dhubley@bates.edu<\/a>, putting \u201cCampus Construction\u201d or \u201cBrrr, it\u2019s frisson in here\u201d in the subject line.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a>