Brilliant / Tropical Imaging - new studio

Nearly there! Just a few more details…

Chris Mann — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 16:56:06 +0000

Well we’re just about at the point where we builders were expecting to hand over the building to us – and although it’s not 100% done, really now it’s all about finishing touches and details – then getting approval from the building inspectors, and then getting power, phone and internet connected.

We’re hopeful that we will be able to start moving furniture etc in after Xmas and be up and running in the first week of the New Year! Meanwhile, here are some pictures of the last major item to go in…

…and that’s the custom-made staircase, created by Andy Kernan and his team from Island Stairworks.

In this photo you can see how the stair-rail (which is made of many thin individual strips of timber laminated together) splays out in both directions at the foot of the stairs.

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Finishing touches starting to go in…

Chris Mann — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 18:37:08 +0000

Work continues on fitting out the interior of the building – and also on the landscaping outside…

When I went to the site this morning, the guys were starting to install the light fittings, and also finishing off the steps on the front porch.

And we now have palm trees around the parking lot, and cacti!

Individually these are all small things, but they each take us closer to being able to move in…

We also have the beginnings of our custom curved staircase going in…

These are the famous “Turks Head” cacti (named for their resemblance to the cylindrical red fez worn by officials of the Ottoman Empire) – from which the Turks Islands get their name.

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A month to go? WOW – Turks and Caicos first greenbuild almost done?

Andy Mann — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 02:18:29 +0000

Well its now mid-November and it feels like just yesterday that I was watching the bulldozer make the first cut into the bush to start the building process. Now the building is essentially finished and we are in that “home stretch” with everyone pulling to have things finished by Dec 20th 2009.

All that is left to do are lights, the stairs and the exterior areas.

A fair amount has been done to the exterior. The UV windows are in, the roof is finished with its reflective barrier and sun tubes. We’ve also altered the parking area so that potentially an electric vehicle can be parked right at the door. We have an external power point just to the left of the front entrance.

Soon the on-site office will go and the low maintenance landscaping will start to go in. It’s been designed to only need the water we collect from the roof and grey water from toilets and the shower.

The front office space – looking GREAT!

The showroom space. We are very excited to have this great space to properly show off our work!!

The entrance area has gone from great to AWESOME. With our “Big Ass Fan” at the top, the two storey display area as soon as you walk in and the bamboo stairs and flooring (coming soon!), it’s really going to ROCK!

A view upstairs of the work area along with the top half of the atrium area. The rail along the top will be great.

Originally, this back office space was going to be left as a store room and built out later. Building costs were SOO high we simply could not afford to finish this space off. Thanks to Tim at CASL really working the budget and excellent contractor Projetech, not only have we been able to finish this space, its actually a really cool area with a great view out to the major resorts and ocean.

One of the sun tubes “in action”. The diffuser cover will cover over the tube.

Another quick view of that entrance wall! It’s going to take some BIG pictures !

It was just before sunset when I visited the studio – I cannot wait to do a shoot under the gazebo area once the flowers have grown up!

Great looking pavers for the front steps.

We are so grateful to Ron Shaw our architect for his great design, for Tim from CASL who has kept tabs on everything as well as giving some great input and Projetech who have done a superb job on the building. I would HIGHLY recommend anyone building in TCI to use them – they make a great team.

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Only two months to go?? Will we be finished by Christmas??

Andy Mann — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 19:30:36 +0000

The summertime always zips by so quickly and I cannot believe it’s been almost exactly a month since our last update. With the prospect of our green studio being ready at Christmas – we are basically only two months away from being “in” – woo hoo !! “Inconceivable!”

Projetech have been on the ball as always and have been relentlessly pushing to get things done on time and seem to be maintaining their “month ahead of schedule” projection for completion.

Yet another beautiful day in Turks and Caicos !

From the road the building is really looking smart with the roof now completed and exterior paint.

Close to the entrance they have started the curbing for the car parking area.

Next to the building itself we will have an electrical power point for a future electric vehicle.

The main entrance area with the signature staircase up to the second floor.

The downstairs working area where they were prepping the doors for the various office spaces and rooms.

Another view of the main entrance way. Note the large wall space on the right which will be awesome for displaying images…

The corridor that links the downstairs office area to the kitchen, the showroom and the presentation area.

The kitchen area. The far wall will have the energy-efficient fridge and microwave.

The studio space with excellent natural light.

Looking back down the main corridor. We were going to use the space on the right for storage, but I am loving it as a major display area!!

The showroom – looking a bit “blue” due to the protective tape 0n the windows!

Close up of the fabulous tile that is throughout the office – it has a very natural feel to it – almost wants you to walk barefoot everywhere!

The main upstairs workspace – looks great – love the natural light .

A solar tube towards the back of the main upstairs office space – this brings sunshine from outside right inside the building. The contractor likes these so much he is looking at putting them in his house!! GO GREEN !! PS it still needs the cover on it!

The rear office space with A/C in the middle and a solar tube top right and rear middle.

The view from the rear office towards the ocean and Grace Bay Club. We are literally less than 5 mins from all the major resorts.

Another view of the upstairs looking down towards the main entrance. The stairs and entrance area will be covered in a dark bamboo.

Finally the outside. Soon the containers will go and the car park area will be finished off.

So a lot has been done in the past month and only a few more weeks to go – really looking forward to it!

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Interview with local Turks and Caicos TV – here it is!!

Andy Mann — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 12:43:56 +0000

OK – so it was my 2.56 minutes of fame. Hardly oprah and I errr, didn’t errr realise errr howmuch I say ERRR !!!! Anyway it was fun – the interviewer was Allison Capron who is Miss TCI Earth and I did a photoshoot with her a couple of months back so she was getting her ‘revenge”!!

Here is the piece from You Tube.

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Interviewed today by Turks and Caicos TV WIV – on air tonight!

Andy Mann — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 18:51:51 +0000

Well I didn’t know this morning that I was going to be on TV, but a quick call from WIV and I was standing in front of our new studio at noon, in the bright sunshine giving a quick interview on our greenbuild building for this evening’s news!! It was at least 110F in the sun, but luckily it didn’t take long and the questions were more “desert island disks” than “question time” so I hope no “gaffs”!!

Here are a few stills that Anita snapped during the shoot. We will put the video piece online as soon as we get it from WIV.

I don’t think we had started yet I am still smiling!

Looks like I am getting all “serious”;-)

Did I mention that it was HOT!!

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Inside and out progress report!

Andy Mann — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 20:26:02 +0000

It’s been a couple of weeks since the last post – so time for a progress report. We are still ahead of schedule and the progress that Projetech and their team are making looks great.

All the windows are in and green bits are starting to all come together too!! Very exciting!

Here – not very exciting, but it is VERY GREEN – literally! The green “box” is a klargester biodisc sewage treatment plant – so we can treat all our sewage on site. Not very unusual for the TCI as there is no centralized treatment plant, but it is unusual for the USA or UK. Next to it the yellow tanks are the in-line chlorinator and a 1500 gallon grey water irrigation tank for the plants. This should mean that we need zero or near to zero water for the plants apart from this supply.

On the outside of the building the roof is coming along with a membrane layer applied to the roof, and now the start of the tin or “real” layer just going on. Later this week we hope to show you the sun tunes as they cut the holes and install them into the building.

The metal roof is actually being made on site, from rolls of metal. It will be a white roof to reflect the sunlight as much as possible.

On the inside of the building they have started to put in the dry wall fittings and the office layout is beginning to take shape.

Here is the main downstairs office area. You can see the shiny insulation material that is being put in which is fantastic.

This is the view down the central corridor from the main work space towards the studio space at the end.

The showroom is starting to take shape – already starting to plan furniture layouts and so on.

This is the kitchen area – looking through the wall!! Big enough for a table, chairs, fridge, microwave – great to grab a coffee and chill out for a bit rather than eating at your desk!!

Detail on the insulation material – I am sure someone can tell me what all this means!!

My office !!!! ) not sure what I am going to be doing in there – seems huge !!

Opposite is a smaller office area – not sure yet what or who is going in there..TBC…

Upstairs we also have a bathroom with a shower area on the right. This is a big “green” factor as staff can now cycle to work etc etc

The office space above the studio. This is turning into a really great space and the view out the windows will be awesome.

The main upstairs space with my office far right, a storage space behind the guy with the ladder and the rest open plan….

At the end I got a little arty !!

So as always excited about the progress and the GREAT job that Projetech and the rest of the team are doing – cannot speak too highly of what they have done to date.

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Progress – the roof is coming along and windows are going in!

Andy Mann — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 19:22:59 +0000

The headline says it all really – progress! Our Turks and Caicos green build studio is coming along nicely and we are starting to see some of the “green” elements come into action. It’s been about a month since I was on-site and the change is dramatic. It really is starting to look like a studio now and it’s getting more and more exciting.

Here is the front of the building from the car parking area. Studio entrance right in the middle, office space to the left and show room to the right, with the studio space rear right.

The front door !

The entrance area and the stairs up to the second floor. The stairs and the entrance area will be covered in bamboo flooring.

The showroom space.

Looking through a storage area towards the entrance.

The actual studio space with wonderful light !! (It was lunchtime BTW!!!)

First floor, at the top of the stairs looking into the main office space.

The shower area and the upstairs office space above the studio.

The view from the upstairs office with the OCEAN VIEW (yes you can see it)!!

The windows are going in and they are part of our “green” emphasis.

In order to keep the colder air inside the building the windows are fixed – they do not open. They are also argon filled so have a slight thermal benefit and also use “low “E” glass. The windows are from ER Lewin – the 9500 series and are made from aluminum alloy extrusions in combination with urethane material which serves as a thermal separator.

Looking down the stairs towards the office entrance.

This is the guide for the conduit that will run out to the solar panel area and also sewage etc etc.

LOVE THIS PICTURE!!!!

It will be interesting to see if the local power company PPC will let us connect using green power.

Currently the policy is that if you have green power then the power company WILL NOT connect to you. Anyway meeting the CEO of PPC next week I hope to discuss.

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The roof has arrived!

Chris Mann — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 20:09:19 +0000

On my way to work this morning, I noticed that towering over the building site for the new studio was a large mobile crane…

Sure enough, this signaled that the roof trusses were being raised into position, the first stage of building the roof. Luckily I had the Canon 5D Mk2 in the car with me so I was able to shoot some stills and video as the Projetech guys began to hoist the prefabricated trusses into position…
By this afternoon they had actually installed all the trusses and also added many of the cross-beams that tie the roof structure together… more of that in the next update. Meanwhile here’s the video I shot this morning:

New studio – August 27, 2009 from Chris Mann on Vimeo.

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Building progress – August 20th

Chris Mann — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 19:34:31 +0000

Although I drive by the construction site every day on my way to and from work, I haven’t had a chance in the last couple of weeks to go on-site and see how things were going; until today… basically they are going great!

Building the blockwork for the walls was always going to be the part of the build that shows the most dramatic results in a fairly short time, but even so it’s impressive how things have come on in the last couple of weeks…As you will see from the video, we are now up to first floor level, with the upper floor’s walls complete, and the guys making preparations for the roof. The roof materials are on-island and it seems that work on the roof is likely to start next week. The windows are also here in Turks & Caicos so those will be available when needed, no delays there.

The only slight issue so far has been the design of the staircase to the first level – it needed some revision and is now going to be a curved design rather than the conventional flight of steps, landing, flight of steps arrangement. I think it’s going to look cool…

Anyway here is the video I shot this morning showing the building as it is today:

New studio – August 20, 2009 from Chris Mann on Vimeo.

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