Pending interior work

The Visitor Center's Exhibit Area is ready for installation of tongue & groove planks on the underside of the roof panels, and the pouring of the concrete floor for this public portion of the building.

Tourism Council office area walls are framed.  This area of the building will have a tongue & groove board ceiling even with the bottom chords of the timber trusses.  The mezzanine area above will house the building's HVAC equipment.

The final structural insulated panels were installed on May 12, 2010 completing the roof structure portion of the warehouse rehab that will serve as the new Visitor Center.

See the video here.

“Topping Off” – An evergreen bough is ceremonially placed at the top of a rendering of the new Frederick Visitor Center on May 11, 2010, commemorating work on the final structural insulated panels to be installed for the roof. County Commissioner President Jan Gardner, Tourism Council Board President George Wunderlich, Executive Director John Fieseler, Delegation Chairman Paul Stull, and Mayor Randy McClement all spoke at the event which fell during National Tourism Week. The tradition of placing a bough as the uppermost portion of a structure is completed began with the erection of early timber frame barns, and continues with steelworkers topping off new skyscrapers.  Tourism Council Board, staff, & committee members joined the elected officials and representatives from Proffitt & Associates - the architects, J. Vinton Schafer & Sons - construction manager, and Rockwell General Contractors to mark this milestone in the project.

Second photo:  The view from the E. All Saints Street parking deck of the 110-year-old old cannery warehouse being rehabilitated as the new Frederick Visitor Center. The final structural insulated panels for the roof are being set this week.

Masonry repair continues

The masons are making great progress with the brickwork on the old warehouse.  As the "before" picture shows, most windows had been bricked-in over the years.  As the second picture shows, the brick infill has been removed.  New lintels have been installed over the window openings replacing deteriorated lintels, and the brick above the lintels has been repaired.  On the right, the first of two openings into the Visitor Center exhibit area is being prepared.  There will be a wooden vestibule constructed in front of these openings, creating the front entrance to the facility.  The brick walls will be cleaned up following the masonry repair work.

West roof plane receives SIP panels

The crew from PanelWrights, LLC, a subcontractor to Rockwell General Contractors on the Frederick Visitor Center project, sets the structural insulated panels into place spanning the building's original heavy timber trusses.  SIP panel installation on two of the L-shaped building's roof planes, south facing and west facing, is now complete.  The old roof was temporarily left in place opposite each plane that was cleared off, providing lateral support for the trusses until the SIP panels are fastened.  Still to come: east facing and finally north facing roof planes receive SIP panels, the visible interior faces of the roof will be covered with tongue & groove boards, a standing seam metal roof will be installed on top of the SIPs. 

On goes the new roof

The structural insulated panels (SIPs) are now being installed.  One plane of the roof has been completed and another is being prepared to receive the SIPs, which consist of foam insulation sandwiched between oriented strand board (OSB) panels.  The exterior will be covered by a standing seam metal roof.  The interior will be covered by tongue & groove boards over the Visitor Center exhibit area, where the underside of the roof structure will be visible.  The schedule currently calls for the final SIP panels to be installed on Tuesday May 11, 2010.

Exhibit designers

Congratulations to our exhibit designers, Veronica Jackson and Philip Brady, on the April 30 opening of their new exhibit "Discovering the Civil War"

at the National Archives in Washington. The exhibition, commemorating the 150th anniversary of the war, combines historic documents with touch-screen technology. The first part of a two-part exhibit is on display through the summer.

The Jackson Brady Design Group is working with Tourism Council staff, under the direction of TCFC’s Liz Shatto, on the exhibits that will be a key component of the new Frederick Visitor Center. We will soon be placing the exhibit fabrication out to bid, with installation planned once building renovations are complete. Exhibit design and fabrication is funded through grants from the MD Heritage Areas Authority, Preserve America, National Scenic Byways Program, and the Chesapeake Bay Gateways Network, which gives an indication of the variety of themes we’ll be able to share through the exhibits.