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!

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).   

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).

New Lake Home - Hugo MN

A beautiful but long and skinny triangular shaped and sloping lake lot with 400’ of lake shore was the setting for this new dream retirement home for a successful entrepreneurial couple. 

Design started March 2016, permit set issued April 3, 2017, Move-In Jan 31, 2018.

Front Entry. Roll on in after driveway slab is out in...after a year or two to let this fill settle.

General Info:

LOT AREA 56,113 SF (1.3 acres +\-)

LOWER:   2,326 SF (including SHOP/STOR 587 SF)

MAIN:       2,011 SF

GARAGE     585 SF

TOTAL:    4,922 SF 

After a few design meetings, a discarded initial plan concept drafted by others, the transitioning from one builder to another, the shape of the site, home, garage, septic and other uses of the grounds began to come together.

Site slopes down from the road to the lake, but drive slopes up to main level. 12’-0” of fill this side of the home.

Home touches setback lines in five (5) spots!

Very restrictive height ordinance. 25’ to the peak from the average grade.  Tough to get a tall house on a walk-out site. Lowest grade 3’ above highest known water was a burden too.  “Lots of fill”, was my first comment to the homeowner, when we met on-site prior to design. Then this cross section was developed to establish grades and Floor elevations.

Retaining walls and fencing by the Owner’s nephew.

A grove of black walnut trees on the east were to be saved, and the remaining setbacks were quite limiting, as well as the zoning height restriction because of the high water table and sloping site. The final design literally touches the (Variance Obtained) setback lines in five spots, and cantilevers over at least three spots. The septic primary and secondary fields were custom shaped and similarly wedged into the very skinny leftover space triangular piece west of the house.

Lake side.... just a few decent views.

Master suite bumpout and balcony.

Other features: Home office and exercise room both with lake views, 55 degree wine room, full bar, wood burning fireplace below and a see-thru gas fireplace connecting the great room to the knotty pine four season porch above. Giant marble topped island and kitchen counters, laundry room overlooking the front drive, three bedrooms, three baths, master bedroom has a private lake balcony, Marvin Architect series windows, 17 in-floor heating zones, ducted fresh air and A/C, lower level wood workshop with overhead door, safe room that doubles as a home theatre, stacked storage rooms that are framed and powered for a future residential elevator when and if ever needed.   

The entire home is accessible as there are no steps at the front door or between the attached garage and home. The master bedroom suite and upper guest bed and bath all have 36” wide doors and solid blocking for future grab bars. 

My favorite features though, are the stained hardwood barrel vaulted ceiling and copper (colored) roof that starts over the front entry and extends over the foyer, central stair and dining room table with matching floor to ceiling windows at the front door and lakeside.  Cove lot wood just warms you up when seen from the exterior.  Tons of floor to peak windows provide dozens of framed views of the lake through the tall pines on the property.

The heart of this home. Central stair and dining room window.

Every exterior wall, the raised four season porch and all of the second floor were created using ICF (Insulated Concrete Forms). The concrete contractor, Pankan & Sons, of Isanti, did an excellent job - especially considering the very difficult shapes, bump-outs, large and peaked and arched windows, and different types of cantilevers were required for this design. It was their first ICF floor job as well.

BJ Baas and Dave Guenther construction teamed up to build the design. They, and their sub-contractors worked closely with the homeowners for material and product selections, and even added a few excellent features like the remote controlled rising wine rack hidden in my winding stair central column! (Better than simple lighted niche displays or a two story parrot cage (Still wanted to see that though)!

Arch below the girder truss divides the multi-vaulted great room ceilings and the barrel vault.

Stained crown mounding missing yet at the hood, but I just love the layout of this galley kitchen. Deep counter at the bump-out south facing window for plants.

Enjoy the rest of the photographs. The simple beauty of this project is now visible. The complex design and build process is now behind us, and the homeowner had moved in the day after these photographs were taken.

Entryway from Dining Room.

Large kitchen window can see who’s coming up the curved driveway.

Greatroom side of the walk-around fireplace.  

Double faced gas fireplace connects great room to this four season room. Infloor heated concrete floor wrapped in R-30 rigid insulation keep the toes warm in this “cool” room.

View to the lake from the four season room. Boathouse added by homeowner and GC.

Pantry on the other side of the entry, makes up for the lost storage but tons of working surfaces for two and for entertaining.

Kitchen island looking towards dining area. Bold light fixture selections by the homeowner. (Larger than they appear here).

Foyer

Come and Go room... across from laundry next to garage.  The storage room beyond is the future elevator!

Grand hall to bedrooms (left) and storage/laundry/garage (right).

I could wake up to this view from the master bedroom.

Coffe on the honeymoon deck, glass railings!

Master Bath.

Master shower.

Central stair wraps around central column.

This pops up by remote control from the stair column! I wish I could take credit for this, but was a homeowner and Millwork sub addition.   Beautiful!

Nice trip to the downstairs family room.

Wine room at the bottom of the stair.

Panorama of the basement family room and bar.

Bar with direct access to the lakefront just above grade.

View from exercise room, past hall, into storage room, Wood workshop and safe room/home theatre.

Workshop.

Concrete walls, floors, ceilings. Safe and soundproof.

Rubber floored exercise room.

A couple extra feet for the SUV.  Subaru get’s the far stall. The homeowner did his own epoxy floor.