ZCY WAITS

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All was quiet Friday.

Indeed the gate was locked, the boom-box off, nobody there. How nice and quiet! Just me and the birds.

Often a sub-contractor's contract will call for the site to be left "broom clean"...

and it sure is! Immaculate broom clean.

The Encircling Corridor with walls, sidewalks, base-stones, columns and beams await.

A sweeping panorama from looking north to the Main gate, past the gate to the Encircling Corridor, to the south Entry Gate, shows how tidy it is.

One lonely base stone, and one column without one (just beyond the concrete wall) hints there may have been a slight miscalculation, or waits for the stone masons to work their magic and make it fit.

The pond appears to be holding water.

The retention pond, with timber bamboo beyond, waits to get water.

Chairs wait for workmen and spectators alike.

Ladders wait to be used again.

A forklift waits to unload...

...the increasing number of storage containers, as we all wait to see what treasures they contain.

Meanwhile, over at Song Mei Ting, spring moves into summer:

ZCY TAKES A BREATHER

Things are rather quiet at the site. Indeed, when I arrived, there was no one in sight. Just the melodious tunes of country-western songs blasting for the boom-box...

The typical view from the SE shows almost all the steel pieces that were on the ground are now in the air. A large concrete cube on the left is an electical vault, which will be part of the underground electical wiring. In the far right the large bamboos which were down and the lower retention pond have been planted on the north side of the upper retention pond.

Looking at the east side of the east wall, the steel columns and beams give a good sense to the eventual form of this facade.

Whoa, the photo-stitch did not have enough to work with to make this panorama shot look good. But we can see the pond on the right, and the Main Gate on the left. The horizontal beams connect the columns seen last week.  

Looking through a leak window at the pond and main gate, the column stones sit on their seats awaiting the installation of their bases. And the pond appears to be holding water!

And just outside the Courtyard, to the south, crates and crates (and even a few MORE crates of stones) are patiently awaiting the arrival of the Chinese crew.

 Robert did return before I left, and he told me there has been a minor set back in the flow of materials from China. A bug of some sort was found in the crating inside a container of roof tiles, so the whole shipment of six containers was rejected and sent back home. Not wishing to lose the time it would take for them to be re-crated and re-set, another shipment of tiles was immediately dispatched. So, somewhere out there in the wide Pacific, two containers will pass in the  night, helping to keep the construction schedule on schedule.

ZCY STEEL ARISIN'

With the plinth stones liberated from the docks, structural steel erection has been able to commence.

Looking from the NE at the East and North Walls, the steel columns and beams are very evident.

Travis, of CHG Building Systems, Inc.,welds a bracket to a steel plate earlier embedded in a concrete wall, to which a beam will be welded. 

In the NE corner columns and beams are welded together to form the frame for a shelter from which the pond will be seen.

Another look from the NE. The pond structure is on the left, and, on the right, are the steel columns for the Main Gate.

Here they are again, this time thru a leak window on the east side. The plinth stones have been temporarily set on brackets, looking like beads on a stick.

Jack loads one of these "beads" from their arrival pallet, onto a jig on the lift which Frank expertly guides....

through the steel columns of the Main Gate.

With Jack giving hand signals, Frank threads the needle, lowering the plinth stone thru the column.

Released from the lift jig, Jack makes a final alignment adjustment to the stone.

Meanwhile, Robert spreads out in his larger construction office trailer. Indeed, it has three offices, room for all the players on, or soon to be on, site.

ZCY STONES AND WATER

Not too much difference since last time, but wait...

what is that, covered with plastic in the foreground?

The stone column bases have escaped Customs Inspection down on the docks! Now erection of the steel framing can start.

But waiting on the Stones has not meant noting has been happening. Looking SW from the NE corner, a blue piece of equipment (pump and filters?) can be seen on the left. Water lines lead from there, and from the right, into a shallow "pond" where storm water will be detained. 

A closer look at that blue water handling device.

On the other side of the wall, the pond has taken shape and is getting the penultimate coating. Various pipes stick up marking where water will either come in or go out.

A city inspector, standing in the retention pond, checks to make sure the drain lines are going down hill. Although the retention pond is temporary, it is where the future Lotus Pond will be located, so, with a squint or two, we will be able to get a sense of what that part of the garden will eventually look like.

Downhill towards the "wetlands", Kevin from CK Excavators is putting together an overflow drain. When the retention pond fills to capacity, excess water will drain into this perforated black pipe to seep into the ground. 

Meanwhile, in other areas of the site...

Forms are being removed from the last concrete walls, those forming the basement for the toilet area.

A large trailer expands office space in anticipation of the Chinese work-crews arrival.

To the left of the entry gate, just out of view in this photo, a large tent has been erected, to provide protected work space, and in another area, the crew's temporary residential area is being laid out.

And, of course, there is never ending clean-up chores:

Wood, which is not re-usable for concrete forms, is being picked up by a re-cycling company.