Opus 40 Phase 1 Week 2

20 Apr Opus 40 Phase 1 Week 2

Posted at 19:59h in Uncategorized by

Rebuilding begins

The Opus 40 restoration returned for week two, again with a crew of 7 wallers.  Last week was all about getting ready to rebuild the walls, and this week was all about beginning to build.  This weeks crew was: Brian Post, Jared Flynn, Jamie Masefield, Bryce Hollingsworth, Ben Maron, TJ Mora, and Sean Kelly.


The Entrance Ramp Wall

The northeast side of the entrance ramp has progressed along nicely.  Much of the 1st day was spent fine tuning what we were setting the stones on and then beginning to build.   Over several days, working on lower end of this wall became affectionately known as working in the “pit”, where it stayed cool and shady even on the warmest day.  Careful attention was paid to building for strength with sound stone that has the integrity to hold up to the weight of the wall above.  Massive new throughstones were shaped and dressed by Sean Kelly before being placed by TJ Mora, Bryce Hollingsworth, and Jared Flynn.  Throughstones are critical to tie the face of the wall back into the structure behind.   We are building in one throughstone for every 6 square ft of wall.

The Amphitheater Wall

Rebuilding the amphitheater wall began using large thick slabs of stone.  Because the bottom 30″ of the wall will be effectively burried by the lower terrace that will be built in front, we did not have to worry about having a refined face.  The large slabs helped us build the needed strength to hold weight of the 12 ft tall wall.  Ben Piloting the Dingo was key to the opperation.  Once we got close to the point where the wall would be visible we transitioned to hand set stone with a refined face.  This wall has one of the few corners at Opus 40, and the tall height means that it has to be carefully tied into the wall and that large slabs are needed. 

Brian spent time sorting through old quarry piles with a mini excavator to find some choice slabs which were further refined and placed by Jamie and Ben.  By the end of the week we were 4ft up and ready for the 1st course of new through stones.  Also visible is the first piece of drainage pipe which will be connected such that it will catch rain and melt water from the flagging area above the wall.  This should help reduce the water flowing through the structure itself and greatly increase its lifespan.  More on this in coming weeks.


The Training Wall

Building a training wall to run workshops and certifications on was an additional goal of the project.  This is being done in a clearing to the northwest of the main sculpture.  We installed a gravel pad, and began to bring over stone from a quarry slag pile.