SkyTrain Station Renovations

[Vin]

Welcome to third world construction.

[Kisai]

Originally Posted by MIPS

They are all just extremely poorly mounted.



Even if they were trying to go for a stepped panel design, what the hell is with panel C? It's not even installed straight with panels A and B. It's not even level.

My best guess is that the mounting hardware isn't square (level) and you can't exactly "fix" concrete once you mess up. I'm going out there in a few hours, I'll take a look around.

The other thing that comes to mind is that there's an optical illusion at work here, which might suggest it looks level from the inside, and only looks messed up from the outside.

[Tetsuo]

MIPS did you end up getting the sign >?

[MIPS]

Originally Posted by Tetsuo

MIPS did you end up getting the sign >?

ACK! There goes the surprise!

[derail]
For those who were not in the loop, last September I pulled a few strings and purchased the old Main Street - Science World sign that used to hang over the west entrance for the value of the scrap aluminum it was made of.



Images courtesy of MIPS

It was transported back here where on and off I spent time repairing the sign and designing a new frame to mount it on and illuminate it with since the old frame was destroyed. It was suppost to be ready for display when the west entrance reopened but I ran into issues completing it on time.



Image Courtesy of MIPS

I've missed the weather deadline, so it probably won't briefly make an appearance at the station again until late next spring.
[/derail]

Anyways, you gotta see the new windows at the station in person to better get an idea on how crooked they all are.

[Infrequent Poster]

Originally Posted by Kisai

My best guess is that the mounting hardware isn't square (level) and you can't exactly "fix" concrete once you mess up. I'm going out there in a few hours, I'll take a look around.

The other thing that comes to mind is that there's an optical illusion at work here, which might suggest it looks level from the inside, and only looks messed up from the outside.

There are pictures (earlier in this thread) that are taken from the inside before any glass is in, and you can clearly see the horizontal metal banding does not meet up. Either way if you want straight lines you need a point of reference, be it something all ready installed that is all ready dead straight. Or more likely a laser. There is no way a contractor should just be looking at something by eye and deciding if it is good enough or not (in my opinion)

Anyone with more then 6 months experience in pretty much any sort of construction would be able to see things were going up wonky, at a very early point in the installation process. Knowing that, someone clearly made the decision to say "🞵🞵🞵🞵 it" keep going.

I visted graham construction's website, and they have photos of projects they have done, broken down into catagories such as, commercial, industrial, infrastructure etc. I will admit I was not surprised to see this project was nowhere to be found.

[finalcoolman]

Originally Posted by Infrequent Poster

There are pictures (earlier in this thread) that are taken from the inside before any glass is in, and you can clearly see the horizontal metal banding does not meet up. Either way if you want straight lines you need a point of reference, be it something all ready installed that is all ready dead straight. Or more likely a laser. There is no way a contractor should just be looking at something by eye and deciding if it is good enough or not (in my opinion)

Anyone with more then 6 months experience in pretty much any sort of construction would be able to see things were going up wonky, at a very early point in the installation process. Knowing that, someone clearly made the decision to say "🞵🞵🞵🞵 it" keep going.

I visted graham construction's website, and they have photos of projects they have done, broken down into catagories such as, commercial, industrial, infrastructure etc. I will admit I was not surprised to see this project was nowhere to be found.

I'm going to play devils advocate, but how do we NOT know there is no legitimate engineering reason behind this? Remember, this is not a new station built for this new structure, this is a retrofit. In order to meet earthquake requirements etc... because the station was not initially designed for this maybe each of these sections has to be completely independent from each other and also flexible, and since like an other poster mentioned, they have got to be using the existing mounting points from the old station, which once again were not put in place for this new station design.

[Infrequent Poster]

Originally Posted by finalcoolman

I'm going to play devils advocate, but how do we NOT know there is no legitimate engineering reason behind this? Remember, this is not a new station built for this new structure, this is a retrofit. In order to meet earthquake requirements etc... because the station was not initially designed for this maybe each of these sections has to be completely independent from each other and also flexible, and since like an other poster mentioned, they have got to be using the existing mounting points from the old station, which once again were not put in place for this new station design.

I hear what you're saying, as I said in a previous post, i feel like I need to understand what happened here. As it is I do not. Someone else suggested perhaps the guideway itself is not level. While I agree this could be the case, I can not come up with any reason why they could not install the curved uprights level. They are all identical. As long as they are installed in an even and straight manner everything should line up, in my opinion.

Perhaps there are earthquake requirements etc to be met, but it just doesnt seem like a reasonable excuse for mind numbingly bad work. In my opinion.

Wish I knew someone who worked on this job.

[finalcoolman]

Originally Posted by Infrequent Poster

I hear what you're saying, as I said in a previous post, i feel like I need to understand what happened here. As it is I do not. Someone else suggested perhaps the guideway itself is not level. While I agree this could be the case, I can not come up with any reason why they could not install the curved uprights level. They are all identical. As long as they are installed in an even and straight manner everything should line up, in my opinion.

Perhaps there are earthquake requirements etc to be met, but it just doesnt seem like a reasonable excuse for mind numbingly bad work. In my opinion.

Wish I knew someone who worked on this job.

The big question is, is this shoddy work...or is this all by design.

I think the guideway is level, but I think they used some of the same mounting locations that the old structure was attached to. I think those mounting locations themselves were not perfectly level (because they did not have to be since they were never intended for this new design..

[Spork]

Originally Posted by MIPS

ACK! There goes the surprise!
I've missed the weather deadline, so it probably won't briefly make an appearance at the station again until late next spring.

Are you implying that you are giving it back to Translink to display as art? :o

[Infrequent Poster]

Originally Posted by finalcoolman

The big question is, is this shoddy work...or is this all by design.

I think the guideway is level, but I think they used some of the same mounting locations that the old structure was attached to. I think those mounting locations themselves were not perfectly level (because they did not have to be since they were never intended for this new design..

I'm not sure if I follow you here. Just bear with me....You think the guideway is level, but the mounting locations are not. If the guideway is level that would mean the mounting locations would have to have been purposely engineered to not be level? As you said you think the guideway is level. Why would they make the mounting locations not level? They are mounted directly into the guideway from what I can tell.

[finalcoolman]

Originally Posted by Infrequent Poster

I'm not sure if I follow you here. Just bear with me....You think the guideway is level, but the mounting locations are not. If the guideway is level that would mean the mounting locations would have to have been purposely engineered to not be level? As you said you think the guideway is level. Why would they make the mounting locations not level? They are mounted directly into the guideway from what I can tell.

Because do you now what is in the guideway? Sure it all looks like concrete from the outside, but it has its strong points, its weak-points, its internal structure etc... Just on the simplest level to visualize this, those are some thick bolts going into the guideway. There is rebar in that concrete. You cant put those bolts through the rebar, they would have to be placed perfectly to miss all that rebar.

Or it could just be the the station is at a very slight grade, and this was done to compensate for the slight incline. If anyone wants to take a spirit level to the platform, and see whether or not it is level, that could be the answer.

I am not claiming I know the answer to this. I am however saying, that I find it hard that Translink would have signed off on such shoddy work, and instead I believe that it is far more likely that this was all by design for some unknown reason.

[Infrequent Poster]

Originally Posted by finalcoolman

Because do you now what is in the guideway? Sure it all looks like concrete from the outside, but it has its strong points, its weak-points, its internal structure etc... Just on the simplest level to visualize this, those are some thick bolts going into the guideway. There is rebar in that concrete. You cant put those bolts through the rebar, they would have to be placed perfectly to miss all that rebar.

Or it could just be the the station is at a very slight grade, and this was done to compensate for the slight incline. If anyone wants to take a spirit level to the platform, and see whether or not it is level, that could be the answer.

I am not claiming I know the answer to this. I am however saying, that I find it hard that Translink would have signed off on such shoddy work, and instead I believe that it is far more likely that this was all by design for some unknown reason.

On this much we are in agreement.

[BCPhil]

Originally Posted by Infrequent Poster

Perhaps there are earthquake requirements etc to be met, but it just doesnt seem like a reasonable excuse for mind numbingly bad work. In my opinion.

Maybe the next earthquake will jostle them into place?

[Kisai]

Originally Posted by Infrequent Poster

There are pictures (earlier in this thread) that are taken from the inside before any glass is in, and you can clearly see the horizontal metal banding does not meet up.

I don't know, I think you have to actually be looking for crooked panels. I'm not saying we shouldn't care, but if you can't see crooked panels from the inside without it being pointed out, perhaps Translink can't either.

[MIPS]

Originally Posted by Spork

Are you implying that you are giving it back to Translink to display as art? :o

I sent them an email regarding it being a temporary non-commissioned piece back in July but I never got a response back so I assumed the idea didn't fly.
Initially I was talking with a guy at the TRAMS society regarding it but not long after I got it he stopped responding to my emails as well. :/
I'm on my on at this point so any public display will be extremely temporary.

[Jimbo604]

Did you send your crooked lines complaints to Translink??

[Kisai]

Originally Posted by Jimbo604

Did you send your crooked lines complaints to Translink??

Honestly I think one really needs to be looking for it. From the two earlier pictures you can clearly see that they're not level pretty much across the entire thing, but there're not really off by more than 2-3cm or so.



It's far more obvious when you look straight between the panels though. Looks like they're being "held" from the top, as the farther down it goes, the more it's off.

[quobobo]

I agree with Kisai, you really have to be looking for it. I use Main Street station >40 times a month and I've never noticed the crooked panels in person.

I am a little worried about their upkeep of this station so far. Some of the platform exterior's bottom glass panels are already getting a little dirty already (possibly from exhaust fumes?), hopefully they will be cleaned frequently enough. Seems like it may be difficult to clean them without blocking a lane or two of Main Street.

Also, the east entrance's escalator is broken surprisingly often.

[Infrequent Poster]

Originally Posted by quobobo

I agree with Kisai, you really have to be looking for it. I use Main Street station >40 times a month and I've never noticed the crooked panels in person.

I am a little worried about their upkeep of this station so far. Some of the platform exterior's bottom glass panels are already getting a little dirty already (possibly from exhaust fumes?), hopefully they will be cleaned frequently enough. Seems like it may be difficult to clean them without blocking a lane or two of Main Street.

Also, the east entrance's escalator is broken surprisingly often.

And I use it once a year and its the first thing I noticed.

[Waders]

Excavation has started at Broadway/Commercial station site. It is about 1 feet deep today.