As the shoring went up for the large platform that will cap off the Safeway store and provide the 5-acre base for the three housing buildings, the scale of the project increased dramatically because the Safeway store is twice as high as the other floors.
This accidental photographic juxtaposition of the 2-story high shoring against the Sweetbrier Apartments beyond, on the west side of Queen Anne Avenue, gives an approximate (but not literal) sense of the scale shift that lies ahead.
The other activity that reveals the change in scale is the erection of the formwork for the walls and supports that will hold the large base up and shape the Safeway and the other activities that will be included under it.
This view is from the SE corner of the site at N Crockett Street and First Avenue North. The formwork for the automobile ramp to the garage that comes in from the left above, slopes down towards the near corner in the photo and then arcs around and down to the north, parallel to First Avenue North, is now high enough to block the view of activities on the Safeway level.
Some of those activities, as well as the ones beyond to the north (right) can be seen here.
On the right side above, the other automobile ramp, the one serving the project from the Boston Street, is being formed up. And if you look in the lower right hand corner of the photo, you can just see the previously poured section of ramp emerging from below.
In the center of the photo, generally where the concrete placement boom is standing, will be some construction to keep an eye on. This will be the loading dock area for deliveries to the Safeway store. It’s taking an ingenious drive-in / back-in layout to allow this to happen.
Centered in the north end (section 5) construction is the core for the housing tower at the NE corner of the project (below). It backs up against the ramp; but the front faces Boston Street where the housing office and main resident entrance will be located.
In this view the formwork has been thoroughly braced in preparation for pouring the walls.
Near the alley from Boston Street, a large volume is being formed in the foreground to accommodate a Seattle City Light (SCL) Electrical Vault.
It will be served by giant electrical conduits from beneath the alley in the foreground.
Finally, swinging around to the alley itself, and looking east, you can see the SCL vault on the left, the tower core in the center (where the elevators will be), and the automobile ramp off to the right.
I happened to catch the actual pouring of part of the automobile ramp (where the workers are guiding the concrete from the placement boom) which gives a good sense of the ramp and walls curving up from below.
It’s hard to believe, but the concrete placement boom is suppling concrete that is being piped all the way from a delivery truck sitting a block away on Queen Anne Avenue.
Next Time: Housing Begins !
Travel Design Impressions 