Week 87 (Music Room Air Handler)

We had a short week due to weather, and we continued to suffer some slowdowns in our roof and ceiling work because of continued challenges with respect to our HVAC requirements, but by the end of the week, progress was again very visible, with very large air handling equipment now crowning our ceiling:

Next week we’ll create the labyrinth of ductwork that will send air in one direction while tricking the sound to follow other pathways (so as to deliver less noise to the recording environment).  The whole system design is quite difficult because:

• We want to have a nice 5:12 pitch roof because it’s so beautiful.  But that limits the height for…
• Very large ducts so that the air we need to move can move slowly (and thus quietly)

Trying to build a labyrinth between those two constraints is difficult indeed.  But we now have a buildable plan, and that’s what we’re going to attempt next week, provided the weather cooperates.

In the mean time, the masonry team has done a great job building up the Control Room walls, as you can see here.   Here’s the outer wythe between the 6th and 7th course:

There’s a (literal) ton of extra cut blocks because there’s a shelf at the 9th course (6′ high) and we need those thin blocks to bridge the gap between the structural outer wythe and the shelf of the inner wythe.

A wall plate has been installed above the clerestory windows:

Two more courses of RPG blocks are laid into the Control Room wall:

Rafters, Joists, Beams, and Trusses…do you know which is which?

Speaking of rafters, here’s some early progres getting the rafters cut and installed:

Toward the end of the week, the bond beam over the booth windows cured and the masons took down the scaffolding.  Here’s a view you won’t see once the walls have been placed between booths A & B and booths B & C:

I love how the window columns display the massive thickness of the wall!  Here’s a view from the outside:

Finally, here are the masons putting in the blocks that will not be transparent at the rear of the Control Room wall.  The voids you see will be filled with glass block that’s 3″ thick and clear enough you can read a book through them.

Come back next week and we should be able to see what they actually look like!