facility finance work group

Jenny Pope, Book keeper
Neil Hubert
Ben Schaafsma, Charlsbad de Communique
Emily Egan
Becky Siegwart
Kate Aughey

rachel 3/16
that is badass! can't wait to see it friday. :)

Paul 3/11
Jenn and AnnMarie worked in the space today. We measured the billboards I picked up yesterday and they were exactly the size of the disrupted floor area. We took this as a sign and installed them as a floor. We tacked it down and then Jenn put on a coat of polyurethane. Together with Jenn's paint job on the woodwork, and the curtains that Jules made, the front area looks tight. Here are floor pictures.

Paul 3/10
Emily, I can plan to be in Monday morning from 9am to noon and will help clean.

The ugly floor has be in the back of my mind. I keep thinking what material is flat durable and available. On my way out to allendale today to do some office work I noticed one of the huge billboards was being changed. On the ground by the workers truck were huge rolls of old billboard material that was being removed. I doubled back and asked the guy if I could have the scrap. I folded up the material and have it in the back of my car. It turns out there was the full material from 2 billboards. Each is ripped into 2 pieces. I plan to take it to the space friday 11th. Hopefully we can see if it might be of use.

I also got a big sheet of cardboard that I had in one of the studios at GV.

3/9 Emily
Hey everyone, I was at the space trying to think about how comfortable it will be when Mitch comes. I think that it should be good except for the massive dust. I swept and picked up a bit but I'm wondering if we could set up a time next week where we could do some hard core mopping and dusting. I could meet anyone there on Monday or Wednesday early morning or later afternoon...
Enjoy your breaks!!!

3/8

Jen is doing some touch up interior painting in the front of the space this week.

3/4
shit thunked about

paul is going to request a video projector from school and jesse is going to bring it early friday morning
we are going to use ben's computer for the dvd player
emily is going to request chairs from the school's physical plant, or possibly seeing if GRIID would want to sponsor the event and donate chairs
jenny is going to get craft paper from school to block the light from coming in the window

eat your kwonflakes

3/4
Hello facilities, check out the mitch cope visit area for the things facilities needs to do. Maybe the two groups can meet up at sometime soon...
Rock on

hey gang
emily, zona and i are here right now but there is a bible studies group that meets at 6 every weds too. we have mopped the floor and swept the walls however we havnt vacced or toed in the studs because of the noise. we didnt want to disturb the church goers so maybe for work like that we may need to find another time to do noisy work. we did chat with them briefly and they seemed impressed with the work done so far, so good job kids!
kate 2/16 8pm

Paul 2/16 3:53pm
I was at the space today: I mopped the north half and cut all of the tall studs to fit. I got enough to fit on 16 inch centers and numbered each one. They are all different lengths because the building is so old. They just need to be screwed into place. A few pieces of drywall can be moved over there as well. Maybe wait 'til friday to screw them into place unless someone knows how this works.

hey everyone
i'll also be down on weds with zona from about 6 too i think. would be cool if we could get the studs up and vac the walls. see u later
2/16 kate

Hey happy Valentines day to you all!
I can't come down Wednesday, i have class 6-9, sorry.

Becky 2/14

Paul 2/14
I'll be at the studio on Wednesday during the day. I can specify times if anyone else wants to come down. I have a meeting at allendale at 5pm.
I'll plan on cutting and marking the remaining 112 foot studs for the wall so that they can be screwed into place.

hey i think i'll be at the studio on wednesday so i can help with the mopping and maybe try out some paint on the window.

neil

Emily 2/14
Hey everyone, great job on Friday!
I am going to go to the shop on Wednesday from 6 to 9. I know Zona will be there. Is anyone else thinking about it? I think Zona and I will probably mop one more time, but would anyone mind if we worked on the wall? Then again, maybe it’d be better if we just cleaned because I don’t really know what I’m doing with the wall. Have a good weekend.

Projects (Woo Hoo!!)

Floor!
Wall
Bathroom
Coat racks
vacuming walls clean

let's all think of a great new title for Ben

Emily 2/9
Hey everyone- Maybe I was confused, I thought we were meeting tonight at 6 again. That's alright, I know it's not the best time for everyone. However, I do think that we should meet as a group sometime outside of class. It wouldn't have to be for very long, but I think we could benefit from a discussion that is longer than what the class time allows us. I think that we are struggling a bit, (We got no traction!) not because we aren't dedicated but because our goals and objectives are not as clear to us as other groups may be for them. We could talk about what we think we are responsible for and the specific things that we want to accomplish. Also, I know that Jenny is doing the budget log (Jenny, can you update us on that?). Do we have to think about a 'leader'? whatever that may mean... I suggested Becky but maybe it's unnecessary... We can talk more later.

Emily

Paul-2/9/2005
I bought enough 12 foot 2x4's to do the wall between us and all nations. I think there are enough 8 footers to start the bathroom as well. Steve is at the ready to assist with tools or technology if we need him.

Floor thoughts-
I've been thinking some about the floor. I've mopped quite a bit on Monday and plan to do more again today- Wedensday. Each time the floor gets a bit better and the air gets a bit less dusty. (I'm waiting to bring the epson printer in until the dust is minimized). The blue hose busted from the hot water and got water around a bit downstairs. Steve and I checked it out - nothing damaged. The green hose is now available by itself for filling the mop bucket. It is imperative that we are sure to shut it off at the hot water heater - even disconnect it- when we are done mopping. If the Green hose busts off when no-one is here, the water might keep coming and join up with the grand river. The key to mopping is using the water to carry the dust away from the floor. So clean water is a must. Once it is dirty then the dirt is just getting moved around. This is also why the dry cycle is the most important. First wet the floor - get it wet and move the water around. It is good to let it sit for a few minutes. Then squeeze out the mop and mop up the water. This is when the dirt gets picked up.
I also got a container of tsp powder for mopping. It is a strong cleaner and is environmentally friendly. It is a bit of an irritant on skin, so don't use it with a sponge.
Ideas for the floor. For now we're stuck with the uneven and inconsistent materials that are on the floor. One thought was to get a sealer or wax to put on all surfaces. This might even-up the sheen, add a bit of coherence, get rid of some of the dusty/chalky appearance, and bring some of the color of the materials (linoleum and wood).

(If you think i'm beginning to sound like a painter talking about mediums and emulsions, well that is my art training and the floor is a kind of painting. This problem could be addressed from a "painting" perspective. What are floors as representations/ indexes of activity? How do they effect our function and our state of being? What of the macro context of the street, lot, sidewalk as an extension of this investigation? How can what we know of painting be applied to this investigation of this part of civic life? How might civic life be mediated or formed by the creation of planes for activity? See parks, courts, game fields, plazas, Peterman's 100 foot table and Dance floor in Grant park, Ed Rucsha's book parking lots, Houston Conwill's map/dancefloor. See Gaston Bachalard's "Poetics of Space" for a reading of how common functional things are rich with explosive poetics and conceptions of the self or group. (Also George Kubler's "The Shape of Time" (civic library). Or see sociologist Pierre Bourdieu's or Henry LeFevre's work. Also Michel de Certeau's "The Practice of Everyday Life" (civic library) Many of these are covered in "Teach Yourself Postmodernism" (civic library). This starts to flow into Geography as well and relate to mapping and the way we understand space. Edward Soja's work is key here. Weird how painting deals with space and the floor deals with space. How are our conceptions and imaginations of ourselves and our people mediated by the visual and experiential form of the flat things: floors, paintings, maps, drawings. What is the interaction of idea to experience? How are the ideas that guide experience formed?
What about a scientific/historic investigation into all of the various flooring solutions used in this space? What implications might be projected about function/culture by such and investigation?

Another idea would be to use cardboard to cover over part or all of the floor. The cardboard would make the surface uniform. An exhibit at uica recently installed cardboard on the whole large area. It would be a bit redundant but functional. Cardboard is cheap $5 for a 7x9foot piece. Or it might be better to capture the flow of cardboard through this area and use it as a way of showing an economic flow of material. This is a bit like Dan Peterman's work and related to the notion that Anthony posted in studio imaginations. Many engaging projects use this idea of material or resource exchange. There is a furniture store down the street. I don't know if couches come in cardboard, but if they do that would be a great source. The purchased material would be fast and uniform. We could be sure to recycle any product that we used. We could just put cardboard in the places without tile. These areas could be painted.
Paul 2/9/2005

Trailer news - Steve asked if we could store the trailer somewhere else because we are taking up a tenant parking place. I plan to haul it out to GV Allendale later today- wednesday. Paul 2/9/2005

what happened!? i went down to the space tonight [wed. 6 pm] to find out the facility group was not going to meet. here is my phone number 635-1308. its kind of hard for me to keep up with you guys considering i am the only non-gvsu student. so in the future just call me if you all decide to change/cancel meeting times while you are at school.

also - i think it would be good if we begin to discuss the functionality of the space. everything seems cluttered in the space right now. we should get started making the space an easier place to work in.

any more thoughts?

ben 2/2

If anyone has an electric hand sander, it would be good to test sand a bit of the floor to see how easily it will sand and what it might look like.
Paul 2/2

just checking that everyone in facilities is still on for 6pm at the shop on weds. hopefully we'll hear about the floor and can go prepared to take up the rest of the floor. we can also make a list of jobs that can be done by anyone who has some spare time so they should be on the swiki by thurs.
kate

Steve was at the space today - installed the two high little windows on the south wall and began to put in the plumbing for the bathroom fixtures. He requested that the rest of the underfloor be scrapped up in the bathroom area - big enough for the two 8 foot plywood pieces to be layed down as subflooring. We also talked about making the front bathroom wall all the way to the ceiling so that any storage above the bathroom was hidden from view. Also, maybe build a wall to the ceiling over by the existing bathroom that joins the other 2 long walls in a continuous wall.
We scratched some of the floor and it looks like the floor on the south half is maple and the north half oak. Maple is harder to sand - so we'd want to test it out to be sure that it is sandable in a reasonable amount of time. The Oak should sand easily, but the parts that are visible are quite rough - which could be nice - or not.
paul 1/31

James Moyer said we should know by Wednesday about the material in the floor tiles. I think he'll contact me. I stopped at Sun Rentals and got information about sanding the floors (brochures at the space). It might be good to do a little internet research about sanding pine floors. -paul 1/31

Steve mentioned that he as a couple of long work counters that we can have to use. I thought that sounded useful. He'll drop them by. We should probably organize the electrical into some system. The north windows are still really dirty.
Maybe we could do a swiki page of things we need to do in the space and prioritize them. -paul 1/30

Steve said he could loan us a shop vac and try to have the valve soldered to the hot water heater so that we can get hot mop water easily. -pw 1/18

This group prospects and leads in all matters that have to do with the space and money. The lease agreement and contribution letter to Steve Molewyck are linked here.
Facility: In terms of the facility this includes upkeep as well as the changes we will make to the space. Initially this includes constructing the bathroom walls, the partition by the old bathroom, electrical, lighting, furniture . . . Also figuring out what to do with the floor. Steve has more drywall should we wish to install it on additional walls for display surfaces. He is interested in any innovative ideas we might develop for the further renovation of the space. We also should do a safety and security assessment of the space. We are slightly out of code for handicap accessibility. We should review this and have a policy for how to handle this.

Technology: Computers and networks.

Money: We should construct a budget plan. We need to stick to the guidelines of our grant agreement and be sure that our expenditures in general and particular reflect the aims of the project as supported by the grant agency. A budget helps do this.
In addition, we will set up a set of books to track all expenditures. This can incorporate the budget items so that both the total and budget categories can be tracked. It works best to have one or two people only doing the books. They will be the major source of our report to our grant agency.
Purchases: I have a project credit card that gets charged to our grant. I am the only person authorized to make purchases. Sometimes this means I spend time running to get what we need. Coordinating this as much as possible so that I can get things before the Friday studio is a good idea. I give the receipts to the book-keepers who use them to make book entries.
For any purchases that get made not directly on the credit card, we will need to use a voucher form.travelvoucherCiv.xls These get filled out and turned in to Pat Nanzer in the Center for Philanthropy, 2nd floor or DeVos building GVSU downtown. It takes a couple of weeks for processing the check.

Can someone put together a list for this week?

Tools: Organization, aquisition, and maintenance of tools/ equipment.

These areas of responsibility are often dismissed as not being substantive, but are less important and secondary. Conversely, knowing the technical details in all of these matters often leads to being freed from artificial constraints and often lead to the generation of highly innovative creative ideas that are highly functional because they develop in the context of real details. If everything is culture then having abilities with money and space make possible great contributions to culture.

One bench is broken.

LEASE AGREEMENT plainfield.doc
contibution lette molewyk.doc
PW 1/15/2005