Image provided by: Clackamas Community College; Oregon City, OR
About The print. (Oregon City, Oregon) 1977-1989 | View Entire Issue (June 3, 1981)
Staff photo by Duffy Coffman CENTER OF ATTENTION-The newly constructed Pauling Science Center has yet to be accepted because of various problems in the construction. The problems have ranged from cracks in the courtyard to inferior plants being used in the landscaping. Pauling Center workmanship questioned Story by David J. Hayden and Duffy Coffman ■ The Print ■ Final acceptance of the $4.4 ■Ilion Pauling Science Center has been delayed by the Col ne because of obvious pro Hems with the workmanship. ■The construction problems, mainly of an aesthetic nature, ■elude: cracks in the concrete Hurtyard; cracks in the above Hound foundation footings and deficiencies in the land- Haping work. ■These problems, believed by ■me construction experts to be related to sub-standard ■orkmanship, may also be a ■suit of the current low bid ■cess. According to Andy Rice, landscape architect for the Pauling Center who was responsible for the design of the courtyarcTand landscaping, “It’s obvious to the least obser vant person that there’s a pro blem in the overall quality. I don’t believe that there was any consistency or real care given to the supervision or the work. That’s my opinion.” Don Fisher, College facilities development and planning of ficer and the College’s representative in the construc tion process, further com ments, “We are still arguing with the contractor (Contrac tors, Inc., Of Sherwood) over certain aesthetic problems, and be Wolfe receives humanities prant page 4 , have yet to accept the science center.” Foremost among the con struction problems is the readily visible cracking in the courtyard area. Courtyard Cracking The multi-level enclosure was formed with two pours of concrete which were cut by a diamond-bladed saw into four- foot by six-foot modules. The saw-cut joints were designed, according to Rice, to achieve two goals: first, to'give the im pression of paving stones laid in an irregular pattern; second, to control shrinkage and crack ing of the concrete slab. However, numerous cracks The art of tattooing page 9 have formed in the concrete and, although not uncommon, have caused what both Rice and Fisher have called definite aethetic problems. “You know concrete will crack,” stated Fisher, “but, you always hope that it won’t.” Cracks form in concrete due to shrinkage as the material dries. Saw-cut- joints control that shrinkage by dispersing it evenly throughout the , con crete. In this case, the saw-cut joints in the courtyard were in effective in controlling that shrinkage, which resulted, in greater cracking than had been planned for. Ron Lee, of Barrentine, Bates and Lee, the consulting architectural firm for the pro ject, commented, “We believe that the major problem is that they (Contractors, Inc.) did not saw-cut the control joints within the specified time that the con tract documents called for.” Addressing the time frame, Rice stated, . “the saw-cuts should have been made within 24 to 48 hours after the con crete was poured.” However, Larry Singleton, contractor representative from Contractors, Inc., the general contracting firm of the project, replied, “Is that right? Well, that’s somebody’s theory, I guess.” Cont. on page 6 Sports year in review pages 10-12