Category: All Projects

Professional Development and Networking in a Virtual World: My Experience with ASDSO Dam Safety 2020

Last modified: October 22, 2020

Like most of the professional world, the onset of a pandemic induced work stoppage and quarantine presented opportunity where it was once otherwise lost – time for some serious professional development hours and continuing education.  Personally, the accumulated dust on the piano keys, table saw, and Dutch oven was a welcomed indicator that there was now time for all the hobbies and unread books that fell to the wayside before traveling was put on hold.  Professionally, it meant having dedicated time to explore new organizations and attend webinars, conferences and symposia with the click of a button.  With travel time and expenses eliminated, the virtual world attempts to compensate for where it fails in the lack of face-to-face contact, affording me a rise in information exchange and learning.

 The Association of State Dam Safety Officials (ASDSO) was one of the organizations I explored, on the recommendation of a co-worker.  My introduction started with a crash course in dam assessment and inspections over three days of immersive ASDSO taught sessions, scheduled to take place just a few blocks from where I live in Nashville, TN.  Like the rest of 2020 scheduled events, the course was ultimately switched to a virtual format.  The course dove head first into more technical aspects than I anticipated and pressed my memory of fluid mechanics and hydrology from college.  I started with a basic working knowledge of dams, but nothing too extensive, and finished feeling confident about making initial dam assessments and inspections. Material covered everything from risk assessment and hazard creep to inspection procedures, down to the Weir and flow rate equations for sizing up spillways and measuring seepage. Case studies were a central feature to illustrate the development of today’s emergency action plans and legal precedents, which still vary by state.  I was surprised to hear that recreation is the most common purpose of dams in the U.S. (as opposed to flood control, water supply, irrigation, hydropower, etc.), considering the controversy surrounding them.

“Drinking from a firehouse” was the term used to describe the course by the instructors, which was a reference to the amount of material covered and speed at which it was taught, especially for those without an engineering or dam-specific technical background.  The scheduled onsite dam inspection that typically occurs during the last day of the in-person course was missed but the instructors did a great job of compensating for it virtually. 

I was also able to attend the recent annual ASDSO Dam Safety Conference and serve as a representative at our company-sponsored booth.  This would be the first virtual conference I’ve attended following the March closures. 

Networking is one of the many aspects of in-person events that the virtual space fails to replicate.  I may stand corrected when virtual reality becomes as mainstream as the iPhone and FaceTime, but until then it just won’t be the same.  The conference was setup in such a way that encouraged and incentivized striking up dialog with other attendees, visiting booths, and attending sessions, which helped narrow the gap between our world and the Matrix.  Like the course, the general and concurrent sessions were filled with technical demonstrations, modeling, and case studies from various respective dam safety professionals.  Despite the virtual format I was still able to reconnect with colleagues and even make new connections from the safety of my home, thanks to the chat features. 

The conference, along with the course, provided a great introduction to the world of dam safety, albeit virtually.  With travel and work schedules almost back to normal it stands as evidence of a silver-lined shut down. 

My Covid-19 Story

Last modified: June 4, 2020

On March 11, 2020 I was in South Bend, Indiana with co-worker Patrick Capruso and colleagues Casey Williams and Mary Donlon of Simpson Gumpertz & Heger. Just as novel coronavirus was starting to dominate the news headlines around that time, a lot of our dinner talk during the two days on site centered on the topic. What would it be like traveling home later that week? Would our offices be open next week? What precautions would we need to take in the coming weeks and months?

Then on Friday, March 20, New York’s Governor Cuomo announced he was putting the state “on pause” and that all non-essential workers must stay home as of the following Monday, March 23. Certainly, compared to the heroic work performed by medical professionals and first responders, we did not consider our work essential, and we asked all staff to work remotely as of March 23.

Most of our ten-person company already works from their homes across several states, so we were fairly well equipped to continue doing so. The few people in our main office in Ithaca were now asked to make that relatively simple transition as well. The larger impact was that the stay-at-home order meant that all of the field work that we had scheduled for the rest of March and beyond was now postponed.

Over the rest of March and through April and May our company took the same steps that many of our colleagues and other small businesses followed. We made cash flow projections assuming a plunge in billings. We applied for, and thankfully received, a Paycheck Protection Program loan through our local bank, Tompkins Trust Company. We developed an in-house COVID-19 Plan for office, travel and site work. We watched webinar after webinar on how to handle the financial, professional and personal impacts of COVID 19. We acquired disposable gloves, face shields and masks, alcohol wipes and other supplies to keep staff safe once we were ready to return to the office and field work. And we checked daily, sometimes hourly, updates about New York Forward, the phased re-opening plan of New York State.

Arrival in Montana.

By the end of April, some states had started planning their re-openings, including Montana, which has had one of the lowest rates of infection and deaths in the United States throughout the pandemic. One of our projects that had been scheduled for months prior to the beginning of the pandemic was an assessment of the Montana State Capitol, working with Comma-Q Architecture of Bozeman, Hennebery Eddy Architects of Portland, OR and DCI Engineers, also from Bozeman. Our one of week of field work was originally scheduled to begin April 13 before it was postponed due to COVID-19. With Montana re-opening and with New York starting to establish its plan for re-opening, known as “New York Forward,” we agreed with the project team on a June 1 start date for our field work in Helena. For the next couple weeks as we continued to track the health situations in Montana and New York, we became more comfortable with the June 1 start date.

Typically, I get my temperature taken once a year, in the doctor’s office for my annual physical. But in May I purchased a noncontact thermometer and started taking my temperature daily, as well as checking my oxygen levels and pulse with a fingertip oximeter. We had as a company decided that we would take daily temperature checks while on site, and previous records of our temperature would be useful for establishing our own personal baselines. As expected, my temperature did not fluctuate much from 97.9 degrees Fahrenheit over the course of several weeks. The morning of Sunday, May 31, I started my journey to Helena, MT in Syracuse, NY. After my third flight that day, as I left the secure area of the airport in Helena, a group of Montana National Guard members greeted me, and all other deplaning passengers with a few screening questions and a temperature check. My temperature was normal. The morning of June 1, I took my temperature again and it was now above 99 degrees, a significant increase from my consistent readings of 97.9. I took my temperature an hour later and it was over 100 degrees. I immediately looked up COVID-19 testing centers in Helena, MT. Later that morning after confirming with one that I should and could get tested, I was in the line of cars at the closest testing center.

My view from quarantine.

I spent the next three days in my hotel room waiting. At the testing site I was told I would get the results in 24 to 48 hours. After about 24 hours I called the hospital where I was tested, but the results were not in yet. After 48 hours I called again, and the results were still not in. Finally, at 5 pm on Thursday, the hospital called to tell me the good news, my test came back negative. What a relief to know that I had not put those who I had come into contact with over the past two weeks at risk. What a relief to know that I would be able to join my co-workers on site the next day at the Montana State Capitol to help them finish the project.

During my three days in isolation, I thought a lot about the measures I had taken since mid-March to protect myself and those around me and I thought a lot about the precautions I had not taken. There is always more that I could have done, and more that I will do because this is not the end of the COVID-19 story.

Heat Wave at the Nebraska State Capitol

Last modified: July 29, 2019
Patrick Capruso “mini-me” on top of the Nebraska State Capitol.
Above photo by Steve Kelley.
Note the sombreros on Patrick and Kristen, below!

Vertical Access spent the last two weeks at the Nebraska State Capitol assisting Dan Worth and Julie Cawby at BVH Architects and Stephen J. Kelley, Preservation Consultant, with investigations at the dome and other portions of the 400′ tower. We were retained to assist with a periodic inspection of the masonry following a multi-phased restoration project completed in 2011, and to help assess the condition of roof drains at the dome.

Week one was during a brutal heat wave, but our team kept their cool.

Our team was on site to help verify that those prior repairs were still intact and that no other conditions had developed that couldn’t be seen from the ground.  In addition to a hands on inspection and documentation, VA performed water testing aided by infrared thermography to determine whether repairs were still holding and whether there were any leaks.

Read the story in the Lincoln Journal Star and learn about our butterfly scare! *

*note: Kelly mentions in the article a return to the New York Times Building when we will actually be in the field at the Times Square Building (the former New York Times Building) later this summer.

The History of the Capitol and Renovation

Nebraska State Capitol, the product of a nationwide design competition won by New York Architect Bertram Grosvenor Goodhue in 1920, is described as the nation’s first truly vernacular State Capitol. The present building, the third to be erected on this site, was the nation’s first statehouse design to radically depart from the prototypical form of the nation’s Capitol and to use an office tower. Constructed in four phases over ten years from 1922-1932, the building, with furnishings and landscaping, was completed at a cost just under the $10 million budget and was paid for when finished. To decorate the building, Bertram Goodhue selected Lee Lawrie, sculptor; Hildreth Meiere, tile and mosaic designer; and Hartley B. Alexander, thematic consultant for inscription and symbolism. 

More on the history of the Nebraska State Capitol

BVH and WJE completed an extensive multi-phase, multi-year restoration project of the entire exterior envelope of the Nebraska State Capitol. The $57.4M project was substantially completed in fall 2010 and included restoration of the masonry at the tower, base and courtyard, gold dome, the iconic bronze Sower atop the dome, bronze windows and copper roof. 

Read about the restoration that is displacing senators for the better part of the next decade…

City of Ithaca to Repair Cemetery Vaults Using VA Repair Estimates

Last modified: January 28, 2019

(Hint: It’s not all about rope access!)

In 2017 Vertical Access was retained by the City of Ithaca to perform a condition assessment of twelve hillside burial vaults located within the Ithaca City Cemetery in Ithaca, New York.  Early this year the City of Ithaca voted to bond money toward the repair some of the hillside vaults.  

The Ithaca City Cemetery comprises approximately 16 terraced acres on University Hill, between downtown Ithaca and Cornell University, with views over Cayuga Lake and downtown. Vehicle entrances are located at University Avenue, Stewart Avenue, and DeWitt Place. An additional pedestrian entrance is located at Cornell Avenue. Owned by the City of Ithaca and managed by the Parks and Forestry Division, the cemetery is actively used by pedestrians, cyclists, and dog walkers. 

The City Cemetery is Ithaca’s oldest burial ground, dating from the city’s earliest settlement period in the 1790s. During the nineteenth century, it underwent multiple expansions, evolving into a park-like, formally-designed landscape following the “rural cemetery” movement. 

Beginning in the 1860s, hillside burial vaults were constructed by prominent Ithaca families.

VA historian Kristen Olson conducted a  hands-on inspection of the vault exteriors and video documentation of selected vault interiors with assistance from VA partner Evan Kopelson. Ithaca City Forester Jeanne Grace was on site to discuss findings.

The vaults range in overall condition from fair to poor. All exhibit signs of water infiltration and structural movement to some degree. Ten of the vaults are constructed with stone exhibiting widespread mortar failure and erosion. Delamination is widespread in units of locally quarried shale known as Llenroc.

Vertical Access documented existing conditions at all twelve burial vaults within the Ithaca City Cemetery. Notable and representative conditions were documented digitally using the Tablet PC Annotation System (TPAS®), with digital still images linked to condition annotations in an AutoCAD drawing. Additional investigation was conducted at three of the vaults using a GoPro camera mounted to a telescoping pole, inserted through a hole in the door or gap between the door and adjacent masonry, and illuminated with a flashlight.

A Borescope was used in an attempt to obtain imagery of the interior spaces of vaults with gaps that were too narrow to accommodate the GoPro, but the footage was not of use since the depth of the masonry at the door surrounds was generally greater than the length of the Borescope. A fiber optic “See Snake”, incorporating a camera with built-in illumination at the end of a flexible cable, was used to investigate the interior of one of the vaults which had an accessible rooftop vent.

Vertical Access prepared repair recommendations and cost estimates for each vault, with additional emergency stabilization recommendations and cost estimates for the three vaults found to have the most advanced deterioration.

While the current funding is inadequate to reconstruct all of the vaults, it will address the three vaults most in danger of collapse as identified in the Vertical Access study. The City’s continued investment is crucial to maintaining this valuable community historic site and greenspace.

Reviving Hospitals and Asylums for the 21st Century

Last modified: August 16, 2018

Abandoned hospitals and asylums may be a horror film cliche, but the statistics on vacant, threatened, and demolished institutional complexes are all too real. Search “abandoned asylum” and the first hit is an article on the popular website Atlas Obscura: “18 Abandoned Psychiatric Hospitals, and Why They Were Left Behind.” Of the hundreds of asylums built in the U.S. during the 19th and early 20th centuries, most became underused or vacant during the deinstitutionalization movement of mid-20th century. Some have been repurposed, but many more await revitalization.

Partial demolition of the New York City Lunatic Asylum. Library of Congress, call number HABS NY,31-WELFI,6–2

Psychiatric hospitals are challenging to reuse. Many of them are physical reminders of tragic chapters in the history of mental health treatment, and often include patient burials on the site. Some contain buildings that have been vacant for decades, subject to neglect and vandalism.

But there are many reasons why hospitals and asylums are historically significant and should be preserved. First and foremost, they are places of memory for understanding and recording the histories of the thousands of individuals who lived and died on their grounds. Former hospitals also serve as a record of the changing attitudes about institutionalization and treatment of mental illness in the U.S. during the 19th and 20th centuries. And, many are recognized as works by master designers and as examples of the prevailing architectural styles of their times. Tuberculosis sanatoriums, smallpox hospitals, and soldiers’ homes are among other institutional building types sharing some of the same challenges and opportunities for adaptive use as asylums.

The Richardson Olmsted Complex in 1965. Photo by Jack E. Boucher. Library of Congress, call number HABS NY,15-BUF,9-1

These complexes also contain durable building stock representing a significant amount of embodied energy. Many of the sprawling campuses were designed to be self-sufficient farms, so they have plenty of room for sensitive infill or new construction to meet accessibility standardizing. Buildings on the campus of the Richardson Olmsted Complex (formerly the Buffalo State Asylum for the Insane and now a National Historic Landmark) have been reborn as Hotel Henry and the Lipsey Buffalo Architecture Center, while other buildings have been stabilized for future renovation. The campus recently hosted enLIGHTen, an outdoor concert by the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra with a custom-designed light show projected onto the H.H. Richardson-designed main building.


Binghamton’s “Castle on the Hill”
By Kfbill08 – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=11013391

Closer to our home office in Ithaca, the former New York State Inebriate Asylum in Binghamton (now also known as the “Castle on the Hill”) is a National Historic Landmark awaiting rehabilitation. It was chartered in 1854 as the first facility in the U.S. to treat alcoholism as a medical illness, but was converted to a mental hospital in the 1870s. Plans were announced in 2008 for SUNY Upstate Medical University to revitalize the complex, but the project was abandoned during the recession. In 2015, Binghamton University took over stewardship of the property, and exterior work is expected to begin in early 2018.

Vertical Access on site at the St. Elizabeths West Campus, U.S. General Services Administration. Photo by Vertical Access.

Another large campus currently undergoing long-term revitalization is the 346-acre St. Elizabeths in Washington, D.C. (also a National Historic Landmark), where Vertical Access recently completed a smokestack investigation working with Atkinson-Noland & Associates and Goody Clancy. The multi-phase project includes repurposing some existing buildings, mothballing others, and adding new construction in order to house the United States Department of Homeland Security and other federal agencies. Architecture of an Asylum: St. Elizabeths 1852-2017 is on exhibition at the National Building Museum in Washington D.C through January 15, 2018.

 

Tourist In Your Own Town: Prison Ship Martyrs’ Monument

Last modified: August 23, 2017

View the latest video in the series, Tourist in Your Own Town, made by the New York Landmark Conservancy, all about the Prison Ship Martyrs’ Monument.  During the Revolutionary War, the British held thousands of prisoners on ships anchored in the East River. These prisoners represented all thirteen colonies and at least thirteen different nationalities. The Monument marks the site of a crypt for more than 11,500 men and women who died of overcrowding, starvation and disease aboard these prison ships.

Vertical Access performed a comprehensive conditions survey of the exterior granite, bronze brazier and interior brick masonry to help inform the preparation of construction documents for repairs and restoration.  More on our work at the Monument.

 

Tourist in Your Own Town: New York Botanical Garden

Last modified: August 23, 2017

View the latest video in the series, Tourist in Your Own Town, made by the New York Landmark Conservancy, all about the New York Botanical Garden.

We’ve had the pleasure of working at the Botanical Garden in  the past and are currently assisting with  maintenance and access fall protection design.  (We love our “hero shots'”!)



 

Blair Kamin: Thompson Center Sale Shouldn’t Automatically Mean Demolition (Chicago Tribune)

Last modified: August 23, 2017

 

In the course of its storied architectural history, Chicago has come to rue the demolition of buildings like Dankmar Adler and Louis Sullivan’s Chicago Stock Exchange. They were torn down for the usual reasons. Owners claimed they were outdated. Politicians refused to stand in the way of “progress.” Activists protested, but not enough ordinary citizens raised their voices. The Stock Exchange, whose entrance arch outside the Art Institute of Chicago forms the city’s wailing wall of historic preservation, fell in 1971-72.

Now, a new crisis looms, this one over the fate of the James R. Thompson Center, the spaceship-shaped glitter palace that is, despite formal and functional flaws, one of Chicago’s most significant works of postmodern architecture.

Read the rest of the story here.   Learn about our involvement with the Thompson Center here.

On Rope and In the Air at Trinity Church

Last modified: April 4, 2017

Vertical Access has had the privilege of making several trips to Boston’s Trinity Church over the years in order to assist with the investigation of interior and exterior conditions. Consecrated in 1877 and situated on a prominent public square in Boston’s Back Bay, Trinity Church is considered the masterpiece of architect Henry Hobson Richardson. Today, the parish is officially known as Trinity Church in the City of Boston.

trinity boston

Trinity Church, a National Historic Landmark, is one of the finest examples of American architecture of the late nineteenth century. H.H. Richardson’s competition-winning design employs the rounded arches, deep window reveals and turret forms that are characteristic of his eponymous style, Richardsonian Romanesque. Trinity is organized as a compact Greek cross, with an auditorium-like seating arrangement beneath a massive, square central tower. The church is decorated with richly-colored interior murals by John La Farge, sculpture by Daniel Chester French and Augustus Saint-Gaudens, and stained glass windows by La Farge and other leading glass designers.

A five-year restoration of the church and parish house began in 2001, directed by Goody Clancy. Work included masonry repairs at the tower exterior, improvements to life safety and mechanical systems, and restoration of the stained glass windows and interior finishes. Also as part of the project, the church undercroft and parish house basement underwent an award-winning conversion into universally-accessible meeting and classroom spaces.

As exterior work began in the spring of 2003, Vertical Access was asked to document the La Farge murals and architectural details at the interior of the central church tower. Industrial rope access was used to gain access to the tower interior, and VA scheduled the work to avoid interrupting the three daily church services. Vertical Access worked closely with Goody Clancy to capture high-quality imagery of the delicate interior finishes.

Looking down from the attic, a Boston Globe photographer captured James Banta, left, and Kent Diebolt, with camera, documenting the La Farge murals inside Trinity Church’s central tower.

Looking down from the attic, a Boston Globe photographer captured James Banta, left, and Kent Diebolt, with camera, documenting the La Farge murals inside Trinity Church’s central tower.

Vertical Access’ photodocumentation was used by the Trinity Boston Preservation Trust in their 2004 campaign to fund the restoration of Trinity’s murals and stained glass windows.

David, photographed by Vertical Access in 2003.

David, photographed by Vertical Access in 2003.

More than a decade after the interior documentation and restoration, VA returned to Trinity in August, 2016. Kelly Streeter and Kristen Olson joined Casey Williams of Simpson, Gumpertz & Heger on the tower roof to document the condition of the clay tile roof, along with the northeast turret. VA was working for SGH, who were under the direction of Goody Clancy.

From left, Casey Williams, Kelly Streeter, and Kristen Olson on the central tower in 2016, with the “world’s longest selfie-stick”. The pole-mounted GoPro camera was used to document the condition of the copper finial.

From left, Casey Williams, Kelly Streeter, and Kristen Olson on the central tower in 2016, with the “world’s longest selfie-stick”. The pole-mounted GoPro camera was used to document the condition of the copper cross and stanchion atop the tower.

VA’s latest visit took place in September, when Kelly and Kristen participated in the Documentation Technologies Workshop presented by the Northeast Chapter of the Association for Preservation Technology. The event brought together an international audience for presentations and demonstrations of cutting-edge technology used in the documentation and characterization of historic structures.

Kelly and Kristen presented “Drones: The Good, the Bad, and the Unknown”, an overview of the applications for drones in building documentation, the potential for drones to augment hands-on inspections, available drone hardware and accessory technologies, and current FAA regulations. We followed the presentation with a live demonstration of our new drone, a DJI Phantom 4, inside the church sanctuary.

Left, a live feed video stream of the interior murals as they are captured by the drone, at right.