Pouring, Digging, Building

I was happy to see the tower caps getting some attention today.  The old shingles were being scraped off.  These two tower caps are the ones on the west side of the upper north lot.

A closeup of this tower cap indicates it was from the northeast tower.  News articles from a press release on April 18th indicated that three of the towers will for sure be returned to their original perches.

These two tower caps closer to University Avenue were also getting attention.  I'll watch these and hope for the best for the fourth tower cap, whichever one that is.

I learned about this brick wall along Second South.

It is part of the foundation wall for the old Hotel Roberts which was built in 1882 and stood at 192 South University Avenue.  The wall would have been at the back of the hotel, on the left side of this picture. The dirt street you are seeing was then Main Street, but is now University Avenue. I actually know a few things about historical stuff and didn't have to ask anyone to know that the pole on the right side of the picture is an electrical pole, yes -- right in the middle of the street.  Eventually they were moved to the sides of the streets.  

I had gone to the site hoping to catch the north wall foundation pour.  Instead, the concrete pump worked on the west porch this morning.  We should be able to watch north foundation pour this afternoon via the construction cam, which is going on as I'm uploading this post.

As usual, it was never a dull moment.

An onlooker had questions about the west lot, and perhaps you do, too.  Okland, working for Nu Skin, and Jacobsen, working on the tabernacle, both stay very busy in the west lot. The original Nu Skin building is in the center of this picture, with their new addition to the left.  Ongoing work on their underground parking garage can been seen to the left in this picture.  The original above-ground Nu Skin parking garage stood where the crane is, and it filled that space to First South, which ran east and west across the bottom of this photo.  That part of the lot is now owned by the LDS Church and will be turned into underground parking for the new temple.  

This blue triangle caught my eye and I wondered if this was a bathtub for Baby Track Hoe.  I realized the blue mats and the poles were part of the strange contraption being assembled in the west lot on Wednesday. When I got home I could see writing.  These are trench shields so the walls don't cave in.  This part of the west lot will eventually house mechanical stuff.

Work progresses on the shared entrance to the underground parking. 

Vertical rebar is being placed along the perimeter of the north lot, which at some point I should probably start referring to as the underground annex.  Notice the surveyor. 

He checks these sensors along the walls every day to make sure the tabernacle is stable.  No word on what he will do if he finds that the building is moving. 

On Wednesday, if you remember, I learned that the level of the north annex will extend through to the west lot and then throughout the south lot.  I speculated that the level might be at the top of the stairs which lead to the south side of the basement.  Mr. Track Hoe was working hard this morning and had already deepened the east side of the lot to at least five feet below that stairwell landing.

You can see how the level along the east barrier is slowly extending west.

By the time I returned from the west side, Mr. Track Hoe had gobbled up the stairwell landing.  I believe progress means deeper, at least for now. 

Work on the south forms progressed today, too.  The underground entrance to the new temple will be on this south side at the annex level.

A Clearer Picture

I had an enormous amount of fun at the site today and came across people who knew answers.

I learned that18 inches of gravel will added to the basement, and then another slab.  This will bring the lower level of the basement to the top of the 3 boats shown in this picture.  The boats are not related in any way to elevator shafts, however.  They will be drains and sumps.

An onlooker this morning had construction experience and I asked him a question some readers have asked me.  "How will they pour the foundation close enough to the base of the tabernacle shell so there is no settling when the piers are cut away?"  He knew the answer.  The final level of the foundation will be poured under pressure, with an additive in the concrete which will prevent any shrinkage.  Notice what looks like a doorway in the lower left of this photo which is underneath the northeast tower.  Stairs and an elevator from the annex level will be here.  The concrete was poured this morning.

Another man, who clearly knew what he was talking about, explained that there will not be an entry at this lowest level of the south porch.  This is a foundation layer which will support stairs and an entry at the next level, from the underground garage.  I can't use my hands to describe this to you, so I'm searching for words.  Imagine that the level of the annex, or the north lot, will extend all the way through the temple and throughout the south lot, and also into the west lot.  This will be what we will likely commonly refer to as the basement of the temple, even though there will be non-patron facilities on an even lower level.  The rebar being prepared here for a concrete pour will be part of this lowest level, just like the area in the earlier photo showing the base of the northeast tower.  My guess is that the annex level will be at about the top of the wooden stairs shown in the center of the picture.  And yes, Mr. Track Hoe was very busy today, with dump trucks lined up along the site to facilitate his work.

I hope you are getting a better understanding of what will happen at the basement level.  I took this picture from the open gate on Center Street.  The north lot is between the drop-off point where the gravel ends and the tabernacle.  The level of that lot will extend through the tabernacle and connect to a large underground parking garage in the south lot.

From this vantage point at the end of the south lot, I can see that the lower level on the east side might possibly be level with the north lot.  If it isn't, based on how hard Mr. Track Hoe was working, it soon will be.  

This picture was taken from Center Street.  This will be a north entrance to Nu Skin's underground parking.

This picture was taken from the post office lot, directly opposite of where I stood on Center Street.  This west lot will eventually be part of the underground parking garage, but the entrance will be from First West.  You are wondering what the four poles are doing on the right side of the picture.  So am I, but by then I was alone and couldn't pester anyone with questions.

The braces on the right are shoring up the Nu Skin entrance.  In the center of the picture are the beginnings of a mechanical area which will support operations in the new temple.  This will extend from the annex level to the west.  In the background you can see yellow braces which support the upper level of Nu Skin's parking garage.  Obviously, at some point those braces will be removed.  Similar construction will take place when the south and west lots are turned into underground parking.

The shared entrance to these two underground parking garages received a lot of attention today, including a cement pour from the Nu Skin side which actually happened after this picture was taken.  Notice the three wells on the left.  If you look closely along the wooden barrier wall, you can see the electrical work which operates the pumps.  One of the well casings appears to be broken, but my engineer-husband assured me the well is likely still pumping just fine.  The workmen are presumably part of the Okland crew awaiting the arrival of the concrete pump.

If you ever think you are bored to tears, I can strongly recommend a trip to the temple site.

And if you know stuff, I hope I run into you!

Action Everywhere!

I was delighted to find a new place to watch the action today.  This photo was taken from the top of the new Nu Skin garage.

The west lot was organized chaos.

I watched two track hoes work together to carry a heavy I-beam.  I guess they got tired, because they tucked it in and left it for the night not far from where it is in this picture.  

This is a view of the west lot from University Avenue.  (The Nu Skin garage in the background is still a work in progress, but very accessible.)  Notice the pile of gravel on the left side of the picture.

The pile of gravel can be seen from this view, too.  I think there is a plan for this gravel.

This is a view of the north lot from the construction cam early this afternoon.  Notice the two pools of water in the upper north lot.  I learned from the articles from the press release last week that this water is coming from the water table.  Work has been going on here for months.  It's hard to imagine that Provo, situated very nicely in the middle of a desert, has a water table, but remember that northern Utah is at the bottom of what was once the ancient Lake Bonneville.

By the time I arrived at the site, one of the pools (on left) had been covered with gravel, presumably from the west lot stash.  

Since last week, a black liner has been placed along the base of the retaining wall in this lot, and a black pipe is on top of that.  

The machines worked all afternoon and eventually filled in the second upper pool with gravel.  This picture from the construction cam was captured at 6:30 pm.  If you look carefully, you can see shadows heading toward the upper left corner of this picture.  The rods casting the shadows remind me of the micropiles in the basement.  I'm guessing that there is plenty of underground work involved to handle the water table.  Don't ask me about the pool at the northeast tower, because I don't know.

You might be interested in knowing that a new contractor is on site.  Let's hope he knows his stuff!

I caught the elegant crane in action before he finished for the day.  

I tried to see what he was putting in the basement, but instead I captured a new view of the sunken living room.  You have to look closely, but you can see some of the metal rods are taller than others.  Actually, they are the same height, but some are in a pit.  I'm hoping no one is bothered by the water.

The men worked away.  I'm watching in hopes of catching the next stage of the slab construction. 

I did step back to take one more picture of the crane.

News articles from last week mentioned sensors on the exterior of the tabernacle.  These are used to measure any motion, because, well, the building is on stilts!

Once I knew about them, they were easy to see.  I scrolled back through my pictures and found them in place as early as November.  I'm feeling just a little sheepish that I hadn't seen these before.  I presume if the tabernacle starts to tilt, someone will know just where to push to steady it.

I also followed up on the work at the base of the west wall.  They seem to have done a very nice job covering the chicken wire.  I will venture a guess that this is a patch. 

News articles from last week said that three of these corner tower caps were in pretty good shape.  Original interior framework will remain in place.  I'm trying to find someone to bribe who might let me look inside.  I'm wondering if cookies will be sufficient.  Notice a red ladder hiding from me.

I watched what I thought were two pile drivers working along the east side in the south lot via the construction cam this morning.  Retaining walls along the new I-beams were put up pretty quickly.

By the time I arrived, though, just one machine was working, and he seemed to be drilling up a large pile of mud.  This area will eventually be underground parking, so I'm thinking getting mud out of the garage is a good thing.

Trucks barreled in and out.  

Slowly but surely they are removing any extraneous dirt from the west and south lots. 

I realized that the tabernacle is being very patient.  Maybe he's even enjoying the attention.