With most projects, there is usually an activity, design detail or construction method that has to be worked out.  I know what the end result is to be but may not know exactly how we are going to get there.  That is what keeps this type of work interesting.  I am amazed at what we accomplish as a team.

One of those activities was the installation of a 14,000 lb or 7 ton columbarium into the memorial garden that I designed and am in the process of constructing.  As we did not have good access into the space, the 7 ton piece of granite was to be lifted above the surrounding building and placed on the concrete footing.

Crane

The manufacturers of the columbarium unit arrived in town the night before.  The crane arrived early the next day and began their set up.

The granite unit was strapped with belts that wrapped around to the top.  Once the crane was ready, it latched onto the hook and began to raise the unit above the building.

Lowering the Columbairum

As the columbarium was lowered in place, the guys manually rotated and pushed the unit to align it and center it into the memorial garden.

Within a few hours, the crane was retracted and gone.  The 7 ton columbarium unit was installed.

Now, we are ready to proceed with the remainder of the project… masonry, irrigation, planting and lighting.  I’m sure there will be another task that we will collaborate on how to accomplish but none quite as dramatic.

Central Unit in Place

A little over a year ago, I was asked to design a columbarium for a local church.  A columbarium is a structure with recesses in the walls to receive the ashes of the dead.  I’d never worked on a project of this type and did not know much about columbaria but was honored to be selected for a project that would have so much importance to so many people.

Presentation Plan

After several meetings and design reviews, here is the final design.  And as is often the case, this design was revised further but the intent of the design stayed the same, clean geometrical lines and the use of “old world” materials.  The color palette selected for the hard surfaces were gray/green with accents of salmon.  The plant floral color selection was limited to white, red and purple which mirror liturgical colors.  One of the challenges is the integration of this space into an existing 1970′s era minimalist brown brick building.

The construction work began early this summer.

Removing Soil

We excavated several truck loads of dirt so as to create positive drainage from the buildings.

Then, the forms were built.  The concrete was poured, the joints troweled and finished with a broom finish between the troweled bands.  Later, we will come back and sand blast the surface providing a more interesting texture and cut the glare from the light gray concrete.

Concrete Forms

In keeping with the “old world” look, I selected a Belgard slate gray paver with a textured surface and undulating edges.  Using a saw, we were able to achieve a graceful curve.  Something that we could not have achieved with a guillotine type cutting device.  This particular paver has the look of a blue stone.

Pavers

Once the joints were filled with sand, we came back and used a polymer sand to seal the joints.  The polymer sand also has a blue gray color which only aids in bringing out the blue gray color of the pavers.

After spending hours on the design, it is very fulfilling to see it go from a vision on paper to rising out of the ground in three dimensional form.