At the library at 8:00 AM (probably one of the earliest starts we have done, given our proclivity to work into the wee hours), Marilyn met us with scones and coffee!
The glass is all laid out in the local history room.
We determined that the systems we devised for laying out the holes from last installation were going to work well again.
So we started in making holes and putting in the griplocks.
Several members of the artist selection committee also have stopped by this Sunday.
Now we have the first couple pieces up with which to test the disbursement of the caustic reflections, and the placement of the shadows.
A little bit more than half of the pieces up…
And in come the birds & a couple more pieces, and it looks pretty good.
Backing away towards the next installation location, it looks like this:
Okay! We are on a roll! Onward to the next (much larger) location in the middle of the library.
Here we will be fastening into the underside of concrete roof. We got the (13) lights up and planned the layout of the essential 28 pieces of glass. Then Mark (Marilyn’s husband) came by and informed us that the concrete roof planks were hollow core precast concrete about 4′ x 40′. They have prestressed tensioning cables cast in to them and therefore only specific fastener locations can be used without possibly compromising the structural integrity of the roof. From the manufacturer’s 141 page guidebook:
The recommended anchors are 1″ deep, so there would be a potential conflict with dire consequences. Marilyn had a complete set of construction drawings in the basement (of course). We went and checked the details.
We could deduce from the information available that there was a high probability that one of the approximately 100 anchors would compromise the reinforcing. So, we broke for dinner. Marylin and Mark treated us to pizza.
During dinner we committed significant subconscious resources to deriving a reasonable way forward (i.e. we did not talk about it). Upon return, this scheme emerged fully formed from Jeff’s head:
W/ a 400x safety factor, we are confident of success. Then, realizing it needs to be raised in one 2′ x 16′ chunk and would take most of a full day, Michele asked “What else have you got?”
We collectively pondered the possibilities with Jacob in the lift holding glass and directing lights. In about 45 minutes we came up with a new plan which eliminates drilling ANY new holes into the concrete roof deck (other than for a few birds). We will need to source 10 pieces of 23.5″ x 23.5″ x 1/4″ plywood and 50 wing nuts in the morning.
Time now for sleep.
So, off to bed.