Category: All Projects

What It Takes To Repair A 9-Million-Pound American Symbol: Preservation Magazine, Spring 2017

Last modified: April 10, 2017

Photo by Architect of the Capital

At 289 feet tall, the dome of the United States Capitol towers over the eastern end of the National Mall in Washington, D.C., an instantly recognizable symbol of democracy. The cast iron dome itself was completed in 1863, after the nation’s rapid growth necessitated a remodel and expansion of the entire Capitol in the 1850s.

By the 1950s, however, the 9 million–pound dome had numerous fissures, and an attempt to weld them during a 1959–60 restoration was largely unsuccessful. The entire surface was cracking by 2014, prompting a three-year project that was completed in time for the 2017 Inauguration.

Vertical Access helped to document 1300 cracks on the United States Capitol Dome.

Read the rest of Katherine Flynn’s story from Preservation magazine here.

 

The Powerhouse Workshop To Set Up Shop in Former Brooklyn Rapid Transit Central Power Station

Last modified: March 10, 2017

Vertical Access is exited to see The Powerhouse Workshop project moving forward. We had the pleasure of assisting Roux Associates and Silman with the structural characterization and investigation of roof framing components as part of their site investigations.

The Brooklyn Rapid Transit Central Power Station was constructed in 1902 to supply electricity to the newly consolidated local steam railroad, elevated railroad and street car system.

Designed in the Romanesque Revival style by Thomas E. Murray, the BRT Powerhouse consisted of two parts. The extant south building housed the dynamo and engines, and the Boiler House, which contained the furnaces and coal storage. The Powerhouse was decommissioned and the boiler house demolished in the 1950s.

The powerhouse structure is comprised of built up steel lattice columns with infill brick walls. The roof structure is framed by primary modified Raised Toe trusses that span the space and are supported at the steel columns. Two secondary lateral trusses brace the primary trusses at the approximate third points.

Read the New York Times story here: http://nyti.ms/2mJrOLX
For more on the Powerhouse Workshop: http://www.powerhousearts.org/