rgarza

@hindesky our ship finally came in! 😂 

A couple of pics of the ceiling in the main atrium, taken from the third floor. As you can see, there’s tons of natural light augmented with some artificial light. I can’t wait to see this building once she’s finished!

@danielsonr it’s painted. What’s most interesting to me is that they left the inconsistencies from the wooden forms and the paint almost seems to highlight it. It gives it a kind of organic look with the imperfections that contrasts with the interior where everything is very polished and clean. 

This is the install on the canopy that covers the courtyard facing Main St. It’s gonna look beautiful once it’s done, but boy oh boy is it nerve wracking to install. Each piece weighs in the neighborhood of 1200kg and we’ve got to be directly underneath it while it’s being put in. 

From what I’ve seen, most of the breakage has come either during installation or because of faulty installation. Other than that, it takes quite a bit to break the tube glass like being hit with a tower crane block or a boom lift swinging into it. Other than that, it seems like a pretty strong design, but only time will tell. 

@hindesky I stopped asking when the replacements are arriving because it just seems to cause premature hair loss among the project managers lol. Apparently, there was even talk of trying to get replacements put on a cargo plane, but of course we weren’t the only ones to have that idea so space is at a super premium on cargo planes. We removed as many broken pieces as we could while we still had the tower crane but there are still a few that we’ll have to use a mobile crane for. I’m guessing that won’t happen until the replacements finally arrive though. Silver lining (for me, anyway) is that I’ve got some job security 😂

We have been instructed not to lick these windows. It’s been pretty difficult for us dumb construction workers, but we’re managing. Seriously, though, I don’t know where in China they’re coming from, but I’m pretty sure any microbes on the glass will be long dead by the time they get here. Covid-19 can live up to 5 days on glass and metal surfaces and these replacements are taking weeks to get here. We’re fine. Just to be safe though, please do not lick this museum! I repeat, this is not a lickable museum!!

Tube glass install with a view of the soffit system partially installed. I think this glass looks great in the Houston sunshine!

At this elevation the tube glass will go all the way down to ground level. We just can’t install those yet because there is still some masonry work that needs to be done there. In other areas where the Tube glass doesn’t go down to ground level, yes, there is a soffit system in place to hide the steel glass support system. 

A shot of tube glass being installed on the southeast corner of the building.