The construction is underway on Ocean Avenue, and you can hear the sounds of drilling and building. With all of this noise, you are probably asking yourself, “What is going on over there?” Here are 6 things you may not know about the construction of the new building:
1. The biggest steel beam weighs about the same as four Honda Civics!
In other words, it weighs 11,000 pounds!
2. The new building is essentially two new buildings.
The front administration part of the building and main classroom part are being built separately and differently. The main classroom building is concrete framed, the other is steel framed. With this nifty plan, they will have the building ready when school starts in August 2018.
The new building’s plans, as seen from Ocean Avenue.
3. There are going to be two new gender neutral bathrooms in the lower fishbowl!
They will be located in between the current men’s and women’s restrooms.
4. They’ve uncovered a granite rock the size of a garbage truck — or bigger.
They aren’t sure how deep the rock goes into the earth, with some estimates saying it could be the size of a house. The construction team is now breaking up the “darn rock” into smaller pieces, and pulverizing it from there.
5. The facade of the old building is one of a kind…
They’ve kept the facade of the old building to attach to the back of the new building. The city deemed it historical as it is one of the first curtain walls ever– which is a type of mostly-glass wall. The inspectors said they’ve never seen one quite like it!
6. …and so are the blue tiles!
The blue tiles in the entrance of the old building are historical, so they are being cleaned and used again in the new building.
