Under the Purple Hard Hat

Before I begin I would like to wish everyone a grand and happy holiday. The holidays are upon us and everyone is a touch happier and a bit more joyous.


The construction is moving a a furious pace. They brought in 2 trusses that will be the support for both the 2nd and 3rd floor over the main lounge. I want you to check out the photos because it is the only way that i can show how snowy it was out there. It is a bit precarious having two major pieces of the dorm moving in as one of the big snow storms of the year comes blowing in on the same day. I will say that the guys are amazing though. Never complained truly professional.


Today is the coldest yet but at least the snow is not coming down. I know you may be curious, Why work in this weather? Answer: they are hoping to get the roof up or ceiling to the first floor (what ever you would like to call it) up so that way they can pour cement for the first floor and then heat inside and not have to work in the harsh winter conditions.


Also I have had several request for blogs beyond the new dorm and i have good news to report on that front. at the beginning of the new year we will be adding new student blogs as well as alumni blogs to the bunch. I am hoping to find some other administrators who would like to blog and maybe even have a blog for people with interesting stories and items from their days at EC so i will keep you posted.

Turkey day has passed and now finals are upon us. As the iron rises towards the skies the snow begins to fall and with it so does the temperature. After taking some time away from the site it was nice to go back and see what has transpired. All of the first floor exterior wall have gone up and so has the iron for the remaining walls. Talked to the guys today and the plan is to continue moving up the south entrance. Soon we see an impressive outer skeleton of the new dorms upper floor. There are many people involved with building and overseeing and designing and I have to say this has to be one of the most impressive buildings i have ever seen.

Okay so it has not become so bad that only the mailman will go out into the weather but for little old me it has definitely played a factor. This past 2 weeks the weather has become much colder and dare I say whiter. That is correct it has begun to snow on little old Elmira College. It is always entertaining talking to students who have never seen snow before and are totally enthralled with it.

But back to dorm construction updates. The first floor is being prepped for pouring and there is almost a complete walled structure up for the first floor. I was talking to the guys and they are looking to be done with concrete pouring soon. Once that is done it will be steel work that will be done over the winter. Seeing these early stages of construction make it an exciting time and have me already thinking about the creation of invitations for the grand opening gala. The new dorm is coming to life and the anticipation is killing me.

Photos are going up today as well so look for a large update of those very soon.

I know that posts have been few and far between lately but have now fear for the photos have been updated just not the words. As they say a picture is worth a thousand words. There have been a lot of changes to the site since i last updated.

• There is now a layer of cement covering the basement of the new dorm.
• the west wall is up and poured
• the supports for the front entrance are down and if you look at it compared to the renderings of the dorm you can see it come to life

I almost forgot. I have taken a buch of shots and created panoramic views of the site. The one below is a complete 360 view of the pit as of last week. with the iron going up it definitely looks different down there now but this is a good way for you to be able to see what i see down there. There are others so be sure to check out the other pictures because there is one looking from the north wall down into the site.

I will say that I am a simple man. You show me a crane and what looks like a giant jungle gym and I will get goose bumps. Today was the first day that I saw the red iron go up. When I went through training to go into the construction site i was asked about climbing and If I would be diong any of that. I said no I would probably stick to the ground level. Today i see the iron going up and all i can think of is how much i want to climb up and take photos and see what these guys see.

I saw the north wall being finished. the cement has been poured and you can actually see where the entrance will be. Before it was just a frame but now you can truly envision it.

One of the guys was spraying the wall with something and I asked what it was. He was spraying a curing agent onto the cement to help it cure. The construction team could either leave the support structures up for seven days or spray this liquid on the cement and it does the same thing as leaving them up.

When i was told that this is a building that will last 150 years I assumed that was standard operating fair. I mean why wouldn't it. I was told that this is a once in a life time build for these guys most buildings aren't being built to last this long and none of them with as much attention to detail.

The foundation walls are almoust complete. which has allowed them to start on the walls near the library. This is an exciting time to be watching the dorm go up because very soon the Red Iron will be going up. This is what will be the start of the actual walls of the new dorm.


I have been taking a bunch of shots and compiling them into panaramic views and 360 views of the construction. I hope to have them up by the end of the day.


Also be on the look out we will be starting an Alumni blog Written by Our new Dir. of Alumni Relations Adriana Giancoli '98.

Walls are up and are really quite impressive. Now in order to descend into the depths of the new dorm you first have to climb a ladder then go down a flight of stairs. I will update the photos soon as well.

I would just like to say welcome to the Astonishing Class of 2012!!! You are the first classs that will be able to live in the new dorm WOOT!!

New photos are up of the Big pour check them out!

So the big pour was wicked cool. I showed up at 11:30 at night so that way i could see the whole event in full swing. I wasn't the only one either there were several members of the college community watching as well as many members of the Elmira community there with the little ones. I know it's late but all five year old boys want to see big machines playing in the dirt.


When I arrived they were well ahead of schedule having 600 yards of the 775 yards poured. There were 15 cement trucks working in harmony to create a continuous flow of cement for the pour. With close to 80 cement trucks loads used to create the foundation of the new dorm.


I found out that it takes approximately

• 6 Minutes to load the truck with cement
• 15 Minutes to get to the site
• 3 minutes to unload the cement into the pump that pours the foundation

While it is hard now and you can walk on it the cement will be fully hardend in three days.

THE BIG POUR IS TONIGHT!!!

First Photos have been updated so check those out!!


And now for something really cool.


All the work that has been done in the last few weeks has been leading up to this Friday the 22nd. All the re bar will be in place. Fences will be moved and the trucks will come in and pour a ridiculous amount of cement. There will be approximately 60 cement trucks pouring the foundation to the new dorm. So when you see the pictures next week all of the iron that we see at the bottom of the foundation should be covered by cement. The pour will begin at approximately a 6pm and go until 10am the next morning. I am told that the pour should (if all goes smoothly) will actually end at 5am but then will need to be finished and smoothed out.


Why pour in the evening and night you say?


There is additives placed in the cement to help expedite the hardening process. With the sheer amount of cement being poured and a desire to have the building last for centuries we pour at night to keep it from hardening to fast and uneven. In the sunlight the cements outer shell may harden before the center and that would not be good for the buildings longevity.


I can say as a farm kid who still likes seeing big machines I am really excited for this next milestone in the dorms construction.

So today I updated all of the photos on the flickr group and now anyone can see them so patience has payed off. I am told that soon we will be pouring the actual foundation and will keep you all updated on the exact days of the big pour which will be impressive.


I have to say the part of the construction i find most interesting is the front entrance so far. Don't get me wrong the big hole is cool but seeing the under belly of the entrance is really impressive. The different colored metals create an awe inspiring sense of industrialism.


I was talking to one of the guys on the site and he told me that he even gets chills when he sees things like this. It makes you think about how far building construction has come. From the pyramids to even buildings from the early 20th century.

Welcome! As the new dorm has progressed so has interest in everything surrounding Elmira College's expansion. So we have decided to add this informative blog which will link to photos and videos of the dorm construction.


All this hard work will culminate with the unavailing of a brand new state of the art dorm which will house approximately 140 students.