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The Botticino marble columns that line the nave of Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity Chapel have posed an interesting, and in some ways, unique set of challenges for Mr. Randy Fulton of Stegman and Kastner, Inc., the company managing the construction of the Chapel (see story above), and the whole construction team. In most cases with which Mr. Fulton is familiar, marble columns are made from segments that can be installed with relative ease. However, desiring the integrity and strength that whole columns provide and wishing to avoid unsightly seams between segments, the College decided instead to have whole columns fabricated from solid blocks of marble; they would then be cored and placed over steel shafts.
“The procurement of marble can be a tricky thing: structurally-suitable marble and aesthetically-pleasing marble may have competing requirements,” explains Randy. “Marble’s natural beauty is frequently related to the veining found in it,” he continues, “but that veining is also where it is often most structurally unsound. To try to create the correct aesthetic of the marble while still maintaining materials that are suitable for fabricating solid, one-piece columns is a real challenge.” Having some experience in this area, he accompanied Dr. Dillon to Italy to help select appropriate marble.
In the fall, the 14-foot polished columns were delivered to the campus. Installing them required the finely-tuned coordination of various sub-contractors on the project, orchestrated by Mr. Rick Littman, the construction superintendent for HMH Construction. Even before the columns arrived on campus, the cores bored from both ends through the centers of the columns by fabricators in Italy had to match precisely with the steel support shafts made by contractors thousands of miles away. Once the marble columns were on site, careful planning took place among the workmen who would actually put them in place. Never having been called upon for work of this nature, they pooled their many years of construction experience and came up with a procedure to help ensure that the columns would reach their destinations safely. Over a period of days, as students and faculty looked on in wonder, each of the 20 columns was hoisted more than 50 feet into the air, slowly passed over the walls of the Chapel, and carefully guided into place over the steel shafts already in place (see photos). The marble columns have now been covered with protective, steel-reinforced wooden cases that will remain in place until interior work begins.
-- Qtrly Newsletter, Winter 2007 |
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