Casady School Addition
August 2009
Work has resumed on a pair of additions to the St. Edward’s Chapel at the Casady School in Oklahoma City. This project was begun in March 2002 when design and working drawings were commissioned and completed. At the point when drawings were set to go out to bid the project was shelved indefinitely. It was not revived until February of this year when the school decided to undertake the project along with the design and construction of a new Math building adjacent to the chapel site. We completed the drawings for the East wing which had been designed in schematic form but not added to the working drawings, in three months and the project went out for a general conditions bid in May.
The West addition replaces a temporary building housing the Sacristy and mechanical rooms with a new wing with more space including offices for the school Chaplain and an assistant, a new organ loft, new mechanical room housing a geo-thermal system utilizing water from the lake adjacent to the chapel for heating and air conditioning, and a new sacristy. The East wing will house a new warm-up room that will also function as overflow seating for more than 80 for large functions such as Baccalaureate and two music practice rooms and a handicap lift to provide wheelchair access to the platform in the nave.
Bids were taken from four firms and the firm of Smith & Pickel, Oklahoma City chosen to be the Construction Manager/Constructor in June. The construction contract was let on the project in August and construction is expected to start imminently. Among other difficult problems we have faced in this project is matching the Indiana limestone façade with new stone that is company. The original limestone was a honey color with darker sepia accents and current stone from the same quarry is running much lighter. WE also had to find an accent stone to match one that was mixed in and for which there were no records. We have assisted in the search by Gallian masonry of Oklahoma City who are the masonry subcontractor for the project.
Many challenges remain including a tight construction schedule that must accommodate weddings on either end and a technically challenging building including a new great gothic window on the East end of the East wing and the addition of a vaulted cloister running across the entire North elevation. Construction is expected to be complete in August 2010.