Bryan keeps hearing Bill Brown’s words,

“The bridges, railings and stairs are critical to your project. These are what everyone will touch and feel. The hardware on the railings are like jewelry - don’t make a mistake.”

Although Jo-Anne, Nik, Kate and Lucky are in Kelowna, Bryan continues to focus on designing the bridges, railings and stairs.

New Renderings

ArchiCAD makes it very easy to create renderings of a project.  The structure and materials must be modeled in three dimensions, which helps to understand the design much better. 

Bryan continues to learn ArchiCAD.

Our trademark red front door. Note how the two beams 'frame' the door entrance. These beams will extend into the atrium.

Looking to the foyer. Note the flange of the steel beam modeled in the roof. Also, note how the posts are now stainless steel.

Looking down the stairs. Note how thin the Bridge Foyer looks. We're getting there.

View from the bottom of the stairs looking up. The treads and risers are in contrasting materials so it is easier to make the three dimensional model.

Looking at the profile at the bottom of the stairs. We are definitely getting better with the design.

Paul had a narrow window to fly into San Jose for a quick site visit.  He did.

Catching Up with Paul

Since Jo-Anne, Nik, Kate and Lucky (the puppy) were in Kelowna, Bryan was extremely flexible and could host Paul’s visit and meet whatever timing was required.  Due to a number of issues, Paul caught a flight from Toronto to SFO, arriving on Saturday evening.

After a well-coordinated pick up at SFO, Paul and Bryan caught up over dinner in Los Gatos.

The plan for today was to do some measurements with Bryan’s new laser level.  With the concrete floor, two bridges, stairs, etc., establishing the elevation for the finished floor is critical.  Based on the advice from the general contractor that installed a GlassWalk bridge in Atherton, we invested in a top-of-the-line laser level.  Now, it was time to learn how to use it.

On Site

Paul and Bryan spent several hours on Sunday using the laser level and measuring elevations.  However, they were somewhat stumped on how to rotate the laser to show a straight line on the concrete.  And, technical support was not available on Sunday. 

After a light meal, Bryan drove Paul back to SFO so he could catch the red-eye to Toronto.

As always, a great visit with Paul.

Paul reviews progress on Sunday morning.

Ah, some wasps are making a home just outside our site office. This is not good.

Paul reviews the bearing wall in the lower level.

As part of our remodel of the main floor, we need to meet the structural requirements on the east and west walls.  This requires removing the sheetrock to expose the 2×4 studs and so we can form the concrete wall under the sill plate that the east and west walls will be attached to.

Removing the Sheetrock and Insulation

Bryan had a small crew come in and remove the sheetrock, insulation and sundry other items with surgical precision.  The arrived and were gone in less than three hours.  They returned with the ticket from the landfill, so they could be paid.

Removing the sheetrock and insulation from the west wall.

West wall, looking very

The original studs are looking good. Having a the wall exposed will allow work to progress much easier and faster.

East wall, inside garage, showing electric panel.

Checking in With John Rider and Joel Lemons

We need some detailed design work for the bridges and stairs, so Bryan started working with John Rider and Joel Lemons of Jrider+Design, located on Hamilton Avenue in Campbell, California.

John Rider, working with ArchiCAD in his studio on Hamilton Avenue.

Joel Lemons, also busy working with ArchiCAD.

New Renderings

After Joel did some magic with our ArchiCAD model, Bryan did some new renderings to show the railing and bridge designs that we’re considering.

Rendering showing view from Foyer, across bridge, through the living room to the statue.

Looking back to front door, across the railings.

Looking down from Bridge Hall.

Looking up from under Bridge Hall to Bridge Foyer.