At the Beginning of the Week, the Glass Panels Gracing the North Elevation of the Adult Tower Were a Story Shy of the Top — By the End of the Week, They Reached the Top
The GFRC panels, storefront windows, and curtain walls (the glass panels) covering the Loma Linda University Health replacement hospital buildings — the icing on the cake so to speak — is coming to an end. The White GFRC panels glisten in the sunlight, the curtain walls reflect the mood of the day, while the storefront windows will reflect the activity of everyday life at grade. The Children’s Hosptial and Adult Hospital towers stand tall over the campus and Inland Empire like a young newlywed couple, decked out in their finest, ready to be introduced to the gathering for the first time. The lights are brought up, there is a pause, and then the applause. Although the ribbon cutting and grand opening are months away, the public is getting a view of the newly clad hospital towers.
The north and east Elevations with numbers indicating areas left to be completed: (1) Three sections of the spandrel curtain wall facia along the roof line of the terrace to allow for the interior terrace windows to be offloaded; the (2) the north and west panels around the 16th-floor Administrative Conference room; (3) a few broken window replacements; (4) the installation of the vertical panels on the east and south elevations of the Adult Hospital and Children’s Hospital towers once the aerial lifts are removed, which will happen later this summer. The exterior terrace windows fronted by the terrace will be installed at a later date. There will be other grade level windows such as the storefront windows, which will be installed as the project nears completion.The northwest view of the Adult Hospital tower rising above the University Church and the existing Medical Center tower. The areas remaining to be completed are clearly visible. it is anticipated that the installation of the window panels around the administrative conference room will be completed by weeks end.After the northwest corner window panel was installed on the corner of the Administrative Conference Room. Beau, one of the installers, stands (strapped to a safety wire) on the edge of the roof (17th floor) of the Adult Hospital tower as he releases the cable from the panel.A closeup of Beau as he releases the cable.Window panel installers (L-R: Mike, Beau, and Nick) quickly pose with a panel on the roof of the Adult Hospital tower.And so, I walked up to the window panels that had just been installed outside of the Executive Conference Room and gazed out over the north side of the campus. For a brief moment, I was overcome with emotion. The majority of the buildings I looked down upon were built during my lifetime. Many had been constructed during the time I had worked on campus. Gentry Gym was built in the late 60s and razed in 2006 to make way for the Centennial Complex. When the campus was very young my great-grandfather served as the head chef at the sanitarium in the 1900s. He would walk to and from work along Stewart Street, which in those days was a dirt and gravel road, and take a well-traveled path up the hill (which is visible in the right panel) to the sanitarium. Some twenty-five years later my paternal grandfather, a graduate of the USC School of Pharmacy, accepted an invitation to come to Loma Linda as the first full-time licensed pharmacist for the hospital and sanitarium. Just beyond the Centennial Complex (center panel), out in the fields where the brier patches grew my dad, as a lad played with his friends along the railroad tracks.
Suddenly, my sojourn down memory lane was cut short as the corner window panel quietly glided into view. Time to check my emotions. Time to reposition the camera to take the next shot. The corner panel window is steadied as the crane operator brings it nearer to the building.The chronicler with his left hand on the parapet looks out over the campus and valley from the 16th-floor terrace. This is something, I have looked forward to for a long time. The safety cable has been removed, which allowed me to stand next to the parapet.My view as I looked out over the campus and the valley beyond.From the northeast corner of the terrace facing west.The blue wall of glass.One of the door frames that is part of the north terrace glass wall reaches the 16th-floor. The frame will be carefully lifted inside by the installers on the terrace. All of the glass panels will be stacked on the terrace until the time they will be installed. And so, the week ends with the structure pretty much buttoned up with the GFRC panels, and the curtain walls. Gon is the steel skeleton. Gone are the white tarps. For a little longer, the crane’s boom is reflected on the glass panels. For a little while, the hammer blows of progress have been laid down for a weekend of rest. The hallways and chambers are quiet. The lights have come on to greet the stars. From out of the orchards of a century past, the new Towers of Healing rise in the twilight sky. Waiting, waiting, till that day when the doors open to welcome the first patients to enter. “Enter into these towers of healing where our motto is: ‘To Make Man Whole’.”
After graduate school Dennis accepted a position at Loma Linda University. He worked there for 42 years in the areas of administration and financial management, also teaching accounting and management to dietetic students at the School of Public Health. Through the years Dennis has chronicled the growth of the campus, including the construction of the Drayson Center and the Centennial Complex and the razing of Gentry Gym. He is the author of "The Mound City Chronicles: A Pictorial History of Loma Linda University, A Health Sciences Institution 1905 - 2005." dEp 09.30.2016 🔨
What is the difference in the window panes on the North side especially? About half of the panels seem to have some kind of flat protrusion on the edges sticking out while the other half have a more finished look?
Dennis E. Park, MA
The protrusions are called fins. Functionally, the staggered fins, serve a purpose in that when the oblique morning and afternoon sun rays hit the fins they will accentuate the window reflections. You may have noticed that there is a large vertical section in the center that does not have have the fins, this is because, I believe, the fins would not have as much reflective play in the center of the tower. Hope this helps. Thanks for your question.
What is the difference in the window panes on the North side especially? About half of the panels seem to have some kind of flat protrusion on the edges sticking out while the other half have a more finished look?
The protrusions are called fins. Functionally, the staggered fins, serve a purpose in that when the oblique morning and afternoon sun rays hit the fins they will accentuate the window reflections. You may have noticed that there is a large vertical section in the center that does not have have the fins, this is because, I believe, the fins would not have as much reflective play in the center of the tower. Hope this helps. Thanks for your question.