The Week of August 27, 2018 — A Milestone: The Week of Two Major Firsts

The week of August 27, 2018, will go down as the week of two major  firsts: (1) The last of the Children’s Hospital columns were set on the west side and are marching to the east with the girders and infills for the ceiling hung. The Children’s Hospital will top out when the girders and infills are hung above. (2) Columns are being set on the west side of the Adult Hospital punching through the height veil by surpassing the vertical elevation of the existing Medical Center. Today, I took the 10/215 interchange flyover toward Riverside, and as I glanced toward the Medical Center two rows of columns were clearly visible above the tallest tower of the Medical Center. The following day (08.29.18), I took the 10/215 offramp (from the west) to check if the columns were visible from that vantage point: They were quite obvious. From now on, as new floors are added beyond these columns, the height difference will become even more apparent.

Lines of reference: (1) The line crossing the top bracket represents the twelfth floor of the Adult Hospital. (2) Is the top off line (r00f) for the Children Hospital. (3) Is the west end of the Adult Hospital. (4) is the west end of the Children’s Hospital.

By extrapolating the existing steel columns and floors one can now estimate how tall the Adult Hospital will be. Using Photoshop, we are able to replicate existing floors and take them to approximate top off level.

Note, the steel columns rising above the existing Medical Center. Photographed from the 10/215 flyover going south toward Riverside, California.

Okay, just for fun, I did a little Photoshop replication of the existing steel columns (as shown in the photograph above) and took them to their estimated height. The Children’s Hospital has topped out just above the south tower. Now we will have to wait and see how close this estimate is to the actual.

Now that the columns have begun to rise above the existing Medical Center, it is time to revisit my creative imagination of three months ago where I guesstimated the height of the adult towers . Admittedly, I was off  in that the north facade was not to scale as I had no reference points to work from. Also, I was placing the building further south than what in reality it will be. We will resurrect this again in three months and see how close I came to the actual height of the Adult Hospital.