Construction Detail Comedy

[Thomas J. Johnson]

I walk by this every day on my way to work. Finally got around to taking a picture…

Some cleaver urban “tagger” made a keen observation about the world… and our profession in particular.

In case you can’t make it out, a chunk of marble broke off this seat/light-pole footing (same thing has happened to every one on the block)… beyond the marble facade, someone wrote “Reality” on the C.I.P. Footing.

I Smile every time I walk by…

[Thomas J. Johnson]

I guess it’s all just lipstick on a pig…

[Trace One]

Very funny..Looks like a portal to another world.

[Jason T. Radice]

Wow. Is the end piece of stone glued to a 2×4?? I’ve seen so much stuff like this recently, mostly on public works projects.

 

This would be a quick “well, there’s your problem right there.”

[Jason T. Radice]

Thanks for the post. I’m thinkin’ something along these lines would make a great recurring feature for my henceforth neglected b-log. I’ve got tonnes of stuff like this, and we can all get a laugh while learning something at the same time. I’ll get to work on it when I have some time.

[Thomas J. Johnson]

Maybe I’ll try climbing in there on Monday and see what happens…

[Thomas J. Johnson]

I’ll have to take another look at it but I think what you’re referring to is a stainless steel L-bracket… but yeah, it was just glued to it.

Lessons Learned:
1. Smooth granite glued to smooth stainless = Fail.

2. Heavy material glued to small surface area = Fail.

3. Brittle material used near snow clearing machinery = Fail.

There are literally 5 or 6 of these on the block, all of them are broken in a similar fashion. Fail.

[Tanya Olson]

Chip happens

Nice to see you posting again Thomas.

[beijingreenspace]

haha… brilliant! yet sad?

seems like a problem around the globe where it’s all fun and games til the inner workings are put on display.

I’m sure it will get fixed once the discussion… It’s a design flaw! No Construction mistake! Bad Maintenance! … gets worked out

[Andrew Garulay, RLA]

Lipstick on a pig.

 

Champaign taste on a Thunderbird budget.

 

We should remember that there are lots of places in the design or in the management of the project where this bench may have gone bad. When product and budget don’y meet, some try to preserve the frosting on the cake while others might save the cake with less emphasis on the frosting. But in either circumstance, we don’t know where, or more specifically, who in that process made the decision.

 

I would not conclude that this was the LA’s fault nor would I conclude that it was not. One of the best projects that we did while I was in school was a critique of a built landscape where we each chose a built landcape and tried to interview everyone from the developers, to the designers, review boards, construction people, and end users. It was quite enlightening to find where and why things got to be the way they were. It is never safe to assume.

[beijingreenspace]

You don’t think it’s possible the LA detail specified 2×4 plank backing? 

[Andrew Garulay, RLA]

I’m not ruling anything in, nor would I rule it out. …nor do we know if an LA even worked on it.

 

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