Fall time with the low sun, the crisp mornings and cool breezes throughout the afternoon, October lets me see the world around me with fresh eyes.
Some images from home:
Categories
Take in October 2015
Categories
The Morgantown Marriott
They left Florida last Friday and drove through the weekend. They came to Morgantown packaged in white, ready to be lifted into the sky, and set into place. The Pods are here! Oldcastle’s orchestration of fixtures, finishes, exact stud sizes, precise cuts and factory finesse is finally within the arms of our building. The final leg of the trip is delivering them from the semi bed to each room. It starts with a crane, a big boom, and the empty cage you see floating below.
The ‘cage’ has legs which stabilize it to receive each Pod.
Over-sized pallet jacks ride the lift every trip and are used to pull the Pod from the truck, and then into the building. The crane rotates the lift cage for this to work.
The pods are loaded into the truck with precision, of course, but loaded so that they may be taken into each room in the exact direction that they will remain once plumbed. There is little room for error, as you can see in the 7″ of spare room between the Pod sides and the truck. The same goes for the coordinated place they will reside, as seen in the Pod template on a precast floor below.
The cage to floor connection has been considered and coordinated prior to the arrival of the Pods.
A seamless team of two men roll the POD into the building.
The pallet jacks are slid alongside of the Pod once set in place, and take the ride to get the next bathroom.
Prefab POD Manufacturer: Oldcastle Modular
Contractor: Waller Corporation
Architect: Mills Group
Last week I visited Orlando to view the Morgantown Courtyard by Marriott bathroom pods, fresh off the line. The facility of Oldcastle / Eggrock was spectacular. What impressed me was the level of engineering, waste evaluation, and labor considerations in every decision. The GC and I met with our Marriott representative to evaluate the finish product of our POD which was, unsurprisingly, near perfect.
What you see in the picture above is the bathroom shaft without shaft walls. Plumbing and HVAC equipment fits within this L-shaped opening. The oddly shaped opening had to be coordinated with all of the design trades, the concrete floor fabricators, and of course, the bathroom POD. It’s been quite an effort and seeing the built product of what has been on a computer screen for so long has been the most rewarding of the entire process of creating this hotel.
Here you see the shaft in the center, and the template of the pod on the ground so that the concrete can be properly core drilled to receive the bathroom. In a few weeks I’ll share how these PODS are set in place after their journey from Florida.
Photos are by the General Contractor, Waller Corporation.
Categories
Want to use less? Make a list.
School started again last week. That means that Morgantown is now impassible with the traffic, and I find myself going down to Fairmont State University every Thursday for class. I love going to school and was so glad for it to start up again.
Last semester I read Tom Bender and his piece on Becoming Slaves to Energy. In honor of a busy fall, I thought I’d share what I wrote for class last spring.
Tom Bender states: ‘Our consumption of existing goods and services is frequently, for all practical purposes, compulsory.’ This caused me to evaluate what I buy, what I get rid of each week, and what I need.
I made a list of where money is spent each week. The mortgage, restaurants, and travel expenses are costly, but utility bills and grocery items are where money is spent most often. Being aware of electric and water use allows me to cut back or be conscious of how I might conserve by taking shorter showers or line-drying the laundry. Most of my grocery items are unprocessed food, except for the pasta and cheese which I could make. I spend more money at the grocery on expensive items because a $4.50 box of cereal is the same price as a coffee shop muffin. I’ll be inclined to eat at home if I buy things I enjoy. My typical purchases have become compulsive.
The amount of recyclable glass and paper products I place on the curb has been cut down as I filter tap water, refill growlers, bought a soda machine, and make my own bread now. Making cheese, having a local milk source and not eating refined cereal could help more. During the summer I am able to have less recyclables because of the produce available through a farmer’s market and personal gardening. I often bring my own reusable containers and enjoy when I have the option to buy items per the pound. Many unrefined products such as apple cores and broccoli stems are great compost.
The amount of waste I produce is related to how busy I am and what type of prepared food I consume. Last week our class discussed money buying happiness and I talked about the importance of free time for me. Vacation days are more important to me than salary increases at this point in my life. I realized I could do more with my time and less with money when I was laid off part-time in 2008. When the layoff happened I was able to move from an apartment alone in with another person so we could share the expenses. I became active in an environmental book club, and began studying for the architectural exams. I had time to grow a productive garden and cook healthier meals. The time spent tending the garden taught me how much I enjoyed working in the dirt and how rewarding the labor was physically and mentally.
Montezuma’s Castle
.
Montezuma’s Castle
sits too tall to climb without ladders
pale white adobes, pressed
together with women palms
centuries ago
since then, ancient sycamores
grow in the streambeds.
.
The next day, we closed in on the South Rim
the north face of Humphreys began to fade
to a mere backdrop
left to stand with common tourists in the
amazement of nature
over the erosion of another natural wonder.
~
Photo of Montezuma’s Castle from A Year on the Road
Open Sedona
.
Sun iron details
around gated entrances
open Sedona.
.
A tall ponderosa Pin forest
along the drive of oak creek canyon falls
music beats through the intimate canyon river
.
From where we lodged we walked
around bell rock and the courthouse
with long shadows stepping on
hollow rock sounds
around the vortex.
.
The agave blooms life size
lily pad blossoms
held skyward and toward
the simple and very significant structure
The Chapel of the Holy Cross
we see from a climb up
Cathedral Rock.
.
Psychedelic colors of the desert blend
between sky blue, white purple, green
red-pink and lean down to the
Verde Valley, lush tees around Oak Creek
where small black birds open up a bright white
wing span.
~
Dressing up and dressing off
.
In Vegas we stayed at a castle
a screaming floor full of ‘winners’
they’d made it here
landed in a bleak desert
from the sky or over dry land.
.
We’ve projected beyond
the desert people camps
the lonely fifty mile road
through a reservation
to a glass U walk suspended
over a natural wonder.
.
But most people stay
in Vegas, if they visit Nevada
the ‘on’ switch turns at 8pm.
Quiet malls become clubs with
long lines and the noise of the street
belongs inside by night.
.
Peace may only rest in the cliff cracks
of Zion two hundred miles east
or along the Colorado still running in Laughlin.
It hovers over the city dwellers, peeking around city buildings, train travelers, and from the North Rim of the Grand Canyon.
Flagstaff
Thirty miles north of Sedona
lives the summer homes
of most desert dwellers, and the shadow
of Arizona’s highest peak.
.
We’d come to ‘Flag’ to climb Mt. Humpheys
the day of rest before
found us lolly-gagging around
easily paved tourist attractions that left
us feeling empty.
.
We ate across the tracks before the train
bisected the city again
a hipster town, complete with
a university from the
historic landmarks
old hotels where New Years Eve
parties were spent watching
the pinecone drop
outside Weatherford Hotel.
.
Humphreys began at the low pine spread
easy, slow switch-backs in the Aspen forest
a bright green fern floor before the tall
white legs
.
Careful steps climb for two-thirds of the way
watching roots and rock trip your feet
until knee lifts climb you the
last tired third to the top
the sand and lava rock tundra
of a volcano we can make out
at the peak, over the rock scramble
blew one million years ago.
.
A live hive by the top
small hungry flies at 12,000 feet
mountains south of us were draped in pines
a soft carpet of Aspen lies in the valley
crooks below the mountain.
Cathedral Rock
High on the formation
the bugs southern tingy song
comes and goes with the gusting wind.
Black birds open up a white wingspan to fly
down to ancient sycamores growing in the stream.
This photo above was taken in Bryce.
Climbing Humphreys
.
We walked a grass meadow to the forest edge
the lime green new growth of the pine
spread and opened a mile in to expose a hill of rock
too great for human hands
The easy slow switch backs lead through Aspen
tall white trunks rise from the fern forest floor.
We stumble over large rocks and exposed roots
the first two miles, getting acclimated to 11,000 ft
and then the knee lifts begin, slow scrambling past
false peaks to make it on top of an ancient volcano.
.
There is a constant buzz at 12,633 feet, a live hive
hungry flies we see
south mountains draped in pines
a soft carpet of Aspen lies in the valley crooks below
The 360 degree view affords us the view of the North Rim and Walnut Canyon by just turning
a simple circle.
.
The next day we watched Humphreys in the rear view mirror
Onward to see the Grand Canyon South rim as
soft sandaled tourists.
