rare pavilion: Foundation Installation

Thursday, July 14, 2011

Foundation Installation

The pavilion is supported on 10 reinforced concrete piers, each 20 inches in diameter and extending 4 feet below grade. If this seems to you like a very a substantial structure, you're quite right. The building is classified "assembly", meaning it is designed to hold public gatherings. Think about the sort of weight that would need to be supported if, for instance, a school class were gathered inside, and jumping up and down in unison! This is why these piers look a lot more serious than the ones you might see under your back deck.

Some of the reinforcing bar was donated from another building project in town. Here is a photo of volunteers Darryl and Andrew sending up sparks as they chop the 16 foot lengths of 20M (3/4") bar down to size for our foundation piers.

The contractors arrived early in the morning on Thursday, June 16th, and they worked into the evening to finish the concrete pour. Thank goodness for the long summer light!

Marking out the foundations

The digging begins.

Site visit by geotechnical engineer.

Setting the sonotubes.

A laser level is used to set the pier heights.

An uncommon juxtaposition: the concrete truck passing along the farm road beside the community gardens.

The concrete piers are poured.

... and the metal beam seats are set in place.

The excavator returned to site the next morning to finish backfilling around the piers. Volunteer Dave helped to take care of the finer leveling and backfilling.

Acknowledgements

The Pavilion at the rare Springbank Community Gardens would not exist without the support of the Cloverleaf Foundation and the Kavelman-Fonn Foundation. The Cloverleaf Foundation’s generous initial gift came at a critical time - allowing rare to plan and envision the space alongside the School of Architecture students who designed it. Construction began and the Kavelman-Fonn Foundation subsequently made a lead gift facilitating the full realization of this initial vision. These donors have invested in environmental education for children and in a community-shared space used by school groups, community gardeners, trail walkers, and general visitors to the gardens. We can’t thank them enough!

You can help support Springbank Community Gardens by clicking here to make a donation. We still need additional site infrastructure: new eco-composting washrooms, handwashing stations, interpretive materials, and support for trail enhancements.

The Pavilion Team

Dedicated volunteers from the rare community formed the construction crew. Whether they helped for a few hours or a few months, these folks brought a remarkable commitment to quality, skillful approach, creativity, generosity, and attention to detail to the building site. Their work was truly extraordinary.

Laura Knap (B.E.S. Arch) worked on the final building design and managed construction. In collaboration with rare staff, she also produced this blog.

Structural design and general reviews were by R.J. Burnside and Associates Ltd.

Amanda Newell is the Gardens and Building Project Manager for rare.

Project design and development for the pavilion began in two master's seminars led by Andrew Hunter and Farid Noufaily at the University of Waterloo School of Architecture in Cambridge. The substantial work of these students gave shape to the pavilion, its siting, and its relationship to the surrounding landscape.

Preliminary Design - Arch 684, Spring 2009: Pooya Baktash, Liam Brown, Heather Brown, Maryam Karimi, Sean Irwin, Sara Nejad, Prithula Prosun, Mike Taylor

Design Development - Arch 684, Fall 2009: Lida Arbabi, Timea Jakab, Fariba Khorashahi, Rebecca Lai, Carmen Lau, Darcy McNinch, Parisa Nikkhou, Morteza Rabbani, Lisa Rendely, Poonam Sharma

The staff and board at rare have provided much direction, insight, and support along the way. The staff team, Environmental Advisory Committee, archaeologists, and educators provided input to ensure that no habitats, rare plants, or cultural history would be disturbed by the construction process.