North Wing Addition Update: Pencil Rods and Cat Heads

Posted on January 2, 2013 by John Cowden

One of the most complicated operations of constructing the new North Wing is shoring the wall which is in between the Museum and the addition. The wall is an old one made from brick and concrete block. Brick walls are very strong as long as the forces on them are vertical (straight down from the top). If the forces are horizontal (side to side), the bricks need to be held in place. Such a horizontal force might be wind load: big walls can act as a very large sail and catch a lot of wind load in extreme weather.

The first step in shoring is to add strength to the wall by adding stiffbacks.

The first step is to add strength to the wall by adding stiffbacks.

The stiffback channels are lowered through holes in the roof and second floor and attached to the wall.

Composite mesh sleeves for hollow masonry and brick material.

In this case, stiffbacks are channels. Holes are drilled in the channels and into the brick and block behind. Inserted into these holes is a plastic sleeve with plastic mesh. It is slightly smaller than the hole.

The sleeve is filled with epoxy, and a length of all-thread rod is inserted. When the epoxy sets the washer and nut can be installed and the channel secured tightly to the wall.

Other steel members are secured into concrete with wedge anchors. The anchor is so tightly installed in the concrete it can support a very large load.

The wedge anchor is inserted into the finished hole. The washer and nut are placed over the anchor. The wedge anchor is hammered into the hole. The wedge spreads the end.

Stiffbacks are against the walls, and the other side of the shoring is secured to existing columns. Plates were welded to the columns to accept the diagonal bracing. The plates at the bottom of the columns will be encased in concrete. Angle bracing is extensive and prevents movement from front to back, side to side and up and down. In order to make sure the base of the columns do not move, additional weight is added to the bottom of the columns. Six cubic yards of concrete each weighing between 2,500 and 4,000 pounds were poured at the base to produce a deadweight of between 15,000 and 24,000 lbs. This is only a fraction of the amount of concrete that will be poured this winter forming the walls of the new addition, which is why the shoring is so important.

The forms are plywood supported with 2x4s. Vertical 2x4s are studs. Horizontal 2x4s are wales.

Because the concrete exerts a powerful force pushing the form outward, steel wire is used to hold the form together. Typically, snap-ties are used in standardized wall thicknesses like 8” or 12”. In our case, the form is much thicker, and we are using a special thick wire called pencil rod.

Pencil rod is inserted in between studs on opposite sides of the form, threaded through cast iron escutcheons called catheads. The pencil rod is secured by a set screw. The carpenters secure a cathead to one end of the pencil rod. A second cat head is placed loosely on the opposite side of the form. The pencil rod is pulled tight by hand. A tightener is also place over that end.

The pencil rod is inserted from right to left through this tightener. The lever clamps down on the rod and then the hand screw tightens the rod. Then the second cat head set screw is then secured. The wires are bent down for safety.

The carpenters pour three forms at a time. In order to reduce the outward pressure on the forms, each form is poured one third full from the first truck load. That way the concrete can begin to set before it is all added. The second truck adds a second third to all forms and so on.

The concrete truck does not enter the building, to prevent the possibility of a buildup of fumes in the area and also to make sure no fumes enter the Museum. A large forklift uses a half-yard concrete hopper to deliver the concrete to the form.

The concrete is placed (the forms are filled) and vibrated to eliminate voids. Later the forms are stripped and the ends of the pencil rods removed.

Saving the Sycamores

Posted on October 17, 2012 by John Cowden

There are two sycamore trees growing near the entrance ramp to the Admissions Lobby of the Museum. As part of the construction on the new North Wing, a sanitary sewer line has to be re-routed between the trees to be outside of the footprint of the new addition. The logical route for the new line is in between these two trees. Informed opinion said that a trench deep enough for the sewer line, and wide enough to safely accommodate a crew to install the pipe, could damage the sycamores.

However, we quickly identified a solution – use a borer to avoid damage and save the trees. Edger Enterprises, Inc. of Elmira Heights, NY was the subcontractor for this project. The first step was to dig two holes. One is at each end of the bore. Next, trench boxes were installed to protect workers from cave-ins.

A laser is used to check that the track is level.

After that, a 40 foot long track was installed on leveled, tamped crushed stone. Hydraulics at the end of the boring rig push the entire auger, its plastic coating sleeve and rig forward into the dirt. In our soil, the auger moves forward quite quickly, about one foot per minute.

The track has square holes in the rail. The boring machine has corresponding dogs which fit into the holes which are spaced about 18 inches apart.

The truck has sleeves with augers inside. There are three 20 foot long sections and one 10 foot long section.

After all 70 feet of sleeves are installed and the bore is completed, the augers are withdrawn and dismantled one at a time. The 24 inch sleeve remains in place for the 18 inch sewer line to be installed inside it. The light green pipe is the new sewer line. If you look closely, you can make out the sleeve hidden in the dirt. The brown pipe laid diagonally to it is the old sewer pipe. At the top of the picture, you can see the bottoms of the tree trunks, protected from harm.

The old pipe, made of ceramic or vitrified clay, had been damaged.

The set up takes quite a bit longer than the boring, but the process is worth the time in order to preserve the two sycamore trees, which will become part of the new one-acre campus green. Designed by landscape architecture firm Reed Hilderbrand Associates, the football field-sized outdoor space will feature a large central lawn area, with a terraced plaza and more large canopy trees in addition to the sycamores.

Landscape rendering by Reed Hilderbrand Associates of overview and plaza.

To design the green space, the Reed Hilderbrand team researched the history of the Museum campus, which includes buildings by the architectural firms Harrison & Abramowitz, Gunnar Birkerts, Smith-Miller + Hawkinson, and Bohlin Cywinski Jackson.

For the North Wing Expansion, they are collaborating with the project architect Thomas Phifer and Partners. The plan will include tall canopy trees to provide shade, and showcase the architecture of the new North Wing contemporary gallery, which features a 150-foot-long window wall overlooking the campus green.

Reed Hilderbrand has worked with many museums including The Clark in Williamstown, MA, Dallas Museum of Art in Dallas, TX, Phoenix Art Museum in Phoenix, AZ, and Parrish Art Museum in Water Mill, NY. Their work has been recognized by numerous local and national awards. In 2005, they were selected as The Architectural League of New York’s Emerging Voices, and they have twice received the prestigious American Society of Landscape Architects Award of Excellence in 1997 and 2007.

Learn more at www.cmog.org/expansion.

The Grapple: Demolition in progress on the North Wing Expansion

Posted on September 14, 2012 by John Cowden

On August 22 and 23, the office spaces of the old North Wing of the Corning Museum of Glass were torn down to prepare for building the expansion. Architect Tom Phifer’s design will add a 100,000-square-foot gallery space, making the Museum the largest venue for contemporary glass in the world. Our old offices needed to be demolished to make room for these new galleries. As seen in the cross section rendering above, the orange and black roofed ventilator building of the former Steuben Glass factory, which is adjacent to the Museum’s current building, will remain intact. In fact, the building, topped by the iconic Robertson ventilator, will not be demolished, but renovated to continue to be a site for live glassblowing as it has been for decades.

The roof airgapped.

Since only a portion of the buildings were being removed, it was necessary to “airgap the building.” All connections between the building to be torn down and the building to remain were removed.

The demolition was done by Environmental Remediation Services Incorporated. The machine used for the demolition is called a “grapple.” It is said to cost about $300,000. Many people use incorrect names for this machine: “Grappler” is a term for certain wrestling styles. “Clamshell” is a term for a tool often used for dredging with a crane. “The Claw” is the name for one of Dick Tracey’s criminal foes.

The grapple with a pad of paper for scale.

The grapple uses pincher at the end of the arm to grab onto the building and to pull it apart.

Demolition in progress.

As the grapple dismantled the structure, the debris was sorted into three main piles: structural steel, mixed metals and other.

Steel beams are cut with oxy-propane torches for transport.

The structural steel was cut into pieces with oxy-propane torches for transport to the scrap yard.

Spraying the debris with water to control dust.

A steady stream of water removed the dust from the air.

The old old North Wing offices of the Corning Museum of Glass

The old old North Wing offices of the Museum.

The demolished building’s removal exposed Hot Glass programs manager Steve Gibb’s old office through the back wall. The paper tacked to the side wall is an old Celebrity Cruise line gaffers’ schedule. This was the only item left in any office.

The Museum remains open throughout the Expansion project and demolition, since only office spaces were torn down. Visitors inside the Museum are not affected by the work happening outside. Our neighbors in the adjacent Corning Incorporated building had a bird’s eye view of the demolition, as seen in this photo taken from the seventh floor.

View of the demolition from the adjacent Corning Incorporated building.

The ins and outs of the new curatorial loading dock

Posted on September 6, 2012 by Warren Bunn

Things are never dull behind the scenes at the Museum. There is a constant stream of glass leaving the Museum on loan to be exhibited at other institutions, loans from other museums coming in, as well as new acquisitions to add to the permanent glass collection. Every year between 500 and a few thousand glass objects pass through our doors.

In 2012, the Museum will loan objects to exhibitions in the United States, Canada, Asia, Europe, and Australia. Receiving institutions include the National Museum of the American Indian in New York, NY, the Heard Museum in Phoenix, AZ, and the National Museum of Australia in Canberra, and many others. Our glass objects have gone as far as the Suntory Museum of Art in Tokyo, Japan, and as close as the Memorial Art Gallery in Rochester, NY.

Islamic bowl on loan to a traveling exhibition that will be on display in Provo, UT, Indianapolis, Houston, and Brooklyn. Bowl, transparent emerald-green, mold-pressed and cut. Islamic; Western Asia; perhaps Iran, c. 9-10th century. H: 7.6 cm.(55.1.136)

Have you ever wondered how and when this all happens? All the glass moves in and out through our curatorial loading dock, which recently underwent renovations.

For years, the Curatorial Department has struggled with an aging lift and a fairly ineffective loading dock. As the main artery for glass objects coming in and out of the building (and the first experience for other museums’ couriers and art shippers) we felt that it was finally time for an upgrade.

Construction on the new loading dock.

Earlier this year we embarked on a project to not only replace the often malfunctioning lift and to increase the effectiveness of the dock, but also, to make the back of the house as “World Class” as the rest of the Museum.

Ready to receive and ship glass to and from around the world

Ready to receive and ship glass around the world.

Thanks to the hard work and good planning of the Preparators, Operations, Safety staff and our contractor, Streeter Associates Inc., I am happy to announce that the new loading dock has been built with safety, efficiency and flexibility in mind, and is now officially open for business.

Graffiti at the Museum

Posted on August 31, 2012 by John Cowden

As you walk through the Museum’s parking lot or in the construction zone of the old bus parking lot and under the Courtyard Stage, you will see mysterious dots, arrows, and lines sprayed onto the asphalt surface. They come in a variety of colors.

NY 800-862-7962 or www.digsafelynewyork.com

I got a lesson in what they mean. As you might suspect, there is an Institute, Association, or Society which issues guidelines for which colors represent what underground facilities. The American Public Works Association (and its Canadian affiliate) has established a Uniform Color Code. This paint marking system is used to lay out a surface representation of underground utility lines. Pink is for temporary survey markings. Red is for electric power lines, cables, conduit, & lighting cables. Yellow is for gas, oil, steam, petroleum and gaseous material. Orange is for communications, alarm, signal lines, cables or conduit. Blue is for potable water. Purple is for reclaimed water. Green is for sewers and drain lines. White is for proposed excavation.

As you can imagine, in the complex of buildings around our parking lot, pipes and conduit have been added and subtracted many times over the years. Buildings were built, modified, brought up to the current Building Code, portions abandoned, fiber optic cable added, new steam lines added, electrical systems upgraded, etc.

Two steam lines 2 feet deep.

The contractor called the UFPO or Underground Facilities Protective Organization (800-862-7962) to mark all of the known utilities out on the pavement. Red marks the electrical lines. Sometimes there is a number next to the line. It is the depth in feet or inches. H.V. stands for High Voltage. There are yellow lines for gas and steam. STM stands for steam. There are blue water lines including the sprinkler lines. There are also some green lines most or all of which are for storm sewers. There are some catch basins, manholes, handholes and valve covers which are also painted or marked.

The painted lines show the direction of the pipe. As you walk across the lot, it will give you some idea of what lies below.

Museum Expansion Update

Posted on August 23, 2012 by John Cowden

There is a lot happening every week on the North Wing expansion. This week, a section of concrete needed to be removed for excavation. To make the removal process easy for the excavators, the concrete floor is cut with a water bathed diamond saw.

The diamond saw used to cut 6" thick concrete for removal

The diameter of the saw blade looks about 30 inches. It is very noisy. You can see the cutline just in front of the operator’s toe. The saw is self-propelled and creeps forward very slowly. The concrete is about 6 inches thick. When the backhoe arrives, it will be very easy to remove the concrete which has been cut into one yard squares. The backhoe can drive on the cut squares to get to the ones in the back first.

Glassworkers also use this same technology to cut glass, although on a smaller scale. For example, the Museum staff sometimes uses a tile saw with a diamond blade and a water bath to cut glass color bar to be used in the Hot Glass Show.

Green = remove, red = do not remove

The electrical, gas and water services are being prepared for removal from the former North Wing office building. Some have to remain for a while. Most of the electrical circuits can be removed but some have to stay. Water lines and gas lines are being prepared for removal. The roof drains for rain water have to stay to the last. The sprinklers will stay as long as is practical. Pipes and conduit which can safely be removed are marked green. Those which should stay are marked in red. No one wants to cut into a live electrical line, gas line or water line.

Electrical switches marked green for removal have been removed

Electrical switches marked green have been removed

The North Wing expansion is being built in accordance with the tenets of the U. S. Green Building Council. The USGBC promotes the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) rating system. There are many elements which lead to a successful LEED program: Sustainable Sites, Water Efficiency, Energy & Atmosphere, Materials & Resources, Indoor Environmental Quality, Locations & Linkages, Awareness & Education, Innovation in Design and Regional Priority.

Brick sorted to be recycled

Materials are piled up, like with like, to be recycled. More items are able to be recycled than you might think.

You can find more information about the Green Building Council at www.usgbc.org.

North Wing Tour with Safety Manager Charles Ackerman

Posted on August 14, 2012 by John Cowden

Charles Ackerman, the Senior Project Manager for Safety, at Welliver, the Contractor for the North Wing expansion project, was kind enough to allow me to tag along while he took one of his three daily safety inspections.

Charles Ackerman, Senior Project Manager at Welliver

He explained some of the safety procedures and concerns as we walked through the site. One thing I noticed immediately is that the job site looks safe. Everything is neat and orderly. The floor is swept. There are no trip hazards. Nothing looks as though it will fall from above. Debris is piled in separate piles, cement blocks with cement blocks; insulation with insulation for example. Yellow tape across an area means “Proceed with Caution.” Red Tape means “Do Not Proceed.”

It is a bit eerie to look at the empty Museum office spaces where so much activity was going on just a year ago. The spaces look smaller than they did when they were fully occupied. Here are some pictures:

Behind North Wing

North Museum Offices

Charles told me that more items are going to be recycled than you might expect. All steel, iron and copper pipes will be recycled. All wire will be recycled. All other metals get recycled including metal studs, ceiling grids, handrails, I beams and rebar. Old ceiling tiles will be ground up for insulation. Sheetrock is used in sanitary landfills. Concrete will be ground up and used again in new concrete.
Here are a few more pictures:

Danger zone

Red tape prevents anyone from walking where bricks are being thrown from above. The bricks are sprayed with water to suppress the dust.

Yellow tape indicates Caution

Demolition in Progress

More demolition

Construction wraps up on the Hot Glass Show Innovation Stage

Posted on July 24, 2012 by John Cowden

Today’s post comes from John Cowden, a retired supervisor and narrator of the Hot Glass Show. John works with special projects at the Museum, and is supporting the new Hot Glass Show Innovation Stage construction project. John will be reporting on the progress of the project on an ongoing basis.

Construction on the new Hot Glass Show Innovation Stage is making good progress. The stage is sufficiently completed to accept the new melting equipment. The equipment was built in Seattle, WA by Spiral Arts and shipped to Corning. The owner of Spiral Arts, Fred Metz, came to Corning to make some final adjustments and troubleshoot the installation.

Fred Metz

The furnace was delivered to the Museum at night.

Working in the Museum while it remains open complicates the construction process for the contractors. Having construction on-site complicates operations for the Museum. The Museum has restricted some construction processes to after-hours. For example, most construction deliveries are scheduled outside Museum hours. Any paint which produces odors is applied after hours. Also restricted are noise making and dust producing operations. As a result, there are people working on the new Hot Glass Show Innovations Stage twenty-four hours a day. Some people are working five 8-hour days a week. Some are working four 10-hour days a week. Some are working four 12-hour days a week. A few are working five 12-hour days a week.

The new equipment installed. From left to right across the back of the stage: the furnace (with Fred inside), the iron warmer and color box, the annealer and the gloryhole. All of the equipment is electric.

There are a lot of signs that the project is coming to the end. The scaffolding which was erected to work on the ceiling has been dismantled and the ceiling is nearly complete. There is a painter doing touch up which you can see in the foreground of the picture of the equipment. The cooling equipment has been installed under the stage. The walls are finished. You can see the new paneling behind the exhaust vents.

The furnace was turned on last night and it is performing very well. The initial temperature rise is slow to get the moisture out safely (perhaps as slowly as 15° F/hour). Any initial firing of a glass furnace produces odors. The first trial of the ventilation system removed all of the initial firing odors. It will soon be time to add the glass to the furnace.

The electricians are making a few last minute adjustments.

The carpet is being installed and all of the brackets for the seating are installed.

Join us in celebrating the opening of the Hot Glass Show Innovation Stage Thursday, July 26 at 10am. Drop by (no reservations necessary) and watch as a procession of glassmakers make their way through the Museum (with much fanfare!) and transfer molten glass to the new furnaces using a hot glass torch.

Tour of the GlassMarket Café Renovation

Posted on March 13, 2012 by Mandy Kritzeck

I’m standing in a small narrow hallway in the lower level of the Museum with Rob Cassetti, senior director, creative services & marketing. On one end is the loading dock for the entire Museum, on the other end is the GlassMarket, the Auditorium is to the right, and on the opposite side, the kitchen for the Museum’s GlassMarket Café. It’s a small, high traffic area used by all departments of the Museum. Shipping and receiving for the GlassMarket, food deliveries, mail, and collection loan objects all make their way down this corridor.

Rob Casetti and Chris Morelli in the Corning Museum of Glass Cafe rennovation

Rob Casetti and Chris Morelli explain how the renovation is helping improve the flow of the space.

We’re joined by Chris Morelli, a project engineer on the construction management team. He’s one of the last of the crew here on a late Friday afternoon, and it’s a good thing that things have cleared out a little. He explains that the Café construction site has been a buzz of activity since the project began, with over 40 people onsite working this week. I can’t imagine how that many people fit to work in this back space, but it makes it clear why the renovation is necessary, not only for visitors dining at the Museum, but also to improve overall circulation and space management in the kitchen, storage and catering areas.

Rob looks over the Café renovation site plans

With the renovation, the flow of the kitchen transitioned from a long rectangle to a larger square. There is a new giant walk-in freezer, added storage, a new dishwashing station and added kitchen workspace. Construction included building a small addition to the side of the existing Museum for a tray return station, and relocating pipes under the kitchen floor to open up space. This renovation is only the first of many changes happening within the Museum as the North Wing expansion is underway.

Installing wiring for the digital menus in the new GlassMarket Café.

As we walk into the main dining area of the café, I’m reminded why I love to have lunch here. The floor to ceiling windows are always stunning. Rob points out where there will be a glass canopy over the servery stations. He notes that the translucent glass will look like it’s always been there, fitting into the existing architectural design. However, the glass also serves an important function in ventilation and improving the air quality of the Museum. This helps make sure that the smell of pizza doesn’t end up wafting into the galleries.

I can see the new brick pizza oven, but it’s still wrapped up in plastic. Once it’s installed, it will be one of five new menu stations. When you walk into the Café, you’ll be able to grab a tray and choose from a variety of options. New digital menus will provide daily meal options, pricing, and display vegetarian/dairy free/allergy information. The stations include international cuisine, Italian, pizza, soups & salads, and sandwiches. Grab n’ go and kids’ options will be available at each of the stations.

The dining area of the GlassMarket Café (reopening April 1)

It is no small feat to make this all happen in a few short months, and crews have the added difficulty of working within a museum, a place typically not used to the sounds and smells of drilling and welding. Most of the work happens at night to prevent disruptions when the Museum is open during the day. Chris said that a project like this would usually take five to six months; but when the Café reopens on April 1, it will have been completed in just three.

plan for the renovated GlassMarket Cafe at the Corning Museum of Glass

Plan for the menu stations in the new GlassMarket Café

Corning Museum of Glass

Behind the Glass

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