Tomorrow we lay two legends to rest.
Two friends. Two mentors. In some ways our relationships with each of you couldn’t be more different, and in other ways they are so much the same in ways other folks just couldn’t understand.
You were both critical to creating, building, and sustaining The Alley Project.
Thank you both for the moments teaching, learning, sharing, and building. You are irreplaceable.
Tead, local artist and mentor, came by to measure and discuss more details about the mural he will install on the exterior of the building. Part of the mural will continue to the inside of the space and will be visible through the windows on Elsmere.
On the way in he stopped to pose for a pic near a photo of Freddy, another local artist, who he has been a mentor and friend to over the years. Freddy has been coming to The Alley Project since he was a youth and has grown as an artist and a mentor to young artists in Southwest Detroit passing on all that he has picked up along the way.
We are excited for the full circle mentee-mentor cycle to unfold in real time as it becomes a tangible work of art/mural for the whole community to enjoy.
Work on the roof is wrapping up with the final portion over the addition being installed today.
Layers are showing. Concrete, terrazzo, wood, blocks, bricks, and steel. A stroll around the inside of the building right now shows the foundations that everything we will touch and see in the new space will be built on.
The last parts of the floor have been cut and broken up and the new floor will be poured and smoothed in the next few days.
The knee wall where the windows will rest has been completed. The aluminum framing on top of it will hold the butt joint glazed windows–where two panes come together at a corner without a pane. Floor to ceiling windows will run up to the end of the knee wall and expand across the rest of the front and side of the space allowing a lot of natural light into the space throughout the day.
Performing some maintenance/touch ups to the plywood along the exterior. The murals were installed in 2011 to beautify the then-vacant commercial building. They will be there for another few months before 3 sides of the building is wrapped in a single mural by Tead, a local artist and mentor at The Alley Project.
The tenant space is moving along as well. Since it will not be finished on the same level as the community space and office, it is perhaps moving along “faster” toward completion.
The tenant space’s entry will be on Elsmere just behind where the temporary door currently sits and the unit is adjacent to the alley.
Areas that will contain the large windows letting in lots of natural light are now visible. Framing for the windows, an interesting process, is beginning soon. There are still some decisions to be made but weekly conversations and meetings are moving much of that along quickly.
Before we know it all the decisions will be behind us and we will all be inside together.
The plywood wall has been moved out several feet to allow for more work space inside the addition. The actual interior portion of the community space will be most of what you see pictured here. Where you see plywood will be mostly floor to ceiling windows.
A cinderblock knee wall was erected along the Elsmere side of the building and will frame the large windows from there to the ceiling. Another cinderblock wall to connect the addition to the original exterior wall also went up. Early prep work for the new roof over the addition is beginning.
The bricks that were formerly part of the exterior (that are now inside the addition) will be adorned with the mural that will cover the outside of the building. The mural will come indoors here as well as at several other points inside the building.
Updates on the interior (including finishings) will be coming soon as the new concrete floor will poured in the addition in the coming weeks.
Inside and outside brick work is pushing progress forward. The masonry around the opening for the office window is coming together. The exposed brick you see will remain inside the office as part of the plan for interior finishes.
Scaffolds went up and the brick work to repair the parapet is underway.
The building’s parapet, the low protective wall along the roof, protects the roof’s edges from wind damage among other things. Ours was not in good shape as the mortar had deteriorated and loose and missing bricks needed repair.
Several sunny and unseasonably warm days brought our neighbors by on bicycles and foot and gave us the chance to share more about what’s happening at the building.
When the brick work is completed the parapet will be capped with limestone. Compare the photos above to the roofline in the last few posts to see the difference.
Eventually the building will be covered in a large mural that wraps around 3 sides… so look up when you pass by because for a short time this step in the renovation reveals a beautiful piece of the building’s original appearance.
A busy week offers a better look at what the final design will look like. With the beams inside set into place, the rest of the steel starts to connect like legos.
The columns were set onto the threaded posts that were installed in the ground several weeks back. The horizontal beams outside connect the columns outside to the beams inside. Additional horizontal beams were run between the others and everything was threaded and welded into place.
The building is continuing to take shape.
As the steel beams are being set into place things are starting to take shape inside.
Bricks removed from the outside of the building were saved, cleaned, and reused to build the columns on either side of the new doorway to the main entrance on Elsmere.
In the next few days the rest of the steel that was delivered will be set to form the bones for the building expansion on the Avis side.
The HVAC (Heating and Cooling) units were delivered and hoisted into place atop the building. Neighbors and passing traffic stopped to watch the crane in action this morning.
There is a lot of work (and people) involved in getting such heavy equipment from the truck to the building from leveling the crane for the load to guiding things into place and directing traffic all to assure proper installation and everyone’s safety.
The steel columns and beams for the building expansion have arrived!
Inside and out things will seem to come together suddenly. As the steel is set into place various building elements will start taking shape around the structure it provides.
In the following weeks doorways, ceilings, walls, windows and more will be under construction. More and more of the building’s new design will start to show very soon and we will be able to imagine more vividly what this corner will ultimately feel like.
The new exterior doorways are visible as the brick and block is being cut and removed.
The terra cotta blocks behind the brick were a popular building material in the early 20th century. They are fire resistant and also strong when stacked but brittle from the side and so they are commonly found behind brick walls and in between steel structural elements on buildings. Here’s some information on them if you’re interested in learning more: http://historicbldgs.com/terra_cotta.htm
Our building has quite a bit of it. As the materials are being removed we are holding on to some of them, as well as the bricks, that are in tact for use around the building during construction. We are also saving some of the broken pieces for other potential projects after construction. Maybe we’ll do something with them during an Open Studio.
Framing along the existing walls, and into the building interior for the new walls, is underway. Metal studs are typical for interior walls of commercial buildings. They are lighter than wood, do not warp or rot, and are virtually fireproof.
Have you ever seen or worked with metal studs? Here’s a link that provides a little tutorial on working with steel framing: http://www.wikihow.com/Install-Metal-Studs
Soon insulation will be installed between the studs to go with the insulation in the new roof to help keep the heating and cooling of the building as efficient as possible in the future.
The inside of the building is starting to take shape and it is getting easier each day to visualize how the inside of the building will work and feel! The new ceiling and drywall will make it easy to forget the raw space we’re standing in today. The photos will always be a reminder of the age and character of the building.
Mav and crew came through to hang the new posters on the building! Much appreciated. The posters tell a little about what’s happening on the corner and provide #TAP869 as a way to keep up with construction and other updates.
The hashtag will be a channel to communicate with people who pass by daily and want to stay up on what’s happening behind the scenes when they may not know otherwise. Even though the days are shorter and colder and people don’t see each other as often to chat and share info, things are still happening. This is a way to help to keep neighbors and others informed.
For example, we have recently adjusted the construction schedule to line up with changes and new information such as availability of materials, permit schedules, and other factors. We anticipate that construction will be complete late April or early May. :)
The steel beams were set this week… inside from wall to wall, floor to ceiling, and outside in the ground to support the front expansion. Much of the plumbing that will be under the floor is also now in place.
A lot of the work that is wrapping up now will be work that is not visible later and sets the stage for the more noticeable to work to begin. :)
DC2StandingRock is a collective of DC-based artists and organizers traveling across the country to the Standing Rock Reservation in North Dakota.
Along the way they are stopping in five cities to create #WaterIsLife public art installations in solidarity with and to raise awareness of the struggles there. Today they were here in Detroit and spent time with neighbors at The Alley Project.
Before, during, and afters from the mural installation at 1540 Elsmere.
Artists shared their time and talents with neighbors as they brought the walls back to life on the corner of Falcon and Elsmere at TAP.
Friends and neighbors gathered at TAP for cleaning and a mural installation at 1540 Elsmere on an unseasonably warm Fall day
The building was formerly a neighborhood party store that closed several years ago. We recently found out the building was scheduled to be demolished. Neighbors and youth have told us repeatedly during design processes that they would like more things in the community to walk to, less empty spaces and lots, and more activity.
Together we are working to clean and activate the site with the hopes that another business can move into the space in the near future. Reanimating the corner will give us more reasons to share time and space with each other. Fingers crossed!
