Here are some shots of the Novarr-Mackesey Collegetown Terrace Project taken this past Sunday- I last visited in late December. Building 5 has been fully framed, sheathed, and windows have been installed up to the final fifth level, with just a bit more sheathing work to be done on the western end and also the stair tower on the eastern end (which is used for loading-in materials anyway). Building 6 has nearly completed weather wrap installation, and the facade panels are coming along, which began at the top level. The pre-fabricated rectangular steel piece for the elevated walkway towards the center of Building 5’s northern face (the glass-covered common area) has been lifted and secured into place, providing a path from Building 5 to Building 3.4, at the south side of the entry pavilion. From what I can see on the outside through the glass, the work within the units themselves has been progressing well, and even in this cold, the amount of exterior work in the past month is impressive. From the shot of Building 5’s southern face, you can also see the opening for the future elevated walkway from Building 5 to Building 7, which will be the last, largest, and longest building in the project (and it looks as if the retaining wall has already been poured).
Rabco’s Thurston Avenue Apartments project is showing more foundation work since last time I swung around in late December. Concrete has been poured and covered for the foundation footers, and vertical rebar is in place for concrete block reinforcement. There are pallets of foam board insulation around the site to be used for foundation wall insulation once the block walls are assembled. The trenches for the foundation usually aren’t backfilled with soil until the modular pieces are secured on top of the foundations.
I’ve just learned that in fact, this project is not going to be modular, much to my amazement. An August deadline is going to be quite a difficult task for stick-built, but I suppose where there’s a will, there’s a way.
Here’s a photo update of the Barradas & Partners / Ciappa & MarinelliLongest Night Solstice Towers project with photos taken at different stages during the past few weeks. Work is well underway on the second tower: the foundation walls were built and sealed on top of the foundation footers, joists and subfloor for the ground level were hung, ground floor walls assembled, and floor joists for the second level were just finished-up today. There’s now a poster of the project design near Seneca Street, on the fencing that surrounds the site (to be used for growing vegetables this Spring and Summer) for those interested in taking a look.
It’s always interesting seeing how buildings turn out looking at nighttime. Much of it seems to reflect the lighting decisions, facade texture, and colors. I’m a fan of these LED pole lights lighting the curve along the sidewalk- they give a solid definition to the property boundaries, and may provide a good visual cue to drivers.
Several of the units look completely finished from the outside, as I imagine the unlit ones probably are as well. The second level 8,600 SF Class-A office space for Warren Real Estate and the Park Foundation is still being worked on, along with some aspects of the exterior like support column wraps and garage doors.
INHS’s Breckenridge Place is now officially leasing for occupancy, with 50 one and two bedroom units coming online in this brand new LEED Platinum building. Ithaca Neighborhood Housing Services has posted an informational video on Youtube, describing features of the building with shots of the interiors and views. The window shades have been going up above each street-facing window, and as I walked by a day ago, the ground floor laundry room at the corner had washers and dryers fully installed.
If you’ve travelled down Seneca Street in the recent past, you may have noticed a rather unique project going up like nothing else that exists in Ithaca. This is the Longest Night Solstice Tower project by Barradas & Partners Architects, and Ciappa & Marinelli Builders (they built the 2009 GIAC project, and work on many custom houses). Barradas has a particularly interesting design portfolio, and this project is no different: the inspiration for the design comes from several historic precedents that may not be common knowledge for most people, and was certainly not known to me before learning about the project.
To begin chronologically, one of the earliest tower house precedents is out of Shibam, in modern-day Yemen, with towers dating all the way back to the 3rd Century AD. It’s a UNESCO World Heritage Site, with tower houses made out of mud brick reaching up to eleven stories high. They were originally designed for defense from Bedouin attackers, and each floor has only one or two rooms.
Another precedent is the famed medieval town of San Gimignano, in Siena-Tuscany, North-Central Italy, also containing a UNESCO World Heritage site: the town center, with 14 conserved towers. Many towns and cities in Italy contained house towers in the past, but San Gimignano provides the most well-conserved example all in one compact cluster.
Towers haven’t always yielded successful and long-lasting settlements however- the bundles of tower buildings that made up the former Kowloon Walled City in Hong Kong is a good example of basically what not to do. The close proximity of tall, compacted-footprint buildings with few open spaces forced the development of complex, maze-like pathways from one building to the next, with very little open room to travel, hang laundry to dry, vent air, or deal with waste. Construction was essentially unregulated, and apartments were typically very small, sometimes without any utilities. After a longstanding struggle between residents and the Hong Kong authorities, the inhabitants were evicted starting in 1987 and the city was demolished in 1993.
To turn to a more recent and notable modern example, these two structures sit on the coast in Kobe, Japan: designed by Tadao Ando, the 2003 4×4 House is an iconic tower house project (he’s quite a famous Architect, check out the Church of Light, and the Water Temple). Each level is just one room, with some levels serving multiple functions, much like Barradas’ project.
I had a tour of the Longest Night Solstice Towers project with Architect John Barradas a couple weeks ago, and even though the first tower is not yet finished, it’s an interesting space to walk through.
The design calls for two identical towers connected by an overhead elevated walkway above a shared foundation path. The foundation footers are quite generous, and the foundation walls provide a crawl space for plumbing and maintenance access. Â The stair tower is located along the northern wall, and the structure itself is all wood framing (with a vertical guy-wire at two corners, and a central framing column along the interior center wall forming the stair tower). There’s room for two parking spaces in the rear yard, and a shared central area between the towers.
All the doors above the ground level open to the inside, with protective outdoor railings, serving as both a window and a door to fresh breeze- essentially making an enclosed terrace out of a room with an open door. The 12″ x 12″ windows are block glass, serving as small clerestory windows on each level. The ceiling joists will remain exposed, and although it doesn’t look it from a distance, the exterior is all wood. The towers will be fully-equipped with sprinkler systems.
The first level of each will contain a living area, kitchen, and a bathroom with toilet, sink and standup shower. The second level will contain two mirrored bedrooms with separate sinks in the shared hallway, and the third level will contain the master bedroom, along with a private bathroom. The top level contains space for laundry and storage at the top of the stairs, and a door to the outside roof terrace, with the stair tower roof designed to collect and funnel rainwater into the terrace garden.
First Level for living space, kitchen, and full bathroom.
Second Level for two bedrooms and two sinks.
Third Level for master bedroom and bathroom.
Top Level for laundry, storage, and the roof terrace.. and a really nice view.
The lot is quite small and skinny (33′ x 93′, 3069 square feet) and is zoned R-3b, so this project is building to the maximum stories allowed, and in addition, the foundation connection between both buildings is an intentional design feature that deems the project a singular structure by code. It allows for the separation and privacy of two separate dwelling units (houses), which would’ve been non-compliant under the current code if they were separate structures, because of the small lot size. It’s a rather clever workaround, and given the immediate area, the project seems to be building an appropriate density. It would be interesting to see how a series of tower houses would function at similar proximity, especially since they could easily be designed differently to accommodate a variety of configurations for small to large families, or for accessibility.
I think what impressed me the most was the focus on getting the most out of each square foot, but still allowing for adequate space at each level. The material choices are modest and pragmatic, and the design of each feature from door swings to closet dimensions is slick and well-thought out. I look forward to seeing this project as it nears completion- it’s an intriguing example of design that “makes things work while still pushing the envelope.”
Novarr-Mackesey‘s Collegetown Terrace project has made some great progress in the past month with Building 5’s eastern section framed-up an additional three levels and the stair tower to its full height. As noted before, Welliver has now taken the reigns for construction.
Building 6 looks fully-framed, and besides a few sections of sheathing to go in, the moisture barrier wrap has made its way around and facade panels have been installed on the top level and western side. On the north side of Building 5 there’s a crane in place and a large pre-fabricated rectangular steel structure sitting on the ground, probably for the elevated walkway off the glass-enclosed common area. Both Building 5 and Building 6 have temporary heating units and ducts going inside, along with plastic wrap on exposed wall frames to keep the spaces above freezing.
The Thurston Avenue Apartments project’s excavation has been well underway, with earth-movers still on site for more. There are several wooden forms for concrete footers down in the pits, and if I’m reading the plans correctly, these are situated for the two future apartment buildings closest to the intersection of Highland and Thurston Ave, or to the left of the future drive entry. The site had quite a steep grade to start, and lots of trees, which have been cleared since late Fall.
The roof fascia has mostly made its way around, and there’s some new material covering-over the steel framing section on the roof; it may be screening for mechanical equipment, possibly makeup air units. There have been bricks removed on either side of each window header along the Seneca Street side, but I’m not sure why. The render (below) shows the architectural shades about 2/3rd of the way up, but perhaps they’ll be installed at the top of each window.
I found this photo online and I just had to share it, so here it is. The timing coincides a few days after this post back in early November. Nice to see a project of this magnitude in Ithaca by air.
