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my role I came onto the TEXAS WILD! Project in August 1998. CLR Design Inc already had a detail layout for the site, although, as the Project was to develop over the next two-and-half-years, many aspects of that design were to change. My first basic task was to plan, with the Contractor, the construction documents delivery schedule. A phased, fast-track approach was developed, starting with Site Demolition and Preparation, Site Layout and Grading, and Site Utilities. Following these first three packages, individual packages of work for each of the seven regions or exhibits of the Project were to be released for construction. |
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Almost immediately difficulties developed challenging the normal methods of construction document delivery. The first hurdle was the decision of the Zoo regarding the selection of ozone purification for the life support system of the three big pools. Initial construction documents were already released for construction, and now a basement equipment room needed to be added to one of the buildings; other facilities had to also accommodate this system and detail coordination with several underground utility systems had to be made.
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And so it has proceeded. Changing and developing programmatic and budget requirements has meant revising numerous drawings many times over. Of the over 600 construction documents prepared by the architectural/engineering team, more than half have been reissued at least once, requiring an extraordinary level of coordination. Through all of this it has been my responsibility to supervise the Komatsu staff (a shifting crew of up to ten at a time), to direct the |
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In addition to working through site development issues, about 30 separate buildings of different construction types had to be taken from design development through to final construction documents. Occasionally, to accommodate Client requested changes, I also was required to provide schematic design concepts.
Concurrent with the construction document effort, construction administration duties presented themselves, including site observation and checking shop drawings.
None of this, of course, is solely my work. A Project of this scale and scope requires many talented and dedicated individuals. It has been a pleasure to work along side many of these.
Although frequently challenging - even frustrating - and requiring a large measure of good humor, this is a significant and exciting Project. I am proud to have been a vital part of it.
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