Wednesday, August 04, 2010

And the walls come tumbling down

With help from Frank Harmon Architects our demolition plans are coming along. Architect Will Lambeth(in white) and Tim Martin, a structural engineer joined me last week for a grand tour of our beloved building. Actually we probably shouldn't call it a tour, it was pretty much a full inspection with all ares that are affected by the demolition measured to the fraction of an inch. Will had a sweet Bosch laser tape measure, I was jealous. We spent time on the roof, in the basement and all points in between.By the end of the day Tim had a comprehensive sketch as seen below. The numbers were tiny but readable and he has been plugging them in the computer this week and the planning meeting is tomorrow in Raleigh. We will be discussing the design of the courtyard area that the demolition will create, and doors and windows to plug the openings also exposed by the demolition. Our hope is to bring some natural light into our currently unlit interiors. The demolition will create a 12,000 square foot courtyard out of what is currently a rapidly deteriorating center section of the building. In the 50's and 60's this area was the dye house of the mill. In 1976 a new dye house was built, and the area changed to house the boarding operation. Wet Dog Glass and the STARworks Glass Lab now occupy the new dye house area. Watch here for updates on the ongoing rebirth of the STARworks building!

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