Design with an eraser

Adding on to a school is always a little different each time.  In this case, we had to “erase” the switchback stair where the new meets the old, and let the main level and upper level corridors run past.   Easy peasy?

What seems simple to demolish in BIM, can be difficult IRL.  Clay tile walls, platform framed two level GMU, does NOT make the process any easier.  What can stay what has to go.....

In the end it all worked out, and we can appreciate these 1-1/4” diameter (#10) rebar no longer held captive by their concrete treads and risers since 1955!

Once Covid 19 clears out, kids will have a nice new couple of additions to this Middle School for the Arts in Anoka!

Fannie Lakehome Addition

View of the boathouse deck roof, from the new deck sitting area between the new four season, and existing three season built just a few years ago.

Building a boathouse into the side of the hill was challenging, but the view of the lake from this vantage point is spectacular!

This cabin has been in the Owner’s family since they built the original cabin.  Maintaining the simple cottage look on the outside and warm interiors was a priority from day 1.  The entire house is now fully wheelchair accessible, despite the constant slope from cul-de-sac down to the shore.

Multiple variances for both phases were required, And we’re approved with very minor changes from the original design concept.

This is one of four lake homes designed by LSF Design that was constructed during 2020. 

Have a difficult lake lot, unbuildable they say.... give us a call.  If we cannot get it done, THEN it is undoable.

View from the additional living space that seamlessly extends the original cabin, remodeled in Phase 1.  The existing brick fireplace was wrapped in stone, and open on all four sides.   LJ Level did a masterful job, I dare you to find the transition between new and existing.

Anoka HS (challenges, old and new)

Buildings constructed around 1970 have endless challenges to be met when remodeling it into a school that functions the way we need it to today.

One example of change: school records, cash, and other valuables were stored in a built-in safe. A safe like this:

A safe so well anchored to the building that after removing every wall around it, it has taken these two guys, nine (9) days, SO FAR, with saw cutting blades, jack hammers and God knows what else they used, to try and free it from it’s reinforced cast in place concrete and steel angle anchor.

Exterior of the Building:

To break from the prison like appearance of bare concrete double-tee wall panel exterior, new brick and glass additions will wrap around almost half of the existing building, housing new and much needed spaces. (Replacing multiple portables decades old)  

And for the main entry:   A 30,000 pound steel beam skeleton wave canopy soon to be lifted and set on a pair of three-legged columns.

These will bear on two 4’-0” square concrete piers anchored to two of these 9’-0” square, 20” deep footings,  with minimal steel bracing back to the building roof.

Be glad I didn’t do the structural math on this one. 

Once it is wrapped in Anoka Maroon composite metal panels, it will be a source of pride and protection for all who come and go to this public school building.

(Design and Architect of Record:

     Mike Kraft Architects (MKA))

(General Contractor:

      BCI, Inc. - formerly Boser Construction)

(LSF Design provided architectural services to MKA,  including schematic design, construction documents, and construction administration)

MN HIGH SCHOOL CONSTRUCTION

Anoka High School: New Main Entrance.   Protecting the concrete that will be honed and polished.

Blaine Hogh School: the view of Bengal Field from the roof of the new two story classroom wing.  Interior work in high gear.

Coon Rapids High School: dueling cranes - precast floors and high roofing taking place during a brief school break.

Coon Rapids High School: threading the needle.  Setting the floor plank adjacent to the high lobby with 7’ roof overhangs. Wow, mad skills.

LSF Design provided design consultation, code planning, construction document and Revit modeling for all three of these projects. Mike Kraft Architects is the designer and AOR (Architect of Record).  I have worked along side Mike Kraft in one office (Lindbeg Pierce), worked for him in another (Shea Architects), and have now helped him out these last five years since we each opened our own firms. (LSF Design and Mike Kraft Architects).   

So many new businesses and old businesses investing in the downtown. Happy to continue to be a part of this process.

Since negotiating permission from the City to host revolving window displays that promote the downtown, LSF Design has contacted multiple organizations, small businesses, non-profits and artists to design and install storefront displays.

We have FINALLY filled all three windows at 103 South Main!  (SW corner of Hwy 95 amd Old Main).

First Baptist Church of Cambridge.

Cambridge Christian School.

City of Cambridge/Northbound Liquor

WAY better looking than another dark, vacant building.

Next week.....filling the empty storefront at the old Ben Franklin, two buildings south!!!! Stay tuned!   And contact Larry Fredlund at LSF Design to reserve your 30 days in one of the highest visibility locations in Cambridge, MN.

Merry Christmas, Happy New Year!

Anoka HS (Additions and Remodel)

When steel erectors and masons seem to be in a race,  is one of my favorite times of school construction.  A race to winter conditions.

For 25 years I have been designing buildings, and have been blessed that half of my career has been working with various Minnesota ISD’s to design, build, improve and maintain their public K-12 facilities.  I love every part of working on school projects, but construction and move-in just makes me smile. These Anoka-Hennepin projects are all designed by Mike Kraft Architects (MKA).  I have worked with and for Mike since 1993 in various forms, and for the last 5 years, partnering our two single-person firms to take on many dozens of projects, including these three larger additions.

Anoka HS was built in 1970, twenty one years later they did a single addition, but nothing major since then. It was (exterior still is) an ugly, energy inefficient building constructed primarily of precast concrete double-tee wall panels bolted to a superstructure of cast in place concrete column and waffle-slab floors and roofs.

Regular updates to the MEP systems and constant upgrades to the technology and interior spaces help support the always changing curriculum, building codes and staff and student needs. BUT it is still a 1970’s uninviting building that looks more like a prison than a school.  UNTIL SCHOOL STARTS FALL OF 2019!

I am excited to share more photos of the construction progress and finished building, but more excited to share the glowing faces of students, teachers, staff, administrators, school boards and parents when they can walk into a safe, modern school intentionally designed to serve the next 50 years of graduates.

Blaine and Coon Rapids high school additions, also designed by MKA/LSF Design are also under construction, but only phase one for each of those, which includes similar secure main entries, offices, teaching and support spaces.

Footings at the Coon Rapids HS new Main entry.  Trust me when I say this will be dramatic.

Blaine HS cafeteria bumps out and up from it very low ceiling into a well lit volume that opens onto an outdoor dining patio.

Downtown Facade Upgrade

A little before and after.  Owner decided to remove the historic revolving sign, (has not revolved for years as the city sign ordinance didn’t permit, and also the last repair made it spin like a top), and provide the backlit fabric perimeter awning.

Before

After

My role, review for any issues. There were a few, the original concept was to remove the perimeter gutter which had a few leaks, and replace the aluminum soffit panels with new.   The problem: the entire gutter and the soffit panels WERE the structure holding itself up!

The old revolving sign, outriggers and structural soffit panels and perimeter gutter.

After figuring out how this and other similar aluminum canopies in Downtown Cambridge were constructed, I recommended we maintain and repair/seal-up the exposed milled aluminum gutter and soffit system.

What am I looking at.... ahhh, got it.

I recommended we evaluate the weight distribution change involved in removing the heavy revolving point-load sign carried by steel outriggers and bars and adding a boxed-in perimeter awning sign the south side being carried only by lightweight aluminum outriggers. A structural engineer was engaged, and after agreeing there was a deficiency, he designed a reinforcement for the one center aluminum outrigger as that one was carrying twice it’s capacity. He also evaluated the weathered and worn steel connections and determined they all remained structurally sound.

Page 1 of 2 11x17 sheets

Page 2.  Less fun to look at but God is in the details.

Next how to light it.  I suggested we maintain the interior cans at each window for display and night lighting, as well as maintain the strip lighting along the bottom outer edge of the long side of the canopy.  This would light the walk nicely, while not washing out the window displays at night.

The best recommendation I had, let’s light up this art-deco Facade above the canopy too. A series of LED fixtures were added to the top to light up the beige limestone Minnesota is so famous for (Kasota Stone).

The MAGIC NOTE!

I also recommended we keep the sign below, as it’s the only sign visible from the sidewalk at half a block away where other awnings block the view of the new signs above.  Also, and moreso, there were some damaged panels at and adjacent to this sign, and keeping this, with new sign panels, would conceal, or at least distract from, those panels. Also less visible hole patching to do.

Finally, I adjusted the sign panels themselves to remain 5” from the existing Facade so the window panes could be maintained and glass replaced if ever damaged. 

The original sign installation plan was to anchor these perimeter box-signs to the top and bottom of the existing aluminum gutter and fascia panels above.  The problem, the gutter is, well... a gutter, it carries water to the downspout, drilling into it would cause a dozen leaks. Also the vast majority of the fascia panels above were purely click-in decorative, not structural, they would have snapped right off, so I detailed the exact point where the bottom could connect, and advised that kickers be installed from the top of the sign panels down to the structural steel and aluminum outriggers above, to keep the panels all vertical in the wind and weather.  And to not forget to caulk between the back of the sign and the top of the aluminum fascia trim. Drip, drip...freeze...slip...fall being the primary motive there.

The end result, a historic downtown bank, beaming with pride.

A permanent bright spot this side of the street.

Takeaway: don’t just slap up a sign. Create something that gets your current and FUTURE customers attention, encourages them to bank, or continue to bank, with your 100 year old, family owned bank. This is a fourth generation president, and they have always set the bar high for how to business in our historic downtown.

The City of Cambridge participated in supporting this project with a revolving loan fund and/or matching grants intended to encourage just this sort of re-investment in our Downtown. 

Guess what, a restaurant is soon moving in immediately to the south, and a the building immediately to the north was purchased to become a Brewery/Tasting room (is in limbo now though).