MIT.nano | Kendall Square | Cambridge

DZH22 said:
From 2/21

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DZH -- an opportunity to learn about how a major project of this magnitude and complexity is actually built from the folks doing the building
Interested in construction? Curious about what’s making all that noise at the heart of our campus?

Please join Travis Wanat, senior project manager of the MIT.nano construction project, for a discussion that delves into the process and technique of constructing a state-of-the-art nanoscience and nanotechnology facility in the midst of a bustling research campus. Structured as informal discussions, these sessions are an opportunity for the MIT community to ask questions while viewing the active MIT.nano construction site through the windows of Room 4-105.

MIT.nano Tool Talks
Session 4: Tower Cranes and Steel Sequencing
Thursday, March 24, noon-1pm
Room 4-105

Space is limited.
RSVP by Tuesday, March 22 to Kelsey Magnuson kelseyh@mit.edu

Session 4: Tower Cranes and Steel
If you’ve peered out at the site you can now see the steel framework being put into place for the building. At this Tool Talk, we’ll discuss the placement, use, and operation of the two tower cranes at the site. We’ll also discuss the steel structure, including fabrication, delivery, and installation. Travis will be joined by members of Turner Construction.
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5/23

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BeeLine said:
Some more from this morning.


Beeline -- Great photo update -- I believe that the structural steel phase is either over or very soon over

If you go back soon -- there is a sign on Vassar that says something like MIT Nano Steel Deliveries -- that is a classic

nanosteel.jpg
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New addition to the MIT.NANO website a link to a MIT News Article [already somewhat archival]

MIT-nano-steel-1_0.jpeg

http://news.mit.edu/2016/mit-nano-rising-0420

b]MIT.nano rising[/b]
MIT's future home for cutting-edge nanoscience and nanotechnology research gets fitted with 23 tons of steel per day.
Leda Zimmerman | School of Engineering
April 20, 2016

A spectacular show has been going on outside the windows of central-campus buildings all spring. An enormous steel structure has been growing — piece by piece, and bolt by bolt — out of a giant hole in the ground formerly occupied by Building 12.

At a March 24 “tool talk” information session for the MIT community on the construction of MIT.nano, representatives from MIT Facilities and the contractors who are building the new 200,000 square foot nanoscale characterization and fabrication facility gave an overview not only of where things stand with the project, but how they got stood up.
“In our structural-steel erection progress log, we’ve been averaging around 23 tons per day,” said Peter Johnson of Turner Construction. “We’re putting up 2,101 tons total, and we’re 22 percent complete.”

On day 469 of the 1,000 days of construction for the project, about 75 percent of the first level was complete, and a quarter of the level 3 cleanroom was installed down to the floor decking. The framing for the entire structure, which will reach a final height of 90 feet above grade, is scheduled to be complete by late May.

To get there, Johnson and others have spent years organizing and refining a minutely detailed project plan that links engineering design and fabrication, and the installation process. They have had to map out construction logistics on an hour-to-hour, and foot-by-foot basis. It all must be calibrated to unfold within specific timelines and within the tight confines of MIT.nano’s central campus location. “There’s not a lot of space when it comes to material handling and the movement of workers,” Johnson noted.

....Positioned strategically in locations that do not block truck routes, the cranes hoist pre-fabricated, specially packaged bundles of steel into the specific locations where they will be needed for construction. Within these packages, each piece has a number that corresponds to its function and placement, and each one has been specifically manufactured for its location, with features like pre-drilled holes to accommodate plumbing and electrical connections. (“So someone knows where the number goes, and that side A connects to side B?” asked Vladimir Bulovic, the faculty lead on the design and construction of MIT.nano. “Just like my Ikea furniture, but bigger.” The construction experts did not dismiss the comparison.)

Working with Ontario-based steel fabricator, Canatal, Johnson and his colleagues at Turner developed a four-dimensional plan for steel engineering, delivery, and installation. “We went through a painstaking process to maximize efficiency of this sequence,” says Johnson. “This allows us to avoid times when a crane is down because it’s waiting” for a delivery of steel.
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Doing the engineering work for an MIT project must be a trip. A lot of "theory v. practice" discussions I would imagine.
 
statler said:
Doing the engineering work for an MIT project must be a trip. A lot of "theory v. practice" discussions I would imagine.
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I recall an MIT professor mentioning how when he was having a new house built for his family that the architect had remarked he had never had a client present him with a vision statement and list of objectives.
 
statler said:
Doing the engineering work for an MIT project must be a trip. A lot of "theory v. practice" discussions I would imagine.
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Working on an MIT project right now. My experience:
1. They're VERY conservative. To be expected I guess from a University run by Engineers.
2. They're cheap. Which is in direct conflict with their conservatism.
 
I guess I was imagining a lot of conversations like this:

[Scotty and Geordi are working to restore the Jenolan's systems]

Scotty: Shunt the deuterium from the main cryo-pump to the auxiliary tank.

Lt. Commander Geordi La Forge: Er, the tank can't withstand that kind of pressure.

Scotty: [laughs] Where'd you... where'd you get that idea?

Lt. Commander Geordi La Forge: What do you mean, where did I get that idea? It's in the impulse engine specifications.

Scotty: Regulation 42/15 - Pressure Variances on the IRC Tank Storage?

Lt. Commander Geordi La Forge: Yeah.

Scotty: Forget it. I wrote it. A good engineer is always a wee bit conservative, at least on paper. Just bypass the secondary cut-off valve and boost the flow. It'll work.
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AmericanFolkLegend said:
Working on an MIT project right now. My experience:
1. They're VERY conservative. To be expected I guess from a University run by Engineers.
2. They're cheap. Which is in direct conflict with their conservatism.
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I agree with #1. I did not work on .nano, but I know they spent years doing site surveys to find the lowest-risk location from a building performance standpoint (e.g., nano-imaging + nano-fab requires an extremely well controlled environment; minimal vibrations, minimal electromagnetic interference, etc). In the end (to my knowledge), they designed/over-built this thing rock solid.

I don't necessarily agree with #2, though our knowledge may differ and I can certainly see this being the case in certain places. Again, I was not involved, but I saw what they went through in their full-gut restoration of Building 2 (one of the original 1916 Bosworth buildings) - a painstaking preservation effort that certainly does not look remotely cheap (though I can't speak to their relations with the contractor).
EDIT: here's a project description link for above.
 
^ driven by nano, but I am told that they took the opportunity to upgrade and bolster utilities and steam to other campus buildings as part of this. They cut a major new utilities tunnel under Vassar st. (e.g., pain in the ass for many weeks) so they wanted to get as much bang for the buck out of the utility work as possible.
 
bigpicture7 said:
I agree with #1. I did not work on .nano, but I know they spent years doing site surveys to find the lowest-risk location from a building performance standpoint (e.g., nano-imaging + nano-fab requires an extremely well controlled environment; minimal vibrations, minimal electromagnetic interference, etc). In the end (to my knowledge), they designed/over-built this thing rock solid.

I don't necessarily agree with #2, though our knowledge may differ and I can certainly see this being the case in certain places. Again, I was not involved, but I saw what they went through in their full-gut restoration of Building 2 (one of the original 1916 Bosworth buildings) - a painstaking preservation effort that certainly does not look remotely cheap (though I can't speak to their relations with the contractor).
EDIT: here's a project description link for above.
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BigPicture -- Its a Big Picture kind of thing -- when École des Beaux-Arts trained, Welles Bosworth designed and Stone & Webster implemented the main complex [Maclaurin Building aka the "Infinite Corridor"-- it was not only the largest single building in the world -- it was also one of the very first large poured-in-place reinforced concrete structures

On the outside it looks like a neoclassical stone structure -- but its only veneer -- underneath are strong and versatile bones -- its been renovated and reconfigured and reinvented countless times in past 100 years

MIT.Nano is being designed and constructed in a similar way -- the intent is that in 100 years the structure will still be delivering value -- perhaps as a museum?

Anyway -- apropo the native Yankee Stinginess -- Bosworth's original plan for the Great Court [now called Killian Court]
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was to pave it and mount a great statue of the Goddess Athena [Minerva]
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with the milk of human knowledge pouring from her left breast and flowing into the Charles -- that got VE'd out of the plan

Today we have grass with a "Henry Moore"
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^ Whigh, all things considered, the main MIT complex is rock solid at 100yrs, and was one heck of a construction operation - the largest contiguous building, as you say, but it also set a speed-per-sq-ft record...it was the fastest 1million Sq. Ft. was ever constructed until the record was broken by the Empire State building - a record, to my knowledge, that stands. Who says efficiency and quality can't go hand in hand?
 
facade work is in progress at least on the southern side of the building. here's a picture of not that:
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cc: Boston Skyline Photos, crane pix's past and present
 
34f34f said:
facade work is in progress at least on the southern side of the building.
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Facade work is now proceeding on all sides, with the glass curtainwall almost entirely in place on two sides. Snapped a quick phone pic, but it came out bad and I was in a hurry...
 
Beeline -- as usual -- excellent portfolio of pix

Closing in should be complete in a moth or so

However, the complexity of the building means that infrastructure installation will take most of next year. The Building [still has no name of a donor ready for the cornerstone] wont actually be ready for major research equipment to begin to move in for more than one year. Final completion and dedication is still scheduled for 2018.
 
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