Posts Tagged ‘Sustainable Design’

Yesterday we poured the cement slab in the retail area of the store.   After installing the drywall we will strap the floor with 2×4 sleepers, cover the sleepers with 11/8″ Warmboard, install radiant heat, and then a wood floor. But first, before we poured the slab, we had to put in all the pipes and wires!   Planning, coordination, drilling holes in the foundation……

Once the floor is poured, all the pipes and wires will be encased in concrete and correcting mistakes or making changes will be difficult.  First thing yesterday morning the concrete arrived and now we have a floor.   Take a look.

Mike Morrone, Megan Moynihan, Mike Morrone

The shell is complete.   Most of the big equipment (cranes, well drillers, lulls, and lifts) is gone.   We are back working on the site and beginning the exterior of the building.  We are committed to handling all of the water on site through careful grading to channel the run off and the use of permeable paving stones.   Mike Morrone, Megan Moynihan, & Mike Morrone meet to go over the grades while Joe Morrone loads the dumptruck with fill we are taking off site.

Kerianne and Ginny Garston

………………………… Earlier in the day Kerianne’s parents visited and we took them for a tour of the site.  Kerianne Garston, from Pratt Institute, is working with us as an interior design intern and is doing wonderful work on the look of the new store.

Family resemblance?   We didn’t see it at first.   But, after we offered Kerianne an internship position, we found out that Mike Morrone is Uncle Mike – Kerianne’s mom and Mike are sister and brother.

Uncle Mike was gone so Kerianne and Ginny decided to climb up on the Big Cat.

Tommy (LT) and Ryan finishing the tower

The project is about to turn the corner as we finish setting the last of the Climate-Block panels.  But first we have to construct the tower and stairwell that will serve the mezzanine areas. Tricky angles, tough cuts, and a fair amount of head scratching, but we got it right.

We constantlly make adjustments in the field and architect Megan Moynihan is often on site (in this case on the roof) working with the team and figuring out the best way to take what is on paper and bring it to life.

Tim Van Wormer and Megan Moynihan

The New Charlestown Package Store will be beautiful and green –  with a dramatic interior framed by Douglas Fir timbers, a highly efficient envelope built out of Climate-Block panels, a geothermal heating-cooling-dehumidification system, and very cool lighting.

Dramatic and cool, YES.  Easy to run electric wires, NO!  All of the wires are run in either the chases built into the wall panels, under the concrete floor in conduit, or in channels cut in the exterior of the roof panels.   All of this requires a lot of thought and often it’s best to get together at the construction site and go over the plan.  Below our lighting designer, Evelyn Audet, and electrician, Len Capizzano of Century Electric, meet to work out the details.