The rapid growth of the housing portions of the 21 Boston project has created a dramatic change in the Queen Anne Avenue skyline; but at the same time, the “back of the house” has also surged forward. Here are some views of this interesting part of the project, the first view looking north-east from the housing.
On the left is where the parking and service vehicles enter the site from North Boston Street. The formwork on the left is for the walls of the office and parking entrance. The Putzmeister concrete placement boom that dominates the photo sits in the area where the service loading dock will eventually be located.
It’s not quite so dramatic from Boston Street but there are definite challenges there. (This photo shows the concrete walls in place. I’ll show formwork and concrete sequences below.) The concrete walls contain the official 21 Boston office space.
The challenge to the workflow in this area is the narrowness of the existing alley. Materials deliveries here have to be carefully scheduled. The construction fence on the left will eventually be removed.
Here are two photos that show the formwork and finished west wall of the office – from inside the construction fence.
And just to give an idea of the finished driveway width, I created a photo impression by splicing parts of two photos together. It helps give a sense of the width needed for all the various cars and trucks that will need access. One interesting wrinkle is that the existing alley on the right goes somewhat uphill into the site, but the new drive on the left is essentially level. This will be resolved by rebuilding the the existing alley, lower and matching the new one.
Inside this entryway, near the Compass field office, the “Putzmeister” dominates the scene, both at the horizon,
and at grade, where it sits in the center of the future loading dock area.
Two views of the parking garage entry describe the progress there.
In the photo below, the ramp sloping down into the garage opening shows clearly.
And similarly, looking in the opposite direction, from the 1st Avenue North side, a collection of formwork walls and columns,
that soon reveal the view looking out of the garage – with the tower crane above.
On the Boston Street side, two views show the corner office space,
as well as the process we’ve now seen many times of turning somewhat finished spaces into staging and storage areas for the equipment that will help form the next phase.
In this case that would be the shoring for the concrete ‘transfer’ deck that will support the housing building immediately above this area. In this first photo, the worker is using an electronic, datum-reading device to check the elevation of the top of the shoring. The shoring tubing is threaded and fitted with a threaded ring that his assistant can adjust with a hammer to raise or lower shoring girders as needed to meet the elevation required.
The afternoon sunshine gives the space a lovely quality – which will, unfortunately, not be part of the finished building, except from the windows that will be located where the openings have been created in the west (right hand) wall that are letting light in here.
Finally, a mixed bag technology picture, showing the variety of elements, some new and temporary, some old and permanent, that must work together to make the process work.
Next time: more about the housing – now up to four floors.
Travel Design Impressions 