Archive for September, 2019

It’s awesome when I get to bring you stories off the beaten path. Most people don’t think art or beauty when they look at system scaffold. It tends to be a more utilitarian piece of equipment. But in the right hands it can be just as beautiful as a Rodin or a Donatello or even a Michelangelo.

Okay, maybe that’s a stretch…but look at what the artists at Grounds for Sculpture had us create for their exhibition Interference Fringe | Tallur LN

Ms. Faith McClellan had a vision and we were honored to help her carry it out. She had called several scaffold companies but none knew how to handle her ideas. “It was tough finding someone who could do what we wanted. I was happy to find your company,” she said.

And we, at Superior, love this kind of out of the box kind of challenge.

It was roughly 10 feet high with 2 levels. It was an odd shape roughly 28’ X 30’ in length. Most of the bays contained artwork by artist Tallur LN.

Only 3 of the bays were for personnel or visitors to view the installation. Those were on the top level. That level was decked solid with plywood for a smooth walking surface and had toe board and guardrails.

It was accessed via a stair tower made of system scaffold.

Grounds For Sculpture did the initial design but our team modified it where needed to work with their display. “The install team was fun to work with,” said McClellan. And we certainly love to hear that.

The installation will be open through January 5, 2020. It’s a wonderful display and we were proud to have been a part. It’s our little scaffold masterpiece – lol – to go along with their 42 acres of beautiful art! That’s right – a 42 acre sculpture park and museum in Hamilton, NJ.

I was blown away by Grounds For Sculpture. It’s got sculpture of all shapes and sizes, art, food, and lots of Peacocks wandering around. Click on the link for their address and hours. I encourage everyone to go check it out.

If you need scaffold, access or art – call Pat today at (215) 743-2200 and he’ll use his immense talents to make your vision come to life or at the very least, play you a nice ditty on his 6 string. For more great scaffolding projects visit www.superiorscaffold.com.

Interference Fringe | Tallur LN art piece listing below the video links.

And today’s musical selection just seems to fit. Enjoy.

And Patrick suggested this one. It’s a great little tune. Enjoy.

Interference Fringe | Tallur LN.  Here is list of credits for the art in each photo.

Photo 1: Tallur, L.N., Scaffold, 2019, industrial scaffolding, featuring the following individual works by the artist: Hatha Yoga, 2012, clay figurine in a vitrine, painted wood statue with nails, nail-covered replica, nail-manufacturing machine, dimensions variable, Collection of Kiran Nadar Museum of Art, New Delhi; Lamp (deepa sundari), 2010, cast bronze, concrete, red pigment, 55.11 x 39.37 x 23 inches, OZLO Collection, New Delhi

Photo 2:  Tallur, L.N., Scaffold, 2019, industrial scaffolding, featuring the following individual works by the artist: Hatha Yoga, 2012, (detail), clay figurine in a vitrine, painted wood statue with nails, nail-covered replica, nail-manufacturing machine, dimensions variable, Collection of Kiran Nadar Museum of Art, New Delhi; Unicode, 2011, bronze, coins, concrete, 183 x 152 x 117 centimeters, Collection of Dr. Robert B. Feldman, Cohoes, NY; “?”, 2011, bronze, 35 3/8 x 31 1/2 x 35 3/8 inches, Courtesy of the Artist and Jack Shainman Gallery; Victory Pillar, 2012, cast bronze, cement, coins, oil, 98 x 20 x 20 inches, Collection of Ashish Jain

Photo 3: Tallur, L.N., Scaffold, 2019, industrial scaffolding, featuring the following individual works by the artist: Hatha Yoga, 2012, clay figurine in a vitrine, painted wood statue with nails, nail-covered replica, nail-manufacturing machine, dimensions variable, Collection of Kiran Nadar Museum of Art, New Delhi; Bulimia 2, 2008, jackfruit wood, white ant eroded object coated in silver, 39 x 24 x 44 inches, Private Collection, NY; Lamp (deepa sundari), 2010, cast bronze, concrete, red pigment, 55.11 x 39.37 x 23 inches, OZLO Collection, New Delhi

Photo 4:  Tallur, L.N., Scaffold, 2019, industrial scaffolding, featuring the following individual works by the artist: Hatha Yoga, 2012, clay figurine in a vitrine, painted wood statue with nails, nail-covered replica, nail-manufacturing machine, dimensions variable, Collection of Kiran Nadar Museum of Art, New Delhi; Bulimia 2, 2008, jackfruit wood, white ant eroded object coated in silver, 39 x 24 x 44 inches, Private Collection, NY; Lamp (deepa sundari), 2010, cast bronze, concrete, red pigment, 55.11 x 39.37 x 23 inches, OZLO Collection, New Delhi

Photo 5: Tallur, L.N., Scaffold, 2019, industrial scaffolding, featuring the following individual works by the artist: Bulimia 2, 2008, jackfruit wood, white ant eroded object coated in silver, 39 x 24 x 44 inches, Private Collection, NY

Photo 6: Stairs
Photo 7: Upper Deck

Photo 8: Tallur, L.N., Scaffold, 2019, industrial scaffolding, featuring the following individual works by the artist: Bulimia 2, 2008, jackfruit wood, white ant eroded object coated in silver, 39 x 24 x 44 inches, Private Collection, NY

Photo 9: Tallur, L.N., Scaffold, 2019, industrial scaffolding, featuring the following individual works by the artist: Hatha Yoga, 2012, (detail), clay figurine in a vitrine, painted wood statue with nails, nail-covered replica, nail-manufacturing machine, dimensions variable, Collection of Kiran Nadar Museum of Art, New Delhi; Lamp (deepa sundari), 2010, cast bronze, concrete, red pigment, 55.11 x 39.37 x 23 inches, OZLO Collection, New Delhi

Photo 10: Tallur, L.N., Scaffold, 2019, industrial scaffolding, featuring the following individual works by the artist: Lamp (deepa sundari), 2010, cast bronze, concrete, red pigment, 55.11 x 39.37 x 23 inches, OZLO Collection, New Delhi; Unicode, 2011, bronze, coins, concrete, 183 x 152 x 117 centimeters, Collection of Dr. Robert B. Feldman, Cohoes, NY; Victory Pillar, 2012, cast bronze, cement, coins, oil, 98 x 20 x 20 inches, Collection of Ashish Jain

Photo 11: Tallur, L.N., Scaffold, 2019, industrial scaffolding, featuring the following individual works by the artist: Unicode, 2011, bronze, coins, concrete, 183 x 152 x 117 centimeters, Collection of Dr. Robert B. Feldman, Cohoes, NY; Victory Pillar, 2012, cast bronze, cement, coins, oil, 98 x 20 x 20 inches, Collection of Ashish Jain; Pedestal on Pedestal, 2012, cast bronze, cement, coins, oil, 39 x 35 x 39 inches, courtesy of the Artist and ARARIO © Tallur L.N. and ARARIO

#scaffold #scaffolding #rental #rent #superiorscaffold #restoration #inspection #construction #facade #masonry #canopy #protection #howto #erection #install #emergencyservices #masonry #suspendedscaffold #mastclimber #canopy #philly #philadelphia #pa #electrical #pa #de #nj #ny #md #hoist #buckhoist #lift #saia #samagazine #excellenceisbuilding #groundsforsculpture #scaffoldart @superiorscaff @excellenceisbuilding

How do you help a customer that needs to support the top deck of a parking garage while they repair a cut tension cable and repave?

You do what super Superior Scaffold estimator Tommy (can you hear me) Creighton did and that’s erect three system scaffold shoring towers to support the structure. Holy moly, you try saying that sentence three times really fast.

The real challenge of this job was making sure that the areas that needed support were shored up so the folks at Structural Maintenance Systems could do their work. Thanks to Alternate Design Solutions for their calculations to make sure we did just that. Now, I know what you are all thinking… Given that we are learning Tommy is a savant or even a genius why didn’t he just do it?

Well, truthfully, he had other things to worry about like how to keep Keith Moon sitting upright on the drum thrown (no easy task, I might add), and figuring out how to lay out these towers so that delivery trucks could still get in and out to make their daily rounds.

“How do you think he does it? (I don’t know.) What makes him so good?”

Mission accomplished (for the towers) failed miserably with Keith Moon. Well, one outta’ two ain’t bad. OMG.

So what did we learn from this job? Well, Tommy not only heard but he listened.

“He stands like a statue
Becomes part of the machine
Feeling all the bumpers
Always playing clean”

He translated what the client needed into usable, pliable, materials and solutions. BAM! And with his “crazy flipper fingers” he and his intuition put together a mighty fine job. He’s still the “Bally table king”.

And you thought he was deaf, dumb and blind. Heck, we all did. This guy has mad skills. He’s truly a Wizard – of some sorts.

When you need shoring, support, access, scaffolding or a good rock opera – call Tommy at (215) 743-2200 today and let him show you what he can accomplish with just his sense of smell. I promise he won’t show up with his Roger Daltrey, open shirted, Davey Crockety, tassled, fringed jacket contraption (unless you request it).

And you all knew it was coming. I fooled no one with this post. Okay maybe some…but “you won’t get fooled again” (not this album – I just had to do it) – this first clip is epic.

Now, here’s what you all were waiting for.

#scaffold #scaffolding #rental #rent #superiorscaffold #restoration #inspection #construction #facade #masonry #canopy #protection #howto #erection #install #emergencyservices #masonry #suspendedscaffold #mastclimber #canopy #philly #philadelphia #pa #electrical #pa #de #nj #ny #md #hoist #buckhoist #lift #saia #samagazine #excellenceisbuilding #shoring

I love it when a client takes something that might not really belong at their location and makes it their own.

That’s just what the good people at Wahoo’s on Chestnut Street did. Life gave them tilapia and they turned it into tuna.

Look at how they added their own decorative touches.

Now, this wasn’t a walk in the park for our “King of Swing”, Bob Sarkisian, either. Watts Restoration was doing a total revamp of the exterior of building at 3180 Chestnut St. and needed a way to keep the pedestrians and the customers at the outdoor dining area safe while they worked high above on the many suspended scaffold rigs.

A 200 foot long canopy down the sidewalk did the trick for the pedestrian traffic.

That was built using system scaffold with steel and aluminum beams, overhead lighting and debris panels.

The real challenge was the outdoor dining area. This required something out of the ordinary. Bob sat down with Watts and the restaurant owner, ate his taco, looked around… and then devised a system scaffold roughly 50’ X 50’ and 14’ high that would cover the entire dining area.

The challenge was how cover the entire area and allow customers to eat outside during the restoration process. He used trusses, system scaffold, steel beams and the longest aluminum beams we had – and voilà.

The most creative part came in the form of tying the scaffold down so it could withstand high winds. To do that, he used giant cement weight blocks (or dead man) and then boxed them in with scaffold and then put netting around them so customers wouldn’t even notice. Take a closer look at this photo.

And then the client put giant banners on the guardrail at the top to give it their own touch.

Mighty creative solutions on both accounts if I do say so myself.

When you need scaffold, scaffolding, swings, access, fish tacos, McAndrews, or creative solutions call “The King of Swing”, Bob Sarkisian today and he will take care of you. Visit www.superiorscaffold.com for more info.

It’s only fitting that our musical selection today takes your some place tropical. Enjoy.

And I just couldn’t resist throwing this in as a bonus video.

#scaffold #scaffolding #rental #rent #superiorscaffold #restoration #inspection #construction #facade #masonry #canopy #protection #howto #erection #install #emergencyservices #masonry #suspendedscaffold #mastclimber #canopy #philly #philadelphia #pa #electrical #pa #de #nj #ny #md #hoist #buckhoist #lift #saia #samagazine #excellenceisbuilding

Superior Scaffold provided the intricate scaffolding ramp at the Penn Museum to get the priceless, 3,000-year-old, 25,000 pound Sphinx of Ramses II to its new location 250 feet away.

It’s not everyday that you get a call to construct a ramp to move one of the world’s rarest objects 250 feet to its new exhibit location. And it’s even rarer when you have to take that 25,000 pound statue outside, through a window, across a courtyard and then back in through another window.

Quite the challenge if I may say so myself. But the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology has used us on some other very delicate items (read about it here) so they had the confidence that we could deliver the goods.

This is the anatomy of that once in a lifetime move.  

Each piece of scaffold equipment had to be walked in because there was very little access to the courtyard.

Our crew shored up the floor beneath the giant Sphinx with hi-load frames and post shores, just as security measure, in preparation for the move to the exit ramp.

We then built an exit ramp out of system scaffold because we had height restrictions to elevate the Sphinx enough to get it through the window.

Concurrently, they removed a large window and opened the wall a bit so it would fit through the opening.

The outside ramp was constructed using hi-load shoring frames to hold the weight of the stone beast.

We started with wood sills on the entire run over the dirt/grass followed by steel beams and then a variety of hi-load shoring frames down the entire 250ft run.

Those frames had U-heads and steel beams crossed with aluminum beams then topped with solid plank and then ¾” plywood.

The plywood was then covered by a special surface that would help the air dollies float beneath the Sphinx. We also installed an elaborate maze of guardrails or stanchions along the entire route.

It took some creative layout to position our shoring frames around several pipes at the back end of the ramp.

Another window was removed to get the Sphinx into its new resting place.

And finally, we built another deck or loading platform out of system scaffold on the inside at the other end of the long ramp to receive the giant stone carving.

Here is a series of photos as the priceless stone object made its way across the courtyard to its new resting place.

The Sphinx was first hoisted onto our ramp using a hydraulic lift and placed onto 4 air dollies that used compressed air and essentially floated it off the ground allowing crews to push it the entire distance.

Here is the Sphinx on its way out.

You can see the air dollies under the corners in this photo – as well as the intricate carvings on the side of the Sphinx.

This is the first time it had seen light since it was moved into the museum back in 1926, when the gallery was built around it. (see the pic from the museum’s website by clicking here). 

The red granite, or stone of kings, as it was called, sparkled in the sunlight. 

The Sphinx is a lion with a human head and represents the power of the Egyptian king. It is carved out of a single block of red granite.

Alternate Design Solutions did the engineering on this job and they did magnificent work. John at ADS was given the weight and dimensions of the Sphinx and used soil compression test measurements to calculate the size and weight of the platform/ramp needed to make the move.  The resulting platform is something to behold.

It moved at a slow pace while hundreds of spectators watched the event.

It took between 4 and 8 people to move the behemoth along the route.

Once to the other side of courtyard, there was only 1.5 inches of clearance on either side of the new opening for the stone statue to slide in between onto our second loading platform.

As a precaution we shored up the floor beneath the entry point as well using 20 kip shores. Penn Museum had a new floor designed and poured just to accommodate the weight of the ancient object in its new display.

A hydraulic lift removed the Sphinx from our platform and onto the concrete where it would be moved to its final resting spot.

The entire move went off as planned and it was truly a once in a lifetime opportunity. We are thankful that the Penn Museum trusted Superior Scaffold with this priceless object.

The satisfaction of everyone involved was evident in this screen grab of our estimator, Pat McAndrew, just as the Sphinx passed the The Philadelphia Inquirer video camera.

Be sure to watch this incredible time-lapse video Penn Museum put together.

They also have great links to the history of the Sphinx and how it got here in their blog. 

Click on the image above from 1916 to read the history and explore their website.

And below are some other video links for you to check out.

If you need scaffolding, shoring or access trust the best, Superior Scaffold. Call (215) 743-2200 today or visit www.superiorscaffold.com to see how we can help you.

It just makes sense to play this for today’s musical selection.

Pat suggested “You Belong to Me” from The Duprees – and what a nice track. Enjoy.

#scaffold #scaffolding #rental #rent #superiorscaffold #restoration #inspection #construction #facade #masonry #canopy #protection #howto #erection #install #emergencyservices #masonry #suspendedscaffold #mastclimber #canopy #philly #philadelphia #pa #electrical #pa #de #nj #ny #md #hoist #buckhoist #lift #saia #excellenceisbuilding #sphinx #pennmuseum