An Epic Roof Raising

The Roof is on the Ground

The Roof Rests the Ground ©2012 Bo Mackison

Epic Systems has a Roof Raising

How do you build an 11,000+ seat auditorium so that visitors and employees of Epic Systems will be able to walk on the grassy area on the top of the building? You dig a huge hole and build most of the seating area under ground level.

Construction at Epic's Deep Space

Construction at Epic’s Deep Space ©2012 Bo Mackison

But first, you construct a slightly domed roof on concrete supports at ground level, a roof that weighs nearly 10 million pounds. Then on a calm autumn morning, you assemble skilled engineers and construction workers at the site from around the world, and you crank the roof into the air, inch by inch by inch!

I checked on the progress of the roof on  Saturday morning. It was 18 inches from its original resting place.

A Roof Raising - Deep Space at Epic

The Roof is Raised © 2012 Bo Mackison

Auditorium is Aptly Named Deep Space

Twenty four hours later, the roof hovers 80 feet in the air. It will stay there as work progresses to construct the permanent struts underneath. Then the roof will be lowered about 10 feet into its permanent position.

It is hard to imagine the immensity of this auditorium, named Deep Space. It has 1/7th of the number of seats as does Lambeau Field, and its footprint equals 13 football fields. There is still a lot of work to be done, but its completion date is estimated to be less than a year from now.

Beautiful sunny weather and almost no wind provided a perfect setting for the lift. And the roof raising went according to plans. What a lot of work and effort and detailed planning. Wow!

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Bo Mackison is a photographer and the owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC.  She has always been fascinated by architecture. How thrilling it was to watch this roof raising!

Wired! Black Crowned Crane

The International Crane Foundation in Baraboo, WI maintains a collection of captive cranes, including several black crowned cranes, which helps their work in crane preservation: captive breeding and reintroduction into the wild. Their work also demonstrates endangered species management for the public, and facilitates breeding and education information elsewhere in the United States and abroad. It is the only place in the world where you can see all 15 crane species.

Black Crowned Crane

Black Crowned Crane © 2008

When I visited the Crane Foundation earlier this month, this crane was especially interested in my camera, and made several attempts to get a little too close. Maybe I didn’t ask for the appropriate model release!

The Black Crowned Crane is indigenous to the Sahel region of Africa. The ICF in coordination with Wetlands International has coordinated a conservation plan for these birds. There are approximately 40,000 Black Crowned Cranes in existence, and their numbers are declining.

The most serious threats to this crane species are illegal capture for the pet industry. An ancient tradition in West Africa to keep domesticated cranes in the household compounds persists to this day. But an additional threat is an intensified international trade in the birds in the last 30 years. Also degradation of the species’ habitat – the wetlands and grasslands of West Africa due to drought, destruction of tree cover and overgrazing – is a factor in their declining numbers.

A regional African program has been set up to provide alternative income opportunities for crane traders and for distribution of community-based information and conservation methods in Nigeria and the Sudan.