Thursday, February 28, 2013

A week of very visible changes......

Look how some sections are beginning to appear to be very finished and very elegant. This is one of the side walls in the chancel area.

 

 

If you were one of the pastors, this is approximately where you would be standing to address the congregation. Look how many lights are now on and how bright and cheerful the setting is starting to be.

 

 

And the same can be said for the chancel area. Just need to clear a few more boxes out of the way to get a full picture!

 

 

Sorry, but we had to sneak one more picture of the ceiling in! The scaffolds are gone for good, and this is a clear, unobstructed view of the finished ceiling.

 

 

And in other places, a lot of the construction materials that has been sitting in hallways has been cleared out. Lights have been installed, and sheetrock walls are sanded and smooth. This is a view of the gallery that leads to the Ministry Center. The door opening into the Ministry Center (not finished yet!) is at the far end of the picture.

 

 

The Pit (youth assembly room) finally is becoming less of a pit in appearance with the addition of some of the light fixtures. The overhead pipes and ducts will stay; there is no suspended ceiling with ceiling tiles. This look helps add to the urban/tech feel of the room.

 

 

This is a view from the stage of The Pit. Lighting is not up to full strength yet, so you cannot really see the wonderful warmth of the stone facing on the half wall at the back of the room. The concrete floor will be stained with different colors in a geometric pattern. It's really starting to show some of its "cool" factor, but the best is yet to come!

 

 

Paint on the walls will be a big addition in the lobby in the weeks ahead, but look how tailored the staircase and stair landing windows are already.

 

 

 

Meanwhile, back in the worship space, as the week progressed, stonework was nearly complete in the center section. With the scaffold gone on the left side of the round window, look how beautiful this area is shaping up. Have you noticed that the sconce lights have been installed on the columns?

 

 NEWS FLASH: WORD ON THE STREET IS THAT THE HANDCRAFTED, FACETED ALUMINUM CROSS IS IN ROUTE TO CHARLOTTE!

 

 

Another big addition this week: the vinyl floorcovering that will be under the pews is being installed.

 

 

Subtle additions: notice how the darker wood strips along the edges of the balcony and ceiling add a polished finishing touch.

 

 

 

Life is not perfect, and regrettably the weather has not been kind to the parking lot expansion across the street!

 

 

But now that sunny skies are back, work has begun along the edge of the street to put in the curb and sidewalk.

 

 

 

The green construction fence along Providence Road is gone, and the rain has stopped for the time being. So final soil grading is underway on that side of the building.

 



Friday, February 22, 2013

No particular focus this week. There is a lot of "first coat" painting going on. But this week is pretty much a picture and caption week!

P.S. This blog is #50! Can't believe it's been that many!

 

The framework for the LED display screens and fabric covering in front of the organ speaker chambers on the back wall of the chancel is being filled in.

 

 

The choir risers are in the process of getting their "skin" over the superstructure installed several weeks back.

 

 

As mentioned above, painting is happening all over. This is work in the balcony.

 

 

The railings are not yet painted, but look how warm everything else that has been painted looks.

 

 

And the ceiling. Ah, the wonderful ceiling. The process of taking down the scaffolds for the last time has started. If you can make out the six guys spread out on this scaffold, they are taking the structure down one piece at a time. The guy at the top take a pole loose and hands it to the next guy down who hands it to the next guy down who.......well, you get the process!

 

 

And the final product is absolutely the crowning glory of this new space!

 

 

And you thought washing windows at your house was a pain! Yep, the guy at the top of the LONG ladder is washing windows!

 

 

In the Lower Commons (main lobby), walls are getting the first coat of paint. The touch of color makes a big difference!

 

 

Need a lift? The elevator guys are back, and the walls and doors of the elevator car have been installed. They were busy installing the control panel inside the car when this picture was taken.

 

 

This may seem like a strange picture to include, and the picture really does not do justice to the sight, but lights have been installed in the recesses over the toilets. The downward wash of the light on the stone tile walls is actually very pleasant and effective!

 

 

The terrace and steps outside the south door of the Worship Center that faces the current Sanctuary and columbarium garden has been poured with concrete.

 

 

An exciting process underway this week is the removal of the green fence along the Providence Road side of the building. All the better for passing traffic to see our new building! The fence is disappearing to clear the way for final grading and landscaping out front.

 

 

Mother Nature has not been too kind to the parking lot process during the past week. It may not look like much has happened, but the workers have been busy burying the concrete drainage pipes.

 

 

In the next two weeks ahead:

• Wood and vinyl flooring will start in the worship space. Carpet not far behind!
• Overhead lights will be installed in The Pit, and the concrete floor will be stained with color.
• Ceiling tile and ceramic floor tile will be installed in the lobbies.
• You may see some grading and shaping in front of the main entrance as work begins on the pedestrian plaza.

 



Friday, February 15, 2013

There's a good reason why the blog was posted later than normal this week! But you have to go to the end of this week's blog to find out why!


 

We now have front doors. In fact, all of the exterior doors now are in place.

 

 

Pretty classy looking!

 

Almost all of the big equipment has been removed from the main lobby.

The lobby now looks really impressive and spacious as you enter the front doors.

Can the smell of Sunday morning coffee be far off?

The scaffolds finally have been removed from the chancel.

The darker openings on each side of the center section with the curved arch and round window are spaces where the LED display screens will be mounted (lower openings) and spaces that will be covered with fabric (upper openings) behind which the organ speakers will sit.

This is a view from inside the Providence Road window looking out. No special reason for including it other than the fact that it is an interesting geometric pattern set against a beautiful blue sky. And the trees just add a little interest to the picture!

It may not seem terribly exciting, but the addition of ceil tiles in the lower level classroom areas started today. What makes that exciting is that the addition of ceiling tiles makes these rooms about 90% finished!

These two doorways are at the end of the Ministry Center, one in the hallway and one in the Beacon Bookstore. It means that the two buildings are truly being tied together.

 

 

This is the exterior door on the Mammoth Oaks Drive side of the building leading into THE PIT (youth assembly/social area).

 

 

You are going to see columns like this all over the building. Once the stained baseboards are added, these will look fantastic. Could have just been an ordinary column, but doesn't this look slightly Biblical?

 

 

And here's icing on the cake. You have seen pictures of the suspended wood ceiling in previous blogs. There were four large unfilled spaces around the center core of the ceiling. Now those spaces are being filled in. Inside the red rectangles in this picture, you can see the metal framework on which the final wood panels will be mounted. Hopefully by this time next week, the scaffolding will be gone, and we'll have a picture of the finished ceiling.

 

OK. We teased you at the beginning of this blog. Here's the two-fold payoff that explains why this blog was uploaded late Friday evening!

 

First, there are four very special gentlemen in our congregation that you need to know.

 

 

They are (left to right) Walt Roth, Jason Bryan, Dennis Leffler and Roger Szymczyk.

 

Remember the big trees that we cut down near Providence Road when construction began? These four gentlemen became custodians of the wood from those white oak trees. Under their skilled and dedicated hands, the wood from those trees has now become furniture for the chancel. In the picture above, the four are standing behind the pulpit/speaker's stand. Yet to be installed are colored panes of glass in the openings that form the cross. The colored panes of glass will match the colors of the chancel paraments as colors change throughout the worship calendar year. None of these pieces of furniture have received their final colored stains, but nonetheless they are magnificent now and will only become better as they are finished out.

 

 

 

This is the 11-1/2 foot long altar table that will be standing in the very middle of the chancel on an elevated platform. It is made in three sections for ease of movement on and off the chancel as needed.

 

 

This is the kneeler bench. These men have spent a considerable amount of time in planning, designing and building these pieces for the chancel. It is difficult to express our gratitude sufficiently for their contribution to the new worship setting!

 

And here's the second biggie!

 

 

We got word from the head electrician this morning that they were completing some special wiring today.

S-o-o-o-o, it necessitated a trip back to church tonight and a delay in posting this blog, BUT.....

 

THE NEW STEEPLE IS LIT!!!!

 

 

Now granted, there may have to be some adjustment in the aim and direction of the lights, BUT BY ALL MEANS DRIVE BY AND TAKE A LOOK AFTER DARK! THE SIGHT OF THIS LIGHTED STEEPLE WHILE DRIVING ALONG PROVIDENCE ROAD IS A THRILL!!!

Friday, February 8, 2013

Details keep filling in!

 

 

The green wall color in this picture in one of the large bathrooms is not paint. It's wall paper. 

 



And still in the bathroom, a not-so-exciting but very necessary detail has been added. Divider partitions are not far behind (no pun intended!).

Water fountains.

Wall trim in the upper lobby. The stonework at the base of the columns probably will be added next week.

Beautiful stone wall trim in The Pit (lower level youth assembly room).

A ton of details appearing in the Worship Center. The wall area at the back of the chancel is really filling in and taking form.

 

The choir risers have their superstructure.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The sheetrock facing has been installed in the balcony.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The railings and handrails have been installed in the balcony.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The final sections of the wood ceiling will be installed next week. This will fill in the four open sections around the center panels. It's gorgeous now, but the completed ceiling will be awesome!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A really nice detail is the installation of the railings along the edge of the Upper Commons (upper lobby) overlooking the Lower Commons.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The queen got some royal jewels. The green geometric panels were mounted between the four columns.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The parking lot across the street on Mammoth Lakes Drive

now has been totally cleared, and it is apparent how large this lot is. It was a stretch in 2006 to purchase this lot, but hindsight now supports the move totally in view of the need for parking spaces!