Building the west basement

The west basement will house the bulk of the mechanical equipment that will serve the building.  Although it is difficult to perceive it in a photo, the excavation is quite deep:  Two stories (20 feet). The adjacent earth, which is very sandy, is held back with steel sheets driven into the ground.  The large, horizontal steel tubes, called whalers, serve to keep this temporary steel “wall” from buckling inward.  The bottom of the excavation is inches above the water table.  What appear to be walls (some spray painted blue) are forms that define the foundation wall.  After the form construction is completed, which includes the steel reinforcement within them, the void between the forms will be filled with concrete.  Many, many truckloads of concrete.  After the concrete has hardened, the forms will be removed (“stripped”) and the new foundation walls will be visible.

When completed, the mechanical room will be entirely subterranean, topped with a new set of stairs, an entry plaza and landscaping.

I shoot with my camera set to record at 9 megapixels and the image files range from about 3,500 to 5,500 pixels in width, depending on the amount of detail and color in the subject.  I normally reduce the image size to 1,000 pixels wide and format the image for viewing on the web.  i.e. so the images load quickly.  However, I really like the amount of detail in the following image, so posted the original image size(3,456 x 2,592 pixels), however, optimized for faster loading.  Click the image to see the steel (“rebar”) between the forms.

The next photo shows the south end of the building.  The foundation wall below the existing fireplace in “the treaty room” (Room 108) has been reinforced with steel and the foundation wall opened.  A second basement will be constructed on the south end of the building and the opening in the foundation wall will be part of a new corridor.