Earlier this week I read an article about Nooruddin Karsan who is known in the IT world for selling a human-resources software company that he co-founded. He sold it to IBM for $1.3 billion. He now runs Karlani Capital and also offers management consulting to companies that are having problems. He’s a solver of big problems. The fee for this work is a mere $250,000. I first wondered what kind of problem is worthy of such a fee? I then realized that perhaps Chipotle Mexican Grill should give him a call.
The interior of the Lecture Hall is really starting to come together. The metal floor decking in Lecture Halls 2, 3 and 4 has been installed and this week we poured the concrete floors in those spaces. The attached photo shows the pouring and finishing in action in Lecture Hall 2. You can see the room will have three stepped levels and they are working on the second one. The concrete pumper has an arm and hose through the roof deck, one worker controls the placement of the concrete out of the hose, a couple of laborers rake it in place, another laborer is using a mechanical vibration tool to work out the air bubbles, two other workers use a screed to level out the concrete, and another guy (holding the long blue pole) does some detail leveling and finishing with what is called a bull float. After a couple of hours the new concrete sets up enough so they can get on it with the use of kneeboards and a couple of trowels to do more detailed finishing of the floor.
Last Friday’s major beam installation allowed for the grading inside Lecture Hall 1 to be completed this week. That now enables the concrete foundation to be poured in Lecture Hall 1 next week.
The structural steel framing for the new Rotunda started this week and the metal decking for that area just began this morning.
Beginning next week a new temporary construction path will be installed along the front of Lab I. This path will allow for the expansion of the building towards Red Square while allowing construction access around the south and west of the Lecture Hall building. After that pathway goes in more excavation and foundation work will begin for the rest of the building addition. This path will eventually be constructed into a ramp that will provide access to Lab I and II from Red Square.
Cheers!
Tim