Saturday, April 07, 2012

Meanwhile, back in Oakland....



One of the things I noticed about Oakland this trip was - how good it looked.

Mr S. and I have visited to Lois the Pie Queen a handful of times each year for the past couple of years. Every few months there will be something in the city, or close to the gravitational pull of LTPQ. In this time, not much had ever changed.

All of a sudden there is construction everywhere. I can only attribute it to Oakland trying to run through their redevelopment funds (just a guess). They disbanded the city department last year (I think), but they are clearly trying to spend every dime left in the bank account.

So, when I noticed some buildings were being remodeled next to the metal building above, we walked over after we had breakfast. Obviously it always catches my eye - it's got this unusual metal sheeting on the outside. When we drove in, I also thought this other building was wrapped in metal.



I got distracted photographing something else. Mr S. pointed out to me the building was transparent. I thought it was just unfinished. I was trying to figure out how to make my shots show the transparency when we saw a forklift taking drywall into the courtyard. As you can see on the right side of the photo, when the sun doesn't hit it - it looks wrapped in metal. When it does - it looks transparent.





While I was taking photos, Mr S. chatted up the architect, who was overseeing construction. When I meet back up with him I see the architect is clearly is proud of his project and offers to show us the inside. Which made me really happy.





As we were driving away, Mr S. was telling me about the product the architect was using. It is a honeycomb plastic product. "Oh, I think I've seen that material before", I said, It's kinda what they use on greenhouses. Mr S. replies - that's what it is. The plastic is greenhouse roofing, but the way it's mounted and sealed to the side of the building is a custom process designed by the architect.

It is a really interesting application of this product. Although, from what I know about green houses - they usually have this huge fan in the ceiling to dispense heat.

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