As we enter the home stretch of our construction project, the changes in our building are becoming less dramatic than from earlier this summer (Sadly, drywall taping and sanding is just not a very photogenic event…) Still, above and below you can see some nice pix of the exterior. Above shows the wood beginning on the front facade. The stair treads are due in this week and the metal and glass curtainwall will follow closely behind. The other photo is of the west side wall, which is almost finished, except for an opening at the third floor. We are waiting for the large movable door that will separate the sanctuary and social hall. As soon as that is delivered later this month, the west wall will be closed up and the entire facade will be finished.

The next pic down shows the east wall of the chapel. You can see the ark opening set into the wall on the right, clad in Jerusalem stone. The bottom picture shows the west wall of the social hall, with the drywall now complete.

Work has sped up on the project and we currently have twenty to thirty workers per day on the site performing various tasks. The top pic shows the third floor sanctuary – note the Jerusalem stone tile which has now has been installed on either side of the bimah. The drywall installation is nearly complete – the second and third pix below show the interior of the classrooms on the first and second floor – and the taping of the drywall began yesterday.

The cypress siding is now finished on the north and east sides of the building. The bottom pic shows the east wall (you can see the sanctuary windows at the top). The south side will be finished shortly.

The front stairway is now completely in place and the concrete treads will be installed at the end of the month. The south glass wall and supports will be installed soon after.

A final note: I was happy to discover this recent blog post profiling Carol Ross Barney, the talented architect whose firm designed our building. Among other things, it provides a link to a video interview in which Carol discusses her own personal journey and her unique philosophy as a Chicago architect.

The Jerusalem stone has now been completely installed. The work this past week has now shifted to the main stairway on the south side of the building. The above pic shows the main stair risers that were installed last week. The stair pans (into which precast concrete will be placed) will be welded in place over the next few days. After the stairs are installed, the main exterior glass wall will set into place (likely late September or early October).

The pic below shows a view of the first floor interior – the reverse side of the stone wall – facing east toward the chapel. The big opening on the right side is a gift shop display case which faces the main office.

The next picture down shows us the north wall, which is the only exterior wall that is 100% finished with cypress siding. We are waiting for our last delivery of wood, which will allow us to finish the remaining three faces of the building.

The bottom pic shows the metal studs which have been installed on the first and second floors. The electricians are “roughing in” the conduit for outlets and switches and drywall will be added to the walls over the next couple of weeks.

While we were away in Israel these past two weeks, there was some nice progress on the building, though I am told the exterior work went somewhat more slowly because of some recent heavy rains. The pix above and below show the extensive work on the Jerusalem stone wall that runs along the south end of the building. This aspect of the project has been been critical as the workers cannot begin work on the main staircase until it is complete. The third pic down gives a good view of the cypress siding on the north wall, which has now been completed. They have also almost finished setting up the studs for the interior walls on the first and second floors (see bottom pic).

Looks like more rain is coming this week – thankfully we’re almost finished with the exterior work at this point…