The Week of January 12, 2020 — The Project Continues in the Buildings and Around the Site
Featured Image: During a rare after-hours construction site visit, Richard H. Hart, MD, DrPH, President, and Chief Executive Officer of Loma Linda University Health, explains to his guests the importance of having a connecting link between the two healthcare facilities.
The leading photo of this blog is of the five hospital towers as they stand in 2020. The smaller image in the lower-left corner is a circa 2005 photo of the three cloverleaf towers that have stood on the campus for over fifty years. O, how times have changed! From a distance, the construction project appears finished, but on the ground at grade, there are projects still in the steel stage, i.e., the connector pedestrian bridge as depicted in the featured image and the Galleria and Main Entrance Canopy. As one nears the sound walls and security fences surrounding the site, the notion of a completed project is quashed. Currently, the “Hospital Quiet Zone” is non-existent as the vibrating sounds of heavy equipment moving about float above the safety fences and sound walls. Adding to the construction orchestra is the rhythmic sounds made by the trades in their hard hats — laborers and journeymen alike — who follow the score on the architectural drawings as the project marches ever nearer to that final crescendo. After the last piece of heavy equipment is hauled off the premises, the safety walls will come down, revealing the ingress and egress to the hospitals, the parking spaces, the landscaping including zonal trees, colorful flower beds, lush lawns, and park benches. Then the day will come when the other side of the groundbreaking ceremony will take place: the long-awaited ribbon-cutting ceremony with all its pomp and circumstances. The construction noise will cease and give way to the applause of the dignitaries and guests as a chosen few cuts the ribbon.
O, how times have changed! The Loma Linda University Health campus in 2020 as it rises high above the valley floor. The circa 2005 image at the lower-left (insert) the then iconic three-tower Loma Linda University Medical Center.The east elevation as seen from Starr Street.A view of the northwest side of the towers as viewed from the Waterman Street bridge.The mountain peaks and the LLUH towers reflect the Friday evening alpenglow.
Two Night Shots Revisited
The following images were taken on Friday night, January 10, 2020, under the brilliance of the full moon.
A One-Hundred and Fifteen-Year Evolution of the Loma Linda University Health Campus as Viewed From the Northeast Side of the Hill
A circa 1905 view of the northeast side of the hill (center right) where the Loma Linda small college campus was founded in 1905.A 2020 view of the northeast side of the hill (center right). The pasture land has given way to soccer fields. To the left of the hill, two towers of healing rise high above the hill on which the Loma Linda University Health campus was founded in 1905.I wonder what the founders of the small college would have thought in 1905 if they were told that 115-years in the future, the towers of a new teaching hospital would rise high above the hill on which the school was founded.Something Out of This World: Just couldn’t help bringing in the planet Venus (pinpoint in the upper left) into the picture.
Another Update on the Emergency Generator Site
The emergency generator site location that reveals where the four generators will be located.To the east of the generators is the electrical switchgear vault, which powers the generators.On the backside of the Emergency Generator site, two diesel fuel tanks are buried.
A Visit to the Second Floor of the West Connector Bridge
Rounding the northwest corner of the podium, I noticed that there was some construction activity on the second floor of the connector link. Then a missing window caught my attention. Under the James M. Slater, MD sign, the window had been removed, and drywall had been installed in its place. I had to make my way up to the second floor and try to get on the second-floor connector link.I made my way up to the second floor to the hall where the connector bridge would link to the structure. At the end of the room was a translucent curtain blocking the doorway. Upon closer inspection, I recognized the plastic vinyl strips making up the curtain. These types of curtains are used a more even inside temperature, which is needed as the paint is applied and flooring is installed.The reverse side of the plastic vinal curtain and the rain protective tarp.On the second floor of the bridge, two carpenters were building a wooden platform that would connect the bridge with the existing Medical Center’s corridor where the window was removed.
Sealing the West Tunnel Exterior
While the exterior sides of the tunnel are exposed, drain pipes will also be installed.
The South Side: The electrical conduit on the exterior of the tunnel walls (north and south sides) are being sealed before the electrical conduits will be reinforced with concrete.The North Side: The electrical conduit, which runs through the tunnel is exposed on the north side of the tunnel.
Views From the West Connector Bridge
An Update on the Galleria and Main Entrance Canopy
Steel, Grade Beams, Gravel, Plastic, Blackouts, and Forms
Progress is ongoing on the northside of the podium beneath the Adult Hospital tower. With the central steel frame standing guard over what will be the main entrance to the hospital, the grade beams were poured this week. After the gravel is leveled and compacted between the concrete grade beams a yellow plastic is laid over the gravel between the grade beams. The gravel and plastic will act much as a concrete rat slab on which small concrete pier blocks are positioned for the first tier of rebar to rest. Around the perimeter of the grade beams, the carpenters are forming the Galleria footings.
The north side of the Galleria pad has been formed, and the plastic is being laid on the stips between the grade beamsWhile work continues down on the site, a County Fire helicopter makes its approach to the north helipad.A portable hopper is being loaded with gravel, which will be transported over to the Galleria pad where it will be dumped, spread, leveled and compacted between the concrete grade beams.After the hopper has been filled with gravel, it is brought over to the pad and dumped on a strip between the grade beams. In this image, we see that as the hopper is emptied, the gravel is being leveled and compacted. Spreading, leveling, and compacting; a closeupOn the northwest side, three carpenters set a form section. Northeast View: Installing the first layer of rebar, which is fastened in a grid pattern with tie-wire. Once the first layer is installed short blocks will be placed under the rebar grid.A Northwest View: Installing the first layer of rebar, which is fastened in a grid pattern with tie-wire. Once the first layer is installed short blocks will be placed under the rebar grid.This image shows the work that is involved in reinforcing the pad for the Galleria.
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 🔨
