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The steel frame is complete; visit with Steffen to the 2nd floor

Photos from February 6, 2006

I figured this "blog" needed some star power to increase interest.  So I brought Steffen Saustrup with me, some times known as the UTIG seismic tech, other times as a featured scientist on a nationally broadcast documentary about investigating the origin of the Sumatra tsunami.  Behind Steffen is the fully framed 1-story east wing of the new building, which will house the TACC computer room (foreground) and UTIG seminar room.  The crane sits idle in the background, but it still has some work to do.

The concrete foundation for the TACC computer room has recently been poured.  I'm standing in what will be the loading dock to take the photo.  The building in the background is the NETL (Nuclear Engineering Teaching Lab) - one of our new neighbors.

Looking west into the first floor from the loading dock.  The middle section is prepped for pouring the slab. Left foreground are the chilled water pipes for the building.

At the northeast corner, looking at a steel worker putting in roof supports over the seminar room.  The BEG connector is in background to right.

We ran into Matt Shaw from Flintco during our visit.  Here he is with Steffen, and the half-finished east parking lot in the background.

Not the best photo - but it shows an interesting thing.  The fellow walking in the background is an exterminator, and he's just finished spraying the ground with a liquid of a brilliant shade of turquoise - I think you can make that out.  This is done prior to pouring the slab to keep bugs away for years to come.

A climb up the ladder takes us to the 2nd floor!  The stairs in the background are not safe enough to use yet, and the 3rd floor base is still being put together.  Soon, concrete will be poured on this corrugated base (strong stuff!) to a depth of 5".  You might notice a slight arch in the I-beams above.  This is so that, after the concrete is poured on the floor above, the weight will push them down and the floor will be level.  Engineers are paid a lot of money to think of things like that.

View from the 2nd floor toward the east side of the connector.  The first floor of the connector is much larger than the 2nd and 3rd floors - hence the roof jutting out.

Here looking through the 2nd-floor passageway from UTIG to BEG.  Elevators will be on the left, background.  There is also a triangular opening to the first floor, left foreground.

Looking at the roof of the seminar room from the 2nd-floor perspective.

South-looking view from the 2nd floor.  The pond is part of the Water Resources Lab (another of our new neighbors).

There's our buddy Rod Nelson from Flintco.  He gave us lots of info.

These are junction boxes for the floor connections in the director's conference room.  These need to be in place before the concrete is poured. 

Back on the first floor, close-up of the elevator pit and shaft pipes.

On the way out, we walked through the 1-story west wing, which will be TACC offices.  Cool shadows.

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