designSTUDIOmodern

Quonset

Not being ones to shy away from new (to us) building techniques, we were recently asked to erect a quonset hut kit on some remote (read: no power or water...) ranch out east of Austin.

 

 

The kit, provided by SteelMaster, is an amazingly efficient use of material to cover a given area. The building we are putting up is roughly 25' by 50' and the amount of materials basically fit on a 7' long pallet, with a few 10' long base plates bundled along.

After the 2' stem walls were poured and the whole area between them packed with roadbase, we set to work bolting the base plates down to the tops of the stem walls with expansion anchors. Once all of those were bolted down and trued up all the arches had to be bolted together. Each arch is composed of multiple corrugated panels (all the same for the whole kit) and starter panels on one end. This took two guys the better part of a day and half to do. Thats a LOT of nuts and bolts!

 

 

After that we had to wait for a non-breezy day. We gathered a few more workers to help with the lifting and bolting, set up our scaffolding and ladders and started to lift up arches and provisionally bolt them together.

 

 

Once we had a few arches up, we prodded and pulled the building into symmetrical shape, making sure the centers of the arches lined up with the center of the space between stem walls, and tightened everything down. From then on it is just a matter of getting all the arches up and loosely bolted in so nothing can blow away. Once all the arches are up, and the 18' wide side-opening beams, columns, and partial arches are installed, we'll go back and bolt EVERYTHING down and tighten it all up.

 

 

 

hool Bus

Ran across a link to a flickr set from my first clients (of the Deep Eddy West project.) It seems they've gotten hooked up with some film folks and are building out the interior of their unfinished shop space as a film set. Not the type of work we'd ever conceived of when the space was being designed and built, but come to think of it, it makes total sense. Continuous space, high ceilings, balanced daylighting, easy access to attached staging areas... It's like it was made to be a sound stage...

 

 

Don't know much about the hool Bus, but from the looks of the flickr set, I'd bet it won't be all pristine and yellow for long.

 

la Boîte, part deux

While we've been playing around in dumpster pools, roasting pigs, building a sushi trailer, and enjoying SXSW2011 maybe a little too much, we've also been busy building out a second version of the la Boîte trailer for a new downtown Austin location. This makes the third shipping container-based food trailer we've worked on, and it will be followed by a third la Boîte as well.

 

 

There are only minor updates and changes to the general layout. The major change (other than colour) is the need to "shorten" the sliding door due to site constraints (more about that in a future entry...) To that end we hinged a flap of the big sliding door, so that it folds back on itself and creates a little protected area around the tongue when in the open position. The logo will be changed up a little bit from the original, because of the extra exposure of the hinged flap to passers-by at the new site, so we'll have a big "Boîte" on the large section of the slider and a vertical "la Boîte" on the smaller hinged flap.

 

 

As before the logos will be masked off before the body of the box is painted. It's gonna be just as pretty as the original.

 

Today we started the install of the linoleum to the floors rolling up onto the back wall. Similar detail as in the original, but with a larger diameter cove in this incarnation. I'm loving the way it intersects with the door frame. It really calls attention to the continuity of surface.

 

 

Expect an opening at the new downtown location in late April or first week of May.

tastiest box in town

 

 

haha! SushiBox has their online menu and website up and running. Go check it out so you can stalk them on twitter, FB, and Yelp. All the cool kids are doing it!

Austin Modern

 

 

Nice little write-up over at 2Modern featuring a shout-out to La Boîte and sushiBOX. You got to give it to Adrienne. She has pretty good taste in modern!

 

link

stumble upon

 

It's funny what you can run across on the net. Like a gorgeous shot of la Boite from over a year ago. It sure is pretty under the lights of a professional photographer...

food

 

Assuming all went well with some last minute paperwork, sushiBOX should be open for lunch tomorrow. Look for it at 2nd and Congress in Downtown Austin!!! It's going to be good.

pop-up

Lots of finishing touches are happening at the sushiBOX in preperation for opening.

 

 

The steel framed upper decks that attach to the trailer have been all decked out. The lower platform and step just sit on the ground and can be moved about if need be.

 

 

The final electrical whip was hooked up to the trailer and plugged into the subpanel. The vinyl logo has gone on as well.

 

 

 

All that is left is final consult and kitchen set-up with the chef, final paint touch-ups and some additional landscaping and they should be good to go.

 

 

details, details, details

 

sushiBOX is ever closer to being finished and installed on site. A lot has happened in the past few weeks, and now it is really starting to pay off... It is the tiny little details that finally make a project pop, and those are all getting done in quick succession this week.

 

 

Electrical is done, floor, ceiling and wall finish are wrapped up, interior trim is going on, seams are caulked, HVAC is in, and plumbing is well underway. Glass for the swing doors is to be installed tomorrow, and fridges and worktables go in as well. A little bit of plumbing, a little bit of final fabrication for the steps up to the doors, and the logo installed on the side are all that is left before we tow her off to get permitted and installed on-site. It'll be a sweet relief to see her in operations feeding the masses of downtown office workers.

 

 

Watch this spot for updates on opening celebrations.

heavy equipment

Tuesday was a big day at the shop. A 18ton crane showed up at the shop to help load two of the boxes to be shipped over to the trailer place for attachment of running gear and tongue for towing. They'll come back to the shop for final fit-out as actual trailers.

 

 

Crocker Crane Rental showed up early and prepped to pick the two boxes while we waited a bit for the lowboy tilt-bed towing service truck to show. Once they got here it was a quick and painless lift and set, and the tow truck shuttled the boxes down the street to the trailer shop. All in all it was an exciting yet straight forward day.

 

 

In prep for shipping the boxes off to the trailer shop we finalized all the welding on sushiBOX, sheathed-out the interior walls and floor in prep to accept the cleanable interior finish-out, and got the three overhead flaps operable, and prepped and primed the interior exposed steel. We also have pre-fabricated the swing doors, and are currently building out the cabinets in preperation for the return of the box as an actual trailer.